Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

As the sun set over Suttle Lake, the party was just picking up in the lodge.



The lounge inside the Suttle Lodge was full with friends who chatted casually and sipped craft cocktails at the bar, taking turns picking out records to play on the turntable, a few challenging the others to a game of cornhole on the lawn. A big family sat at the long communal table across the room, where they laughed as they ate slices of handmade pizza, illuminated by glowing orbs hanging from the ceiling.



Outside, bats emerged in the deep red of dusk, flapping silently over the shallows of the lake. Adirondack chairs were clustered around the deck, offering front-row seats to the active alpine ecosystem nestled between Mount Washington, Three Fingered Jack and Black Butte in the central Cascade Mountains.



Suttle Lodge is a modern, urban take on the rustic lodge experience; a Portland-in-the-woods that feels comfortable, but a bit out of place. It's a necessary evolution for the Pacific Northwest lodge, but one that stands at an awkward crossroads between urban amenity and rustic simplicity.



During a recent stay on a weeknight in June, the lodge was full of people young and old, mostly in big groups of family and friends. Despite their differences, they shared a commonality that fits the mold that the lodge seems designed for: community.



The Pacific Northwest is rife with historic lodges, most created in the early to mid-20th century to accommodate the American family vacation. Rooms tend to sleep two or four, and the infrastructure is made with children in mind, the amenities catering to those nuclear family units. But as the population increasingly trends toward the childless and unmarried, it makes sense that vacation destinations – in Oregon, that means lodges – begin to evolve to better serve adults.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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HANG OUT AND EAT

Suttle Lake has been the site of several lodges, all of which burned to the ground between the 1920s and 1970s. The building that is now the Suttle Lodge was previously the Lodge at Suttle Lake, which opened in 2005. In 2015, owners sold the property to Portland-based A&R Development, who tapped hospitality group The Mighty Union – a group of folks from The Ace Hotel, a hip chain headquartered in Portland with locations in eight other cities as far as Panama City and London – to manage the new lodge.



With original food and cocktails from chef Joshua McFadden and bar manager Sean Hoard – both powerhouses in Portland's food scene – the hospitality company set out to renovate and reinvent the lakeside lodge.



Guests at Suttle Lodge can stay in one of the 11 spacious lodge rooms (complete with custom Pendleton blankets) or one of 16 cabins, several of which sleep up to eight people and range in price from $70 to $400 a night. The lodge serves as either a thrifty getaway or a luxurious destination – a tricky balance to strike.



No matter how much you spend on a room, the Mighty Union seems to have correctly guessed that you will be willing to spend good money on food. Food, after all, can be the hinge on which a vacation is balanced, turning a bad experience good, a good experience great.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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Both in the lounge and out at the Boat House – where guests can also rent kayaks, canoes and mountain bikes – the Suttle Lodge opts for simpler American fare done well, serving a small menu of quality fried chicken, sausages and burgers. There's also the Fish "Chips" Sandwich (trout encrusted in potato chips and fried), which is a wonderful treat worth a $17 splurge. At night, you can order handmade pizza in the lounge, where the savory smell wafts temptingly throughout.



The food is a welcome departure from the usually bland fare offered at more traditional lodges, but the real focus seems to be on creating community space.



From the couches and interconnected chairs in the lounge, to the clusters of Adirondack chairs outside, every part of the property seems designed to accommodate big groups, and encourage socializing. Couples and lone travelers can find a lot to enjoy, but this is truly a place for friends and big families: for reunions and retreats, get-togethers and weddings.



The communal atmosphere is the life force that runs through the grain of Suttle Lodge, but once night falls and the groups retire to their respective rooms, the place starts to lose its magic.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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RUSTIC DISCOMFORT

Inside the ground floor, lakeside lodge room I booked, the vibe was decidedly impersonal and unsteady. Walls were dark, blinds clunky, the toilet frequently flushed on its own. A mechanical hum resonated through the room, echoing off the high ceilings: a white noise replacement of the crickets and frogs. That sort of room might make sense at a hotel in a big city, where the impersonal is expected, but that cosmopolitan vibe feels out of place in the forests of central Oregon.



Maybe this is an old-fashioned expectation (and one not in line with the cultural evolution at play here), but a good lodge should craft a certain rustic discomfort: lacquered log cabins, old photographs in bad frames, bathrooms that are just a little too small. There's something quaint about that experience, like you'd want to read a book in a chair by the lake or eat from a carton of fresh-picked huckleberries. There should at least be some sense that you're getting away from the city, leaving the sheen and the bustle behind.



Instead, The Suttle Lodge brings the the city to the woods. It offers the amenities of the urban experience – the food, the drink, the hip aesthetic – and in the process paves over the rustic element.



That's not to say the lodge isn't nice – it's beautifully designed, and a ton of fun, and a great place to spend a weekend or a whole week of vacation. Still, it's hard not to find it all just a little bit off. Like running into a Coava Coffee at a rest stop, or Pok Pok in a rural town. Suttle Lodge may be a necessary evolution for the Pacific Northwest lodge, but one that feels like an awkward encroachment into the quiet mountains of Oregon.



he Suttle Lodge is at 13300 Hwy 20 in Sisters. You can make a reservation at thesuttlelodge.com or by calling 541-638-7001.



--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

The Fish 'Chips" Sandwich, served at Suttle Lodge.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

An affordable cabin on the lodge grounds.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

The Boat House, which serves beer and food during the day.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Inside the boat house at Suttle Lodge.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

A ground floor lodge room with a lakeside view.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

Chairs are grouped around the back deck of Suttle Lodge.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

The boat dock at Suttle Lodge, extending into Suttle Lake.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

A larger cabin for rent at Suttle Lodge.

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