Beautiful property but beware of the scary lady who owns the place!
I went camping here with my family, all adults between the ages of 21 and 52. When we got there, we were told but the really nice guy at the office that since it was off season (beginning of May) so we could ignore the signs telling us to park in the lot and just drive down to our site which was at the far end. We rented three tepees but when I went to pay, the price the guy charged me was going to be much higher that the price I had seen on the website. I explained this to him and he told me that he was sorry but that it was a family business and although he was trying to get them to update the website, that it was a struggle to get the rest of the family to do anything to improve the hostel. He was really apologetic and ended up giving me $40 off the price without me asking him for anything. It was still more than I thought I owed but how nice!
We had a FABULOUS night camping here. The next day we made pancakes and hung out at the picnic tables. We had the entire place to ourselves! Although 2 of us were staying another night, 4 were to leave that day. We made pancakes for breakfast (the kitchen and dishes were really dirty but we just prewashed them) and were just about to make lunch at the picnic tables at about 2:00pm when this crazy lady came out of nowhere and started yelling at us!
It was really intense. She was a very angry woman! First she came charging down and yelled at us for having our cars parked in the wrong place, telling us that she could get fined $150 a piece for each vehicle. She then berated us for not reading the sign -or just ignoring it altogether. To be honest, this is not something I would do at a hostel, I just wouldn't.
Then she started talking about how we had screwed her out of $40! She went on and on about this, just saying the same things over and over again in some crazy psychobabble. Ultimately, she told us that checkout time was at noon and that it was now 2pm and we had WAY overstayed our welcome. Well, she had me there! I didn't notice on the paperwork that the guy gave us that it had a checkout time, but it did and it was very clear.
I told her that I was sorry about not noticing the checkout time, but that she just needed to calm down. I told her that I felt that she was hostile and resentful. I believe she would have kept up her yelling if I had not asked her to go so that we could get packed up.
At this point I was really dreading staying another night but I had prepaid my $65 tepee and I didn't want to waste the money. But I also definitely did not want to see that lady again. My partner, who was building a fire and missed woman going on, did not seem to understand the severity of the situation and decided to go try to reason with the lady. It turns out that the mean lady and the nice guy were mother and son.
Shockingly enough, the son was now very angry as well. He started yelling at my partner that we had been trouble since the moment we arrived, etc. The lady also had another bout of yelling. So we all packed up and went home right that minute. It was really odd! We went from being in complete bliss as a family to being frightened, and ultimately insulted by these odd people.
I have traveled to 5 continents and many countries. I have stayed in all manner of places from 5 star hotels to the floor of a kind stranger. I have slept in beds with bugs crawling all over me in the night, fights happening outside my window, sticky floors, stained bedding, lopsided beds -but this was by far the worst place that I have ever stayed and I will NEVER go back.
It is just hard to be so relaxed with all of your defenses down and have someone treat you that way. It is hard to have someone be so nice and then be so angry. These people just really creeped me out.
If you are going to stay here, even after reading this review -I would highly suggest staying very far from the older lady who runs about the property. Just steer clear of her and be wary of the guy, too. Even if he seems nice. And don't stay past checkout, and don't let them tell you that you can break rules of payment or parking.
In a moment of pique, I specifically and intentionally left 2 plates and 2 cups in the sink (without washing them). It was very passive aggressive and I wish that I would have been more mature. For that, I am sorry. read more