About Three Bears Lodge at Mount Rainier

Luxury vacation rentals near Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington.

Our Mission and Values

Our mission is to spoil our guests with exceptional amenities and outstanding customer service. We work hard to exceed their expectations with thoughtful amenities. We provide luxurious furnishings, high quality linens and beds and fully stocked kitchens. Our homes should make our guests feel like they are at a friend's fully equipped vacation home. We listen to our guest's feedback and continuously improve. We strive to provide accommodation that is as good as any vacation rental cabin you'll find in Washington.

• Service is our passion. We go above and beyond to create loyalty one guest at a time.
• Respect and Caring for our guests and each other, as people diverse in background and perspective, as a team and as members of the communities we serve.
• Honesty and Integrity. We will conduct ourselves in an open, honest and fair manner building trust in all of our working relationships.
• People are our greatest strength. We hire the best talent. We train, motivate and empower them in an environment where everyone has the opportunity to flourish. We unleash their potential and recognize and reward their contributions.
• Teamwork. We believe the team is stronger than the individual. We build on each other's ideas and talents because we know that together we make better decisions and experience more success.
• Excellence. An unwavering commitment to quality and innovation. We constantly raise the bar in all that we do to sustain our competitive advantage.
• Fun is essential to our success. For our guests and for ourselves.
• Privacy. We never share any customer information with any entity outside of Three Bears Lodge, LLC. Our customer information and emails are strictly and securely protected.
• Environmental and Community Support. We support a variety of organizations through volunteering and financial contributions. $5 from every guest paying by check instead of credit card is donated to the Washington National Park Fund. We also belong to several vacation rental associates which help maintain excellence in vacation rentals by certifying it's members rental property quality.

Our Staff

Melissa Harwood is our Customer Experience Manager. She focuses on providing outstanding service to every customer. She also ensures we offer the finest accommodations possible for the best value. Melissa worked for many years as an Alaska Airlines flight attendant. She insists that when we put the customers first, our business will prosper.

Kevin Harwood is our Systems Engineer. Kevin works as a software developer for a major company in Seattle. He is responsible for managing our office computer network, developing our web site and marketing our business. He’s also responsible for most of the website photography.

Starr Korvin is our Operations Manager. She assists our guests with their reservations and manages the staff and properties. She ensures that every inquiry receives first class attention and that our guests are well cared for during their entire reservation process. Before joining our team, Starr worked for 8 years as a manager at Nordstrom in Seattle. She brings the core values of Nordstrom's exceptional customer service to Three Bears Lodge.

Kane Jamison is our Business Development Manager. Kane is a whiz at design work. He created our business brochure, writes our monthly newsletters, and updates to our website and other travel sites we use to advertise our cabins. His primarily role is to get the word out about Three Bears Lodge!

Chris Olson is our Head Housekeeper extraordinaire. She manages our housekeeping staff and ensures that our cabins are consistently cleaned to the highest standards for our guests.

A Little History of Three Bears Lodge

Three Bears Lodge was founded in 2005 after a serendipitous trip to Mount Rainier National Park. It was a Mother's Day present to Melissa that took the Harwood family on their very first visit to Mount Rainier National Park. They planned a long weekend of hiking and exploration with evenings spent in the hot tub back at a small vacation rental near the park entrance. Upon arrival they noticed a realtor across the street erecting a 'For Sale' sign in front of a very cute cabin tucked under giant cedars and firs. They asked the realtor if they could take a quick peak inside while he was staging the home for sale. As some of you may know, it is very dangerous to take your wife shopping unless you are ready to buy something! They both immediately fell in love with what would soon become Three Bears Lodge…

Instead of visiting the National Park, the Harwood's spent the weekend visiting local businesses and talking with the residents of the town of Ashford. It became clear that Ashford was a thriving gateway community to Mount Rainier National Park. Ashford offered a variety of tourist activities, first class accommodations, a selection of restaurants and shops, and exceptional outdoor scenery. They decided to make an offer and, coincidentally, signed the final closing papers on Father's day.

From the start, they worked hard to build the finest vacation accommodations in the Cascades and Three Bears Lodge became an immediate success. In the summer of 2006 they purchased their second cabin, Little Bears Cabin. This home was custom built in 2004 by a ‘snowbird’ who spent his winters in Arizona and summers in Ashford. The home was built with special attention to durability to survive winter when the owner was out-of-State. It has a commercial grade metal roof and rain gutter system, heavy duty insulation, central heat and air conditioning and a wrap-around Trex deck. The Harwoods installed an 8' Clearwater hot tub, laid flagstone pathways and flowerbeds, and installed sod throughout the backyard. They also added stone stairs leading up to a private sitting area that’s tucked away under the tall Douglas firs and looks out onto Mt. Osborn.

In the late fall of 2006, they purchased the Dancing Bears Lodge. This home was owned by a Mt. Rainier National Park ranger who relocated to small ghost town outside Mammoth Lakes California. The Park Ranger built a small mill onsite and timbered the trees on the property. Mr. Bell built the entire home using traditional post-and-beam construction. Legend has it that nearly the entire town of Ashford turned out for a grand house raising event. Guests love the heavy timber construction reminiscent of traditional log home architecture. Above every door in the home, he created a scene from the mountain or a silhouette of an animal found in the National Park. The bathrooms, kitchen and living room have custom built cabinets made from the exceptional pieces of local timber, which also feature wonderful mountain scenery and animals. One cabinet has food chain themed drawer pulls complete with Orcas, Salmon and Herring. The Harwood's love spending time at the Dancing Bears Lodge and host their own family reunions at this cabin every year.

In 2008 they purchased Lazy Bears Creekside Cabin. This cabin required a full remodel from the studs to the roof. They replaced the electrical, plumbing and septic systems, added a second bathroom, remodeled the entire kitchen, replaced all the flooring and windows, and built a river stone fireplace in the living room. They also added a game room that features a pool table and two built-in twin beds, so the 4-bedroom home can now comfortably accommodate 10 people. Lastly, they installed sod, flower beds, a dry creek bed and cedar bark chips to create an inviting, fully landscaped yard and also a large deck that overlooks Big Creek. This sad little run-down cabin has been beautifully transformed into the most popular of the Three Bears Lodge cabins.

What started as a whim has turned into a full time business for the Harwoods. They cherish the relationships they've established and sincerely love assisting people in creating the vacation of their dreams. The best reward is that they have the opportunity to bring their own two children to the cabins on a regular basis and instill in them the same love of the Mountain that they have themselves.

The Harwood's with the Tatoosh Range in the background

High up on the Skyline Trail above the Paradise Meadows

Playing at The Dancing Bears Lodge

Gifford Pinchot National Forest with Mt. Adams in the Background

Mt. Rainier Cabins near Ashford Washington | Lodging near Mt. Rainier National Park, WA | Dog Friendly Cabins in Washington | Waterfront Washington Cabins near Rainier