This cabin called the "Almost-to-Heaven Hideaway" has just been renovated to serve as a vacation rental, just in time for guests to be within a short 5-minute drive to Big Bear's Octoberfest Celebration, now in full swing through the end of October in the Big Bear Lake Convention Center.

The first thing you will notice when you arrive at the cabin is the jaw-dropping view. It encompasses the entire pine-covered Bear Mountain Range that is home to the town’s two ski resorts – Bear Mountain and Snow Summit. Walk down a short flight of stairs and enter the cabin’s great room, with its vaulted T&G wood ceilings, custom stone fireplace, large-screen television, and its wall of glass doors that captures the amazing 180-degree view.

With three bedrooms and two baths, this cabin easily accommodates eight guests, who can spread out in more than 1,400 square feet of mountain charm. Stroll out onto the deck that stretches the entire length of the cabin. From its west end, you’ll even catch a small glimpse of Big Bear Lake.

Almost-to-Heaven Hideaway provides the rustic atmosphere guests seek in a mountain home, but it also offers the conveniences one expects when on vacation. The kitchen contains a new, large refrigerator with ice maker, a microwave oven and a dish washer; tucked behind shuttered doors in the hallway closet is a new washer and dryer. While the custom stone fireplace adds warmth as well as ambience to the great room, a thermostatically-controlled central heating system maintains an even temperature throughout both floors of the cabin no matter how chilly those mountain nights become. And if you have to stay connected with the outside world, there is wireless Internet available throughout the cabin. So bring your laptop!

Adjacent to the great room is the vaulted master suite, which contains a queen oak sleigh bed, a large, mirrored walk-in cedar closet, and sliding glass doors to the back deck and that view. Downstairs are the other two bedrooms, separated by a full bath. One bedroom contains a queen iron bed and the other a set of full bunk beds that can hold two adult couples or four large kids. This being the first month the cabin is being offered as a vacation rental, all bedrooms contain brand new mattresses. All bedrooms also have televisions.

There’s a fenced back yard if you want your pups to get some outdoor exercise, and a gas barbecue on the back deck. Almost-to- Heaven Hideaway is tucked away on a dead-end road above North Shore Drive, which makes the amazing view of the ski slopes possible. If you seek an even better view of the lake than from the back deck, however, all you have to do is take a 5-minute walk into the National Forest that is only about 500 yards from your front door! Because this section of the forest is relatively unknown to most tourists and just the immediate neighbors, you will feel like you have discovered your own private park!

But if its more social activities you seek, it’s only a short 5-minute drive to the Big Bear Lake Convention Center to the Octoberfest Celebration. Another few minutes will take you to the marina, the village or the ski slopes. Yet after a full day at Octoberfest, boating or shopping, we know you’ll be glad to return to the calm serenity of Almost-to-Heaven Hideaway. What a place to leave your worldly worries behind and unwind. Now, that’s heavenly!