YMCA Trout Lodge — Hotel in Bismarck

We had a really great time this past weekend. So we were celebrating my husband's birthday by coming down to the lodge, and we chose to stay in the small Bluff View cabin. I just like the idea of a cabin, it seemed really fun, though there were only 3 of us.

This is (I think) just before their main season kicks off, so we were one of very few visitors, at least on our side of the map. We had a bit of a hard time getting to our cabin, but the front desk staff were so incredibly helpful and patient in guiding us to where we were meant to be going.

When we finally made it to the cabin, we were pleased that the cabin was so clean, and as a mother of a little girl - it's important to note it was also mostly spider / insect free haha. We found a few teeny tiny cieling spiders but nothing that would scare the kiddo. We had a pretty peaceful first night after borrowing and playing a few board games from the front desk.

(The cabin itself, though small, has 3 bunk beds, so 6 beds total. It would be more financially worth it, if you could bring friends/family to split the cabin cost with, but we live away from friends and family so we did what we had to do haha. )

The next morning, however, we accidentally locked ourselves out of our cabin, when we went out to the back porch to watch the sun rise. We were so grateful (and so sorry) that the manager was able to come and let us back in. We woke him up out of a sleep too, we know, we felt so bad, but he was so kind to us.

We had a great deal of fun exploring the lodge's board games and pool tables the next day, as it was too cold to really do much outdoors. Although we did have a brief round of mini-golf all to ourselves and that was fun too!

We found that (perhaps with it being off-season) many of the buildings and activities were not open and waiting for us, but we did have to call the front desk or ask to have someone meet us if we wanted to do an activity. And this was no trouble to the team!

The manager on duty (Ryan?) let us know we could go to the arts and crafts center if we wanted, and we were exctied to try it! They had sooo many options for arts and crafts, it was truly unbelievable how stocked up they are in that department, and Taylor was very kind and helpful to us. We ended up choosing ceramic glazing, and they fired up the kiln for us overnight or the next day, and we were able to walk away with a really pretty and memorable ceramic piece to celebrate our experience here.

We did not choose the buffet package, because we weren't certain if the available food would have options for gluten free (my intolerance) and vegetarian options for my husband. However, if we ever find out they do offer those options, we'd love to come back and try our stay with the buffet package as well. So we did cook in our cabin, and that was a bit tricky, as even our pizza in the oven seemed to spark the concern of the smoke detector haha. It was as easy as opening up the doors and airing out the cabin though.

They do provide simple dishes, a pot and a frying pan, and some knives etc in each cabin, but if you need a tea kettle or any specific dishes, it would be best to bring those. Coffee mugs as well. There is no coffee machine, so bring a french press if you have one. Or, coffee is also available for free in the lobby of the main lodge. We had hot tea there a few times, and it was nice.

I'm a sensitive little susan, so my skin breaks out for any reason, and if that is you, I would recommend bringing your own sheet and blanket/pillow for your bed. The cabin does not contain shampoo etc, but they do provide hand soap. We always bring our own, so no big deal for us!

We wandered around on our final day, and met the ponies at the ranch, just to say hi. We hope to come back next time and perhaps let my daughter take a ride, as well as experience some archery. We'd love to experience swimming when it is warmer as well.

They seem to be doing rennovations and improvements, so we are very excited to return soon. See you soon,...

This has been our Family's favorite gateaway since my kids were small 10+yrs ago. We always had a great experience and always left looking forward to our next visit, dispite the few things we never liked like the food for example or the fact that the facility was pretty outdated. However we did not ever go there looking for luxury nor exquisite food; all we went there for and was always amazing was the friendly staff, beautiful encounters with nature, activities for the kids and for sure the horses and the faboulous Ranch. We decided to visit this past weekend and to our total dissapointment, this is Now a complete different place for so many reasons: No staff anywhere, everything is self served. I counted 2 staff members in our whole stay: 1 person at the Front desk and 1 at the dinning room. Not a Clean place anymore. Our room was dirty like someone left and we were given keys without anyone expecting us: chairs full of stains, roasted pipes, dirty towels with previous guest hair and b... on, dirty sheets and spider webs owned the room. Food was not bad this time, it was completely disgusting. We have never liked the food here so we did bring our own food but we were defenitely shocked when we saw the chicken strips and some veggies -quinoa mixed and roasted beef-yes I know, it sounds good/decent but believe me it was not. No more friendly staff nor any staff. Water activities are now self served, meaning that you have to do it all, from unlocking the stupid lock to cleaning all worms we found on the kayak, to lifting, pushing the kayak to actually finding your life jacket and worst was to find the paddle - total joke The Gym is now a come and Mess area. Again self served- we spent more that 1hr picking up things and finding the things we wanted to use than the actual time we spent there and of course we dont think it has been ever cleaned. The activities schedule is just there but no activities are done anymore. We were really excited to do the fire pit and smores @7pm where all families gather together and it was alway a great time meeting new friends and families but again nothing was done and noone would even say anything. No horse Valley Ride nor Mountain Ride- because of previous day rain. OK we were ok with that but then we were offered to 30min Arena ride for the same $30p/person . Really? Many activities have ceased: Nature center was closed. No more exchange students working No boats activities available Bicycles were no longer available.

YMCA Trout Lodge Instead of the Favourite Gateaway is now our never to comeback place. The price is ridiculous -$381 for 2adults two kids per/night. I did feel like I got robbed and of course did talk to the Front desk the night we came after realizing what was happening. We decided we were not staying and were getting ready to leave. Rain +2.5hrs drive and kids tired made us stay and work with the situation we were in so I got all my carr resouces-pillows and blankets and we left @ 5:30am the following day. Lesson learned , never comeback unless we hear something good is happening there like refurbushing and more staff while hiring New Management. It it very dissapointing to see YMCA allowing for people to feel like this after all the contributions and donations we have made and they receive daily and not only that, doesnt it goes against the Believes and Principles of this Institution?- I am...

My family just finished our fourth yearly trip to Trout Lodge this past weekend. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will be coming back until YMCA figures out what they are doing with the lodge. To say things there are different from a few years ago is a VAST understatement. We noticed during our visit last summer that things had changed but were re-assured that things would be back to normal by this summer. Several of the ziplines (gladiator, night time, etc.) are permanently down. No more hayrides, no more cave hikes, no more shotguns or rifles. The schedule used to be pages and pages long, so much to do that you could never possibly do it all in a 3 day weekend. Now they’ve gutted the schedule, and the little that they do have on the schedule, they have only available for an hour at a time during the entire weekend. Pony rides were only one hour early on Friday (yet, you can’t “check in” before 5 pm). Craft center hours are gutted, only 1-4. Many of the activities were listed at the wrong time, so we would show up and no one would be there, or we would (rather rudely) be told that we were wrong (even though I literally had THEIR schedule from the front desk in hand). We were really struggling all weekend to find things to do within the confines given outside of just swimming in the lake, which you can pretty much stay literally anywhere else now for way cheaper. Amid this gutting of the schedules and activities, they’re now charging astronomical prices for what you get. Yes, the food is included, but its always not been great quality. It’s cafeteria food. Our family had 5 adults and 3 children 5 & under and it was TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS for TWO nights. You can do an entire week in Branson at an AirBNB with tickets to theme parks for that price! Mind you, to participate in many of the sparse activities you have to pay EXTRA. Everything is in disrepair still, even with the new insane price schedule. This was the first summer we’ve went where it wasn’t absolutely packed, in fact it was so unbooked that they didn’t even have us pick a dining shift. I’m sure many folks are having the same issues with the pricing/schedules we are and the number of people staying at Trout Lodge will just dwindle over time.

I can justify the current cost IF they bring back the wide activity schedule, or I can justify the lack of activities if the prices came back to planet earth. But you can’t have your cake and eat it too, YMCA. Whoever is in charge is going to run this place into the ground and...