Mountain glamping
Is high- end camping the perfect pandemic panacea?
The perfect pandemic panacea just might be glamorous camping, better known as glamping.
That’s what Anna Baird thought when she created Hideaway Co, a mobile hospitality concept that allows guests to enjoy Mother Nature’s cathartic embrace without the hassle. Glamping is popular in the west, but you don’t see many high- end campers east of the Smoky Mountains.
In Ms. Baird’s version of the great outdoors, there is no lugging firewood and dripping coolers filled with melting ice, damp hotdogs and soggy buns when you decide to get away from it all.
Beginning Oct. 9 and continuing through Nov. 1, Hideaway Co. will be pitching tents in the Laurel Highlands at the Barn at
Maple Falls in Rockwood. To take part, you basically don’t even have to strike a match.
“Right now we have 30 tents set up in three campsites on the grounds with 10 tents per site,” Ms. Baird said.
Each tent has charging ports for laptops and cell phones and is heated with a potbelly stove. “We light it for you at night.”
Each campsite has its own luxury bathroom trailer with toilets, sinks and private showers.
Imagine sleeping inside a real safari- style tent surrounded by the sound of crickets and tree peepers, drifting off to dreams of exploring the wilds of Western Pennsylvania. It’s not exactly Lewis and Clark, but you could be among the first to experience what this new movable hotel has to offer.
“I feel like I won the lottery when I found this location,” Ms. Baird said. “It is perfect!”
The Barn at Maple Falls, which is run by the Enos family, is a rustic wedding venue set on 300 acres. It includes a renovated barn and farmhouse, a Christmas tree farm, a maple syrup operation, waterfalls, and biking and hiking trails.
A year ago, Ms. Baird was the marketing manager at the Ace Hotel in East Liberty before getting back into film and television. Then COVID19 hit. She thought it would be a two- week inconvenience, but as it dragged on, she had an idea.
“The idea of glamping married my two areas of expertise — hospitality and film. I was used to the gypsy life in film, where you literally are packing up and creating something onsite,” she said.
She shared the idea with Bethany Zozula, executive chef of Ace Hotel’s Whitfield restaurant.
“I said, ‘ Hey, let’s take a bunch of people camping, and you can make them some food,’” Ms. Baird recalled.
“l just wanted to give people an opportunity to rediscover all the incredible natural amenities we have just a stone’s throw out of Pittsburgh.”
She was also motivated to get hospitality employees back to work. “That is where my heart is,” she said.
Hideaway Co. has created a unique weekend that includes locally sourced gourmet meals. It begins with a Friday welcome reception and dinner. On Saturday, guests wake up to breakfast and complimentary yoga and mindfulness sessions. Then they can go off on an excursion with or without help from Hideaway’s excursion concierge service. Guests can tour the grounds of nearby Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob ( the virus has curtailed indoor tours), enjoy the fast water at Ohiopyle, ride a horse at Seven Springs, and ride bikes on the Great Allegheny Passage. Shuttle service is offered to all excursions.
“Just remember it is all based on availability since fall is very popular in the Laurel Highlands,” Ms. Baird said.
“You can also sign up for a massage at a modest additional charge or just chill near your tent reading a book,” she said.
There will be a happy hour and dinner Saturday night, and quiet hours start at 11 p. m.
“We want this to be about relaxing and unwinding,” she said. “We just really want to give people the opportunity to disconnect and enjoy their surroundings.”
Sunday brunch and more complimentary yoga and mindfulness bring the weekend to an end.
Weekend packages cost $ 3,000 per couple or $ 1,800 for single occupancy. A kick- off promo on hideaway. com is offering 15 percent off, and other discounts will pop up, Ms. Baird said.
The camp will also be available to book during the week without the sit- down meals, Ms. Baird said.
On weekdays, there will be concierge services and boxed meals available from a local purveyor. The cost is $ 249 per night plus tax.
If glamping takes off here, Hideaway Co. is considering a winter version.
“The tents are heavy- duty canvas, and the current camp is close to skiing,” Ms. Baird said.