Dan the owner appears to suffer from extreme small man syndrome. My wife and two small kids and I were staying at the hot springs. My Mom and Dad were staying at the RV park in their camper. On the first night we had a birthday party for my 8-year-old son. Some of my cousins, my aunts and uncles and my gramma came and we had a barbecue at the RV park. We're all Montanans, born and raised in the Deer Lodge area. My Mom called and clarified before we came out to make sure that it was ok to have about a dozen guests for the birthday. The owners said it was no problem, just have them park off in the overflow.
One of my cousins got there late (~7 pm) and pulled up in the short, dry gras adjacent the parking spot. The owner, Dan, came out and asked her to move. We apologized and she moved. Didn't think anything else of it.
On day two, my wife, kids and I went back to visit and eat lunch with Mom and Dad (who are in their 60s). I parked in overflow. We had a nice lunch, and then we decided to help pack up as my folks would be headed back home early the next day and my family and I would be at a work function in Anaconda that night. I pulled my truck over from overflow and - unthinkingly - backed up into the dry grass next to the occupied parking spot so I could load totes and coolers for my Dad who is less-abled and needs a bit of help (even though he won't admit it, like I said, he's Montanan, but he tore a muscle in his arm and can't lift as much as he used to).
I'd been there for maybe five minutes, and had my hands on the tailgate when Dan rolls up in his golf cart and told my Dad that my pickup needed to be moved. Realizing that we'd goofed, he apologized and said we'd move it, we were just packing up. Dan retorted "everyone's always just packing up. But we had a problem with you last night, too."
Basically both of us were taken aback by this, because the tone came off incredibly hostile. My Dad told Dan, he understood and that I was just leaving and that he and my Mom would be gone early in the morning, and not to worry because we wouldn't be back. Dan shot back, "maybe you can get the hell out of here now if you're going to pop off like that." Kind of dumbstruck at the tone, I said, "pardon me, sir, I don't understand, what about what my Dad just said did you find objectionable?" Dan said, "he's got to smart off about never coming back, he can just leave now." Dad and I just rolled our eyes and I motioned to my wife to load our toddler into the car seat, shaking my head. I shut the tailgate and Dan, whipped around and said, "you're gone!" Then he turned to my Dad and told him he was kicked out.
I held up my arms and said, "I'm leaving -- I'd have been gone by now if you hadn't stopped!" Dan hopped out of his golf cart and walked over to me, looked up and said, "maybe I need to call the sheriff." I motioned to my wife, still buckling our daughter into the car seat, to hustle. I responded, "I'm leaving. But, I'm in law enforcement and I'm not moved by empty threats. If you think you need to call the sheriff, you do what you need to do." Dan just stood there.
Then we loaded up and left. I looked through some of the other reviews of this place here and elsewhere. I know sometimes with overly negative reviews you take them with a grain of salt. Sometimes the customer is just unreasonable. Given my experience, I would say these other reviews citing outrageous behavior from the owners rings absolutely true. Buyer beware. These people are awful. As a native Montanan, I think we can do a hell of a lot better as far as treating folks.
I took my family to the hot springs and dropped them off. Then went back and parked on the shoulder of the road to watch and make sure Dan didn't harass my Dad as he had to pack up on his own. Danno, what goes around comes around, hoss. read more