Buckeye Tree Lodge & Cabins — Hotel in Exeter

First for the 5 star elements.

Location, Location, Location. It's right next to the enchanted forest ($20 per week and you get to venture around, see the world's largest tree, and lots of other goodies). Also, it's right next to a beautiful river full of nice rocks you can walk on and explore. Really enjoyed the view from the room, and from the little porch you share with other guests, which in my time there were all very nice people.

The staff is very friendly and helpful, and they give you a breakfast basket each morning, with fresh coffee beans (Quality stuff) muffins and fruit. Very thoughtful.

Next I list the 1 star elements.

A/C / Heater unit is super loud and you'll probably be using it. For the price we paid, one does expect the facility invest in better equipment. It only blows (Heater in my case) 2 speeds, Loud and extra Loud. Come on folks, you could do so much better here.

Internet is limited to 1 GB per day and requires manually entered password only. I have to be on the web several times a day (Yes even while on vacation). What's more, it's obnoxious to have to enter a password and commit each and every day (You can't use your laptop's auto-connect with password remember.... they force you to look up a cryptic password and enter it each time, which means waking up the wife as I look through the dumb manual).

As a lower unit inhabitant, we were woken up all night by the people above us walking. Floors creak so badly we actually turned on the loud heater JUST to drown...

We stayed in lodge #9. It was exactly as shown in the website pictures. Everything was clean and tidy. We are a family of 4 with a 17 & 19 year old and the accommodations were vey comfortable. It has everything we needed. The kitchenette was perfect for warming up left overs from lunch, and the coffee beans provided from the local grower for me to grind and brew daily was wonderful. Truly appreciated! Lace, who works at the lodge office, was very helpful with suggesting places for breakfast. Definitely give Ard Farkle’s a try, short 10 min drive. We ate there twice. :) All the employees were helpful and lovely. The property is beautiful with the Kaweah River just outside our front door. We could enjoy its roar from the small front porch. It was magical to climb the boulders on the river and just take in the views around us. The lodge provided a free Stargazing tour which we took advantage of. Scott a former Conservatory park employee shared his knowledge of the constellations with us and the night sky did not disappoint. This was huge for us since we realized we were not comfortable driving the widening switchback roads back into the park at night. Thank you Buckeye Tree lodge for providing this experience. We also enjoyed seeing the bats from near by Crystal Cave flying and feeding at dusk, along with the family of California Quail feeding in the garden at the steps to our room. What a magical stay! Buckeye Tree Lodge & Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP were the perfect...

This was the only place available for the weekend that I was going to visit Sequoia. I reserved the river house and it had remarkable views of the river and mountain while sitting on the balcony outside the master bedroom. It was very soothing to hear the river at night while sleeping in a king size bed. The staff was friendly and very informative. The river was colder than the pool, but it's perfect to relax your muscles after a long hike in the forest. The entrance to the park is just down the road so waking up early and beating traffic was easier than I thought. The full kitchen had everything we need and house keeping helped everyday from having to much trash piling up. The only wildlife I did get to see was the different types of birds that would fly around. A perfect spot for bird watching. There were also cows and bulls across the river, but I wouldn't consider them wild. There might be a ranch nearby, but it was still nice to see them wandering around. I took my telescope so it was nice to see Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky without the light pollution. Just looking at the sky without the telescope was amazing as well. You'll be able to see the milky way once your eyes acclimate to the darnkness. There's a lot more to be seen here, but I'll leave that out so everyone else can witness with their own eyes and be surprised.

Thank you Buckeye Tree Lodge staff for the wonderful experience that my family and I enjoyed while staying here....