Junction West Vallecito Resort — Hotel in Four Corners States

Apparently this location was recently taken over by a company based in California - so don’t waste your time trying to contact them - it’s not going to happen.||||We stayed at the campground July 4-9th 2023 in “Cabin 10” which was apparently the old owner’s quarters. The cabin is attached to the “store” and right next to the laundry building. It is also listed as the cabin to contact should you have any issues (as the literature they pass out upon arrival hasn’t been updated since the owners left). So don’t be surprised when random campers come to your door with their housekeeping issues. Also, I hope that the crashing sound of ice falling from an ice machine is soothing to you - you’re going to hear it all day and night from the “store”.||||To be honest, I never planned to write a scathing review for the camp until the last few minutes of our stay. This isn’t a perfect place, rather it is dirty and dingy - but I had great interactions with staff except for one - the one who encouraged me to write this review - Erin! She is the “manager” of the grounds and has been since before the company purchased it.||||Erin uses the absence of authority to her advantage and runs the place as if it is hers - and has included her family and friends in the scheme. She hired her sister and brother-in-law as housekeeping help and landscaping. Her sister was very helpful when we needed more toilet paper (since apparently 8 people only need 3 rolls of tp to last 5 days so that’s all they initially provided in the cabin). My cousin and I talked to Erin’s sister for awhile and that’s how we learned her husband does the landscaping - he owns his own landscaping business in NM. The landscaping looks as though the place has been abandoned for some time. So - I can assume the conflict-of-interest in hiring family to help run the camp stops Erin from actually managing the landscapers. ||||As far as housekeeping goes - just about every kitchen utensil we used had crusty food on it. They provide a crockpot with the kitchen - but PLEASE bring liners to use - we did. The sheets in the three bedrooms seemed to be washed, but the apparent blood stains were not able to be removed. I brought sheets to put on the pull-out couch for the two small boys in our group since I didn’t want to assume the camp provided any. Unfortunately - there was no pull-out couch (we called before to verify that there was) so the boys had to sleep on the living room couches. Fortunately, I was able to use the sheets I brought so we didn’t have to snuggle up with the nasty sheets they provide. ||||I can only imagine that the previous owners had large white hairy dogs - they left a lot of their fur in the couches and all over the shaggy rug in the living room. It’s hard to feel clean in a place that has someone else’s dog hair all over it. That leads me to believe that not much in the cabin was ever deep cleaned once the owners vacated. ||||The most disgusting and disturbing thing we found was in the upper corner cabinet of the kitchen. When we first got there and were rummaging through the cabinets to see what was there we opened the corner cabinet and were smacked in the face with a horrible fishy smell. We slammed the cabinet shut and labeled that cabinet the “fish cabinet” which was to be avoided at all costs. One night our husbands were looking for something in the kitchen and they were brave and opened the fish cabinet. What they found wasn’t fish but a used dip-cup that had been used by previous guests. It was a red solo cup half-way filled with the spit and discharge from someone who used chew tobacco. It had to have been there long enough to begin putting off that horrible fishy odor. I’m telling you it’s a haunting smell. Clearly the staff does not go through the cabin completely to clean - they most likely just do a spot clean and resupply the toiletries. ||||The cabin does not have central air (we are from AZ so that was shocking) but the temp inside didn’t get too bad as long as you kept the windows open to let the breeze in. That was all well and good until about half-way through our stay when the neighbors septic seemed to have an issue. We had excavators, plumbing crews and curious campers right outside our bedroom window throughout the day. Not sure if they ever fixed the issue, the excavator was still there when we left. It wasn’t just the noise but also the dust and smells that situation that created an issue with having an open window. Quite annoying. ||||So let me tell you about Erin’s final act of disgrace on our trip. We had pulled both our truck/Jeep to the fence in front of the cabin to load our belongings and head home. Erin came by to empty the RV Dump Fee collection box (which I can only assume she pockets) and told our cousin that he needed to move the trucks immediately. She stated that people would come flying around the corners and she didn’t want them to hit our vehicles. Nice enough of her, but the speed limit in the camp is 5 MPH, so there really was no immediate threat - unless her crew does illegal speeds in the camp on roads where children ride their bikes. So we told her we were just packing up and would be out of the way shortly. She then amended her statement to say that we were parked in a fire lane. 1. We were parked right were the dump station for large RVs unload their tanks, so that would then be located in a fire lane - these dumping vehicles cannot just speed out of the way of fire trucks since they are hooked up to a sewer line. So either that is not a fire lane or the dump station is in violation of some sort of fire access laws. 2. This “fire lane” had no markings to indicate its presents. So again, we told Erin we would be out of the way shortly. She said “Well you have 15 minutes or I’m calling the police. I have them on speed dial”. Not sure why a remote “family-friendly” camp like this would need the police so frequently and immediately to have them on speed dial - but it makes me wonder. As we were walking our items out of the house down the walkway to our vehicles Erin and her sister were in the laundry building right next to us, talking about their plan for the day. They must have forgot that the windows to the laundry building were open so we could clearly hear their conversation. As I walked down the porch steps I heard Erin say “…. Well these fuers…”. I hollered back at her and said “What fuers?”. She then replied “You heard me, I can say whatever I want”. Wow, what a slap in the face as a final farewell to paying customers. ||||When we reported this to Booking.com they initially were shocked and talked about removing this camp from their site. When we called back to follow-up they said that the camp reported that we trashed the cabin. Not sure how that would change the facts of our stay, but nonetheless we actually took pictures of the cabin upon our departure knowing that we were going to review it negatively and also assuming that Erin would be vindictive. Full disclosure - we did leave our dishes from breakfast in the sink - it a full service “resort” so that shouldn’t have been a problem.||||We have stayed at the Pine River Lodge cabins down the way before and they were SO SO SO much better than this place. Don’t waste your money here - there are plenty of other campgrounds/cabins to choose from...

Spent 5 nights on a family vacation at this "resort". We stayed in cabin 10 better known as the "lodge". This place does not offer the amenities of a resort at all. We traveled from Texas and if you are even a little familiar with Texas you know we experience triple digit temperatures in the summer. Air conditioning is an absolute necessity. It is just something we're use too. When I booked this place I assumed I was going to get some air conditioning in this lodge. When we arrived and the lodge felt warm inside we began adjusting the thermostat. Nothing ever kicked on and then we realized the place didn't even have air vents. I brought this to the attention of a staff member to find out there is no air conditioning and she could provide us with 2 extra fans. I was by far shocked to hear this. My family and I discussed leaving if they would consider refunding us our money for the rest of the week. I was told my the manager Erin that they could not offer any refund or discount for the inconvenience. She stated if I had read their amenities it doesn't list air conditioning as something they have. I have never thought to check amenities for air conditioning. It is not something you normally have to confirm is available. I told her this is something that should be said is not available on the website especially for those that come from other states and have no idea. They should understand that most their visitors will be people/families from other states. How should I have known air conditioning isn't a thing in Colorado at most places. The wifi they do say is available on their list of amenities is not available. It never worked and then it wanted a payment when you got on. So confusing. You're forced to use the wifi everybody else uses around the resort when it specifically says the "lodge" has it's own wifi. I was told, "well this is the mountains, you just never know, we loose connection all the time. Makes no sense. Also, they didn't even provide any extras. When I went to the office to ask for trash bags I was told, "people usually bring their own". They are also a 35 minute drive to Durango. I don't consider that close. They are also not a skip and a hop to the lake like they make it seem. The icing on the cake is the RV waste dump is literally right in front of the lodge. I had the joy of watching people empty there waste right outside the front door. Definitely not a selling point. We managed to survive their current heat wave with no air conditioning but I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. For the price and what I paid I could have stayed in a much nicer, up to date, full amenities Airbnb. Please look past this place. Consider...

Vallecita is an alpine resort offering a mix of RV spots, cottages, and converted RV cabins, and while the layout rambles, it’s surprisingly easy to navigate and big rig friendly. Many of the RV spots are occupied by seasonal residents, and along with the cabin folks, many of these campers return year after year. Nearly everyone we met was extremely friendly, the camp hosts were super helpful, and the owner is great to work with and did everything to make our stay ideal.

The spacing between sites is pretty average for a commercial park, but the camping feels more natural due to the presence of lots and lots of trees, well cared for grounds, and a sort-of neighborhood feel to the whole place. Our site was long and level, and our utilities were easy to reach and worked perfectly during our stay. While some of the activities were limited due to Covid, the park usually hosts a number of social events and offers many common areas, including an outdoor pavilion, grills, playground, dog run, and laundry. There is plenty of room to walk a dog or move around outside, and while the park was often full during our stay, it was never loud and/or crazy. This park provides the best WiFi we’ve ever used in an RV park, but it’s only available near to the office/store, which offers nice outdoor seating, and the large outdoor pavilion. The office store stocks all sorts of helpful items (ice, wood, soda, ice cream, etc) and they fill propane. Cell service/internet is a bit tricky, and while some areas of the park get some, others get zero. Our site had zero service without our booster, but we had really good service (streaming was fine) with the booster.

This CG location is beautiful and close to more of what makes Colorado so popular, 2 reservoirs (Vallecita and Lemon), tons of hiking, and all sorts of picturesque scenery. It’s a 25 minute drive into Durango, and visits to Silverton and Mesa Verde are also reasonable. We appreciated their reasonable seasonal and monthly rates (which they will prorate beyond 30 days), and that we were able to receive packages during our stay. We enjoyed our time at Vallecita and would...