Under the Stars @ Chimney Rock Campground — Hotel in Cresco

The group we camp with has had issues with this place the last 2 years that we have camped here. Last year the owner's dog was running loose all the time and actually came into our campsite and tried to attack one of the dogs. This year the owner was very confrontational with my husband over some firewood. He was demanding that we unload our firewood into his shed because it is posted that no outside firewood is allowed. We have camped lots of places that state the same thing but have never had an issue. The owner was very hostile and in my husband's face like he wanted to fight my husband. He was very unprofessional for a business owner. Our whole group was very uncomfortable at this campground after the confrontation took place. The campground run down and not taken care of very well. There used to be a playground that has fallen apart and instead of the owners cleaning it up they just mow around it. The bathrooms are not clean. They harass you as soon as you get there about checking in but the office seems to always be closed. Our large group will not be camping here again next year.

To the owner- your son's approach to us was unpleasant and rude. We have 6 year old daughter that we were trying to get settled after kayaking all while it was raining when your son confronted us about the firewood. He demanded that we follow him at that very moment because he was going on break in 20mins. He treated us like criminals over firewood. My daughter was very upset when we came back from unloading the wood because we left without telling her where we were going. Did we bring in firewood when the rules state not to, yes, but I'm sure there are others that do the same. It's like bringing your own snacks to a movie theater. You're not supposed to but lots of people do it. The reasoning for my 1 star review is because the situation was handled VERY poorly and unprofessionally. An owner of a business or their employees should NEVER get into the face of a customer with the intentions of a fight the way your son did...

The place itself is beautiful. The campground was well manicured, and the night's sky was amazing. The cabins were cute, and the beds were pretty comfortable. The management was another story. I'm not sure if the people running it were brand new, but there were so many odd things. We arrived 10 minutes before check in and there wasn't a sole around. Check out was even worse. It was so odd, I'm not even sure what was happening. You can't get anyone on the phone and takes awhile for the person to call you back after the voicemail says to text him because he'll get back faster. 45 minutes while waiting outside your cabin isn't fast. The port-a-potty across from the cabins ran out of TP so I went to ask for more and to have the trash picked up because racoons were going through it. The manger asked me to go down and ask his works to put TP in the porta-potty and to pickup the trash??? It was awkward, but I did it, then the guy came out and told them what I had already told them. It was strange. Each member of our group had odd interactions with the guy in the office. He was rude in a back handed way. Make sure you bring quarters for warm showers because the coin machine is broken and no where on the site does it say warm showers cost. The cabins were gross when we arrived. It looked like someone brushed their teeth in our sink and didn't wash it down. Make sure you bring cleaning wipes because every inch of the cabin will need wiped down. I don't think anyone actually cleans them. Once they are clean, they are great. If you are renting their kayaking/canoe equipment you might want to bring your own life jacket. We've done kayak rentals all over the US, and this place by far has the worst equipment I've seen. I really hope this place gets some new workers because this place is already wonderful, it just needs a little TLC and some workers that actually care.

PS Allowing your workers wear a confederate flag hat while on the job...

A group of 4 of us stayed at "Under the Stars at Chimney Rock" campground in September 2022. One of my friends reserved cabin 4 online ahead of time unbeknownst to us when we arrived our reserved cabin was given away to another guest since they wanted to be closer to another entity that had also reserved a cabin. Our cabin was given away without letting us know ahead of time. On top of it, we were given a smaller cabin in its place even though the campground had a similar cabin we eventually did receive after we complained to the new owners. Compared to years ago the cabin round tolls are almost double the price and are not good value for what you receive. The cabins are pretty primitive and there is not much space. There is space between the cabins though so I do have to give the campground credit for that. Reserving kayaks ahead of time was also painful since the owners did not return phone calls. They did return a text message which eventually ended up with me talking to someone else in the office on the phone so it was convoluted to start with. When my friends and I as well as a few other travelers were waiting to be taken up the river to kayak back down. The owner made numerous comments about my friends not being smart or intelligent and even mentioned that she doesn't do a good job being kind to guests and that she could do better. I would hope and assume that she was being playful and just joking around, but when you are an owner of a business, it's probably not good to say that stuff when you aren't aware of the guests or how they would react. Overall, I feel it was just a poor experience and I...