Whitewater Memorial State Park Cabins — Hotel in Liberty

TL;DR: Good semi-rustic location, nice group lodging. PACK DEET!

We stayed here in an unseasonably warm November, so we got the benefit of reduced crowds plus warmer weather (a mixed blessing -- see last paragraph). The cabins are spacious, with two bedrooms (one with a queen bed, one with two twins) and a sofa with pullout couch in the common area if you need to sleep more than four people. Mattresses are plastic-wrapped against bedbugs. You will need to provide your own bedding, towels and soap. (There is a camp store in the park if you forget something.)

The kitchen area is a bit compact for more than two people, but includes a full-sized refrigerator and oven, electric range top, toaster, coffee maker, and (small) microwave. There are a few pieces of cookware in the cabin, but we brought our own pans and utensils to ensure we had the right tools for the meals we'd planned. The dining table is pushed against a wall and must be pulled out into the main room to seat six. There is a fire ring with grill outside, for those wanting a campfire.

The screened back porch has views of the trees or lake depending on your cabin location. It is furnished with a wooden picnic table, and is a nice place to eat, play a board game, or just enjoy nature. The porch can get buggy at night if you have the lights on, as some of the exterior doors/screens do not fully seal.

Some cabins are pet friendly (you will see my dog in the photos) or ADA accessible; you can make your reservation accordingly. There is a stair and very short trail down to the lake from the cabin loop, and it's just a short walk up the road to the Veteran's Vista trail, for easy hiking access. More rugged trails are farther up the road.

Since these cabins are self-servicing, you will need to clean the cabin (supplies are provided) and take all garbage to the dump bins at the end of your stay. It's not a hotel with housekeeping service. :)

I quite enjoyed my stay! The ONLY drawback (and largely my own fault because I didn't think to pack insect repellent in November) is that due to the extended mild weather, the deer ticks were practically swarming. All of our party (dog included) ended up with ticks that had to be removed, and I was also finding them in the cabin, probably from when we returned from hiking. Unless you are staying in the dead of winter or after a hard freeze, you will want a powerful tick repellent such as DEET to ensure that you don't pick up any unwanted...

These cabins have been neglected and cost-cut since our last trip. No towels. No hand soap. No plates, bowls, flatware, or cups. No serving or cooking utensils to go with the two pans. No sponge. No mugs, paper towels, or salt. Clammy plastic pillow covers, ghostly cool white lights and noisy HVAC.

The checkout cleaning list is to fully clean the entire cabin: mop everything, clean the toilet, dust out inside the drawers, everything. Good luck though, they says the cleaning supplies are there but they are not. We had three old rags and an incomplete set of cleaning products. Yeah, I am not cleaning the cabin's toilet with my bare hands, a tattered rag, and Windex.

These cabins don't make sense. They're furnished like a college town apartment before the first thrift store run. Whoever runs these needs to give control to someone who cares enough to do a good job. Raise the price and make them as enjoyable as any regular cabin rental. As they stand, prepare for a weekend of frustration over all the stuff you don't have because you expected a rental cabin to have,...

That was an incredible weekend! We were looking for a good, relaxing place for a bachelor party hangout weekend and this place definitely fit. It was relaxing, peaceful, and out of the way of noise and chaos. As mentioned, there was practically nothing in the cabin besides furniture and whatnot, though unlike other reviewers, there were basic cleaning supplies in our closet. We brought all our own stuff and it wasn't terribly different from how I pack for camping, so the lack of stuff was no problem for our group. We were definitely sad to find that the note on the map about a horse barn is no longer true, but yet it says so anyway. Good thing @Salt Creek Ranch is...