We had 16 people in the lodge. There was plenty of room for everyone. Big kitchen, great game room. We crossed the street and played in the snow. Will definitely recommend this place.

My family and I got this place for Thanksgiving. It's spacious and beautiful! The kitchen was huge. 8 of us was in the kitchen at the same time prepping meals. And that's a big deal for us because we all love to eat. Also, the dining table. This was the first time we all eat together at the same table. Everyone absolutely love the play/ game room. The kids were never bored. The only thing I would suggest, is that pillows and towels are provided. Since this place is a bring your own bedding, providing pillows and towels will cut down on guests packaging. Besides that, we had a wonderful time and already planning to book again next year.

Our church small group of 23 had a wonderful time during our labor day long weekend. Kitchen is commercial grade, dining table is huge, perfect for our large group. Our kids enjoyed playing various games at the game room. The communication with the owners is open and prompt. And the check in checkout process is easy to follow. One suggestion to the owners is to provide plastic wrap and foil paper sheets. We will definitely refer your place to others.

Great location. We like the outdoor fireplace and the commercial size kitchen. Our family have a great time.

My family loves this place! We will definitely return! God is great! ❤️

We had 5 families coming up for a ski / snow-play weekend with children from 3 - 7. Everyone had an awesome time. The industrial kitchen and massive dining room table were perfect for large group dinners. The stadium couch seating and projector TV were awesome for movie time. I've never stayed at a place with so much fun family entertainment options. They had a massive game room area with four games of Jenga including a 3 foot tall one, two foosball tables, two pingpong tables, air hockey, 3 foot tall connect four, a second TV couch area in the game room, corn-hole, basketball and an awesome outdoor fire-pit perfect for smores. The kids were never bored. This is a bring your own bedding place with a bunch of bunkbeds and mattresses, so set your expectations accordingly. The reasons that I'm giving it 4 instead of 5 stars is that I didn't find out about the checkin process until the day of checkin after calling and emailing the owner a couple times and the check in process ended up being that they'd leave the door unlocked and not give us a key or combination lock. The place is secluded, so it wasn't a big deal. Also, there were no wifi instructions or reception, so we had to have a friend find some random Xfinity wifi signal somewhere nearby to get enough service to email the property manager what the password was. The above are reasonably minor nuances. Overall we had a great time and I would go back and recommend this place to other groups of families looking for a fun weekend get-away.

We had 5 families coming up for a ski / snow-play weekend with children from 3 - 7. Everyone had an awesome time. The industrial kitchen and massive dining room table were perfect for large group dinners. The stadium couch seating and projector TV were awesome for movie time. I've never stayed at a place with so much fun family entertainment options. They had a massive game room area with four games of Jenga including a 3 foot tall one, two foosball tables, two pingpong tables, air hockey, 3 foot tall connect four, a second TV couch area in the game room, corn-hole, basketball and an awesome outdoor fire-pit perfect for smores. The kids were never bored.This is a bring your own bedding place with a bunch of bunkbeds and mattresses, so set your expectations accordingly.The reasons that I'm giving it 4 instead of 5 stars is that I didn't find out about the checkin process until the day of checkin after calling and emailing the owner a couple times and the check in process ended up being that they'd leave the door unlocked and not give us a key or combination lock. The place is secluded, so it wasn't a big deal. Also, there were no wifi instructions or reception, so we had to have a friend find some random Xfinity wifi signal somewhere nearby to get enough service to email the property manager what the password was. The above are reasonably minor nuances. Overall we had a great time and I would go back and recommend this place to other groups of families looking for a fun weekend get-away.

Experience was awesome. We loved our stay

The place was perfect for our cross country team. The kids loved the game room. Lots of space for team meetings in the theatre room. The kitchen was perfect. We hope to bring our team back in the future.

Shared another long weekend at this lodge, and it was lovely. Memories to last a lifetime. The industrial size kitchen, the large dining table, and the location is great. The best is the caretaker Billy who comes by to make sure we are warm enough and well taken care of, thank you Elements lodge!

We loved our stay! Our visit in April was the perfect weather. Warm inside with fresh cool air outside. The big kitchen was a plus and very spacious. All the essentials are there but only one small cutting board. The shower rooms had two glass doors which were semi see through and one curtain room. There is a separate room with another shower room too. Bill was very helpful all weekend. Thank you so much! We do expect to return!

Large, spacious, fun!

Our group of 33 (adults and kids) stayed for a weekend and had a wonderful time at the lodge. There was plenty of room to move around. The massive kitchen and dining table were put to good use. The kids had fun playing with the snow around the house and as if that was not enough, we drove to a snow park about 15 minutes away for even more fun. The weekend was filled with good food, fun games and intimate conversations among friends. We do have some suggestions for improvements: 1) Installing pull-out faucets in the kitchen sink...We found bending over the deep sink to do dishes for a long time could really hurt our backs ..2) Hanging curtains outside shower doors to give more privacy to the communal bathroom...3) Make the game room more inviting with better lighting and carpet...Water leaked in from outside while we were there... These were minor issues and did not stop us from having a great time.....As a bonus, the scenic drive on highway 4 to the rental was absolutely gorgeous and spirit-calming....Overall, truly a memorable weekend.

we took a group of kids up to have a great time it was comfortable the place was heated by a wood furnace the grounds keepee bill showed up multiple times during the day and night to keep it heated was amazing. the place was secluded the only negatives was the projector was not working and its about 20 feet away from a cal trans station sonthe light are on all night, but once you fell asleep you didnt even notice. i will definitely be back.

The location is great, close enough to Arnold (markets, gas, rent snow boots in case you left that one bag at home!) and only 25min drive up to bear valley ski resort. The house is much larger than pictured, the rooms are very spacious with closets and sinks. TV area is very comfortable enough space to watch movies at night. The tree showers are all in one bath, so you need to take turns, but you can write your schedule everyday on the board right outside. The dinning table is massive, we enjoy wonderful meals, everybody sitting at the same time specially Thanks Giving dinner. We most loved the kitchen, all stainless steel restaurant style! One enormous fridge and if that wasn't enough, there are 2 extra normal size fridges for beverages and snacks, there is a six burner stove and we absolutely loved the griddle: bacon and pancakes for all in no time, warming tortillas for "taco night": easy! We appreciated property manager (Billy) daily trips to check on us, answer questions and even crack some jokes for the kids, he kept the wood heater running well to keep us toasty warm inside (it was around 40F outside). We even found the lodge nicely decorated for the holidays, such a neat detail. This place is very functional, nothing fancy but just right for large groups. Our family oriented trip was a big success, dedicating our days to explore the woods (Big trees state park and hike along the Stanislaus River) and play in the snow (Bear valley) and then get back 'home' to eat, play, drink, laugh, even dance to loud salsa music! Suggestions for the owner: Install blinds on the theater area windows for day time entertaining (some people in our group is not very outdoorsy and rather stay and watch TV!) More kitchen utensils like large spoons, ladles and spatulas, that was the only "struggle" while cooking. Suggestions for groups: Bring kitchen towels to dry hands and dishes while cooking. Clorox wipes are good to sanitize surfaces, beds and leather couches specially if you have little ones, we found the lodge a bit dusty. Elements lodge, thank you for the great memories!

Our group was about 20+ people, and we're glad to have this place! The owner was very helpful and responsive on getting our questions answered, and even if we weren't able to get to the property until late night (around 10pm), the owner still made effort to make sure we got there as the reception of pretty much all carriers (including Verizon as I recall) got nearly nothing starting about 10mins before reaching to the site. The staff wasn't really onsite but live quite close to the property, and he's very friendly and tried hard to assist us. The property itself is very interesting also with the decorations inside, and even though the cellular network was pretty bad, they have good WiFi and it's actually not far away from grocery story (about 10mins I think). Despite some issues we ran into during our stay (that's why we took out 1 star), overall we're very happy with the site and will consider to come back next year. So here is a list issues that we encountered and would suggest to improve: 1) AC! The building comes with good heater system so it should be good for winter, but since it was summer time when we visited, the building got heated up quickly, and the fans weren't really too helpful... 2) Mosquito: Since there's no AC + and some of the nets on the window were broken/not there and it's in the middle of the wood, mosquitoes were having a great meal during our stay with no obvious pest control in the building. Again, this probably wont' happen during winter time... 3) 1 out of the 7 bedrooms were out of service. 4) 1 out of the 2 urine bowl were out of service. 5) Pilot light of the oven were out when we got there 6) Oven was quite dirty 7) Nowhere to place trash/food waste except inside the building 8) The big refrigerator next to stove was only working as "storage" but can't refrigerate food. They have 2 "home size" refrigerators as alternatives though. 9) I forgot if the air-hocky or the soccer table was out of service 10) Couple couches were broken 11) Projector doesn't have VGA/HDMI input as I recall 12) No lock/key for main entrance when we were out for outdoor activity (they have 4 set of keys for each room though) Again, even though the list above doesn't look that impressive, by giving a 4-star review, I can still say it's a great place to stay for group retreat! Look forward to visit again, and hope that the things above will be improved!

We stayed at Elements Lodge with a large group of friends- six families that all had one or two kids, most of whom were toddlers. After reading the other reviews I would say they are very on point. This place is basic, nothing fancy but very functional. Like being at sleep away camp when you were young or exactly as they describe, like being in a dorm. As long as you have the mind set that you are going to be "glamping" you will not be disappointed. We loved that each of the bedrooms had a sink in them. Also the large table and kitchen were great for making meals for a crowd. The kids loved the theatre area as did the men when it came time for Sunday morning football! The downstairs space was great for hanging out during the day. We brought a few sets or boards to play bean bags and it worked great to set them up in the driveway and have the kids play in the rec room. We wish the downstairs had been connected to the upstairs, especially with a lot of littles so we could at least hear when someone woke up for a nap but we made it work. Things we wish we would have known/realized: There are no window coverings. Again like camp. But naps were essential for our group and it made it difficult for some. Next time we would bring a sheet or something to put up. The only outdoor space of this rental is what you see in the one exterior photo. The 3 sliding doors open into the rec room, but aside from that most of the outdoor space is the driveway. Along with that, the Cal Trans yard is directly behind the house. While it didn't matter that the view form half the bedrooms was a Cal Trans Yard, it means there is very little property behind the house. If we were to stay in the winter when there is snow I would want to know when the yard is active. If trucks come in and out at all hours, it might be hard to sleep. There were only 6 bedrooms, not 7. One room was under construction and luckily we had one family unable to attend at the last minute so each of our 6 families had a room. The staff was attentive and met us onsite. Our group had a great time overall and asked to go back!

Great Place, great accommodations. Would stay there again in a heartbeat.

Our search and rescue team was provided these accommodations while searching for a missing hiker nearby. The location (just off Hwy 4 but secluded), the physical plant (lots of beds, plenty of room to relax with theater room, large dining table, and restaurant like kitchen makes it ideal for large groups. Host was there to greet us for our very late arrival and provided excellent support.

Our search and rescue team was provided these accommodations while searching for a missing hiker nearby. The location (just off Hwy 4 but secluded), the physical plant lots of beds, plenty of room to relax with theater room, large dining table, and restaurant like kitchen makes it ideal for large groups. Host provided excellent support. Good parking for small RV's.

A very quiet clean Accommodation with geart people to help in anyway they can. We appreciate your hospitality and kindness. And recommend this as a wonderful place to stay for large or smaller groups.San Luis Obispo Search and Rescue thanks you

This was a great place for our church youth camp/retreat! The property manager was great, the space was clean and perfect for our group! We would use this place again.

Overall, we had a wonderful time! There were some fantastic features and some that needed attention. We gave this venue four stars, but we're hoping to come back in a couple of years and see improvements so that we can give it five stars. What we liked most: That dining room table!! Our family of 16 has never found another venue where we could all sit down and eat together. We loved this, and it was the main reason we booked this place. Next, the attentiveness of everyone we had dealings with, from the time of booking to the day we left. We were greeted in person when we arrived, and all our requests were answered very promptly and with utmost courtesy and caring. They even called on our third day, just to see if everything was going okay. Problems, mostly minor, were all taken care of quickly and cheerfully. Thank you all. From the looks of the place and things that the owner told us, this place is a work in progress. You can see that they are making improvements and want to make more in the future. New carpet was rolled up downstairs, just waiting to be installed somewhere. With that in mind, we cut them a little slack for the things that didn't quite meet our expectations. The following are improvements we hope to see soon: Mosquitos. They ate us alive! There is the beginning of a water feature by the front doors that is stagnant and a breeding ground for these bugs. This needs to be cleaned out immediately. No keys. We could not lock the doors if we wanted to. When we left for a day trip, we had to trust that no one would come into the place while we were responsible for it. We had to sleep with no way to keep intruders out. If lost keys are an issue, make renters put down a key deposit. We need to be secure. The majority of the commercial kitchen appliances did not work at all or were quirky. No dishwasher, which was a pain for this big a family. Since the commercial refrigerators didn't work, two full sized refrigerators were in place, thankfully. All the basic needs were met, but the serving bowls and some of the utensils were pretty meager. Beds. We were told they were twins and to bring our own linen, but when we got there with twin fitted sheets we discovered that they are extra-long beds. I wish we had known. We were also told that there would be one double bed which we wanted for a bigger than average family member, but there wasn't. We squeezed him into a twin bed. All in all, we'd come back!

Enjoyed the stay at Elements Lodge. Accommodations were terrific for our large group. Very close to all the running trails. Enjoyed the movie screening. Need to fix the screens on all windows due to mosquitos getting in and eating us alive. Fans would help fight the heat in the summer. Some blinds on the windows would help as well. Little nervous about not being able to lock the house at night or when we left but never saw a soul out there so...We would definitely like to book the trip again next year around the same time. Thanks. Coach James

Upon arrival, our group of around 15 was treated with respect and great care. The lodge itself is in terrific shape with plenty of amenities and games for all ages. The kitchen is great for a large group and came equipped with plenty of glasses, silverware and plates. Bear valley is a 10-15 minute drive where hiking is unbelievable. I would recommend this place for anyone with a group of 10+.

We loved our stay at Elements Lodge! The game room, theatre like tv room, accommodations for large groups, the proximity to the ski resort and the hospitality made our trip a vacation to remember. We will definitely be back.