Wambolts Cabins — Hotel in Park Rapids

After over 40+ years visiting the Park Rapids area, my family and I have been lucky enough to stay at several resorts, including In-We-Go Resort, Camp Liberty, Whippoorwill, the Loon’s Nest, Wambolt’s (a prior iteration of this resort by a different owner), Home Bay, and more.

When we saw Wambolt’s was up and running again, we were so excited to give it a shot and booked 4 cabins for our family!  Unfortunately, we got a little too excited and booked before reading “the fine print” as in-depth as we should have.  If you’ve never stayed in the area, you may not have issue with the differences between this resort and others in the Park Rapids area, but for us, they were quite a shock.

There were 2 major reasons we won’t return to this particular resort.  The first is that they consider their weeks to run from Sunday-to-Sunday, rather than the typical Saturday-to-Saturday.  This probably isn’t a big deal if you live in the cities like a lot of their guests.  If you live further out, though, this forces you to either take an additional day off work or just lose a day of vacation.  We typically leave at 3 am on Saturday to drive all day and arrive after check-in time.  We check out on Saturday morning, drive all day home and have a little time to recuperate from the drive before going to work on Monday morning.  A Sunday checkout would leave no recuperation time after arriving home at 10 pm or later.

The second major reason is that they expect a 50% deposit (normally 20-50% in this area, so not a problem) and the remaining 50% a week before you even arrive.  Every single resort we’ve ever stayed at in the area “settles up” on the Friday night before checkout, and that’s when the remaining amount due is paid.  We have NEVER stayed at a resort up here that expects 100% payment before even arriving!  Typical service contracts would be 50% down, 50% at completion, so I’m not sure where the logic was on this decision.  When I asked about it, I was told that other resort owners suggested that to them.  I’m not sure who they consulted, because none in the area do that.  Perhaps it was their competition doing a little meddling?

The cabins were very picturesque!  The peace and quiet was amazing, as usual for the area.  The lake had ducks with 17 ducklings!  I’ve never seen so many with one mama at once.  The pair of trumpeter swans was there, along with their babies, and there were definitely more than 2 loons on the lake, and they weren’t shy about coming close to shore, enabling many great photo opportunities!

BONUS POINTS:  for having a spice rack!  Over the years, I’ve learned to pack a specific variety of seasonings, so we were all surprised that there was a spice rack!  This is a GREAT difference that all of us noticed and appreciated!

We did have quite a few ticks… Every night, at least one of the eight of us was pulling them off.  One left a pretty nasty bite on my father’s leg, but it seems to be healing now.  I know there’s a big movement for not mowing grass and leaving things wild, but I think the dangers of tick bites might be worth mowing between the cabins and the lake to be on the safe side.  There is also quite a bit of poison ivy on the trail from the main strip of cabins up to the container cabins.

One other difference we noticed is that most of the resorts in the area (all the ones we’ve stayed at, anyway) have trash cans outside the cabins for guests to put their trash in.  Then, the resort owners collect the trash each evening and take it to the dumpster collectively.  However, here there are no trash cans by the cabins here.  Instead, you are instructed to take it to the dumpster at the top of the drive, which means either quite a walk with a bag of trash or trash being carried in your car to the dumpster.

Yes, these sound like first-world problems, but if I can pay the same amount at a different resort and get something that works better for my needs, I will.  I am a believer in giving honest, respectful feedback.  If no one ever tells them, they can’t improve.  This is a great...

My friends have been talking about this place for a long time so I thought it was time to finally check it out. I have also been really interested in the shipping-container-as-home/cabin thing and really wanted to try that out too. Booking was a breeze, and my 14-year-old son and I headed up for a long weekend.

It is a long but manageable drive from the Twin Cities, with some fun stops along the way (I'm not a dad that insists on powering through a long drive, I like to stop and see the sights). The largest tiger muskie in the world in Nevis (namaste, tiger muskie) being one of the highlights.

Resort is well laid out and easy to navigate. The area where we were staying was separate from the rest of the cabins, but was well signed, and easy to find. The shipping container cabins are nice, but if you bring a bag you would have to check on a plane you have brought a bag that is WAY TOO BIG for a shipping container cabin. They are small, but also has everything you need, so you figure it out. Also, of that size is not for you they have many other sizes of more traditional cabins.

The resort itself is amazing. The vibe here is one that is unique: the owners start the whole relationship on a basis of trust, and you can see the trust they are sharing everywhere. And the vibe I got from other folks was that they were picking up on that trust, and paying it forward. It was an unexpected, but totally welcome vibe, and it was special.

There are rafts, and paddle boards, and kayaks, and loads of trails, and a disc golf course, and an amazing lake to swim in, and decent wi-fi, and firepits, and a super cute motel/gas station/cafe just down the road. You're less than 20 minutes from Itasca State Park. And I hear the fishing is great, though that's not my thing at all.

We both had a great time. Yes, he had to crawl over me to get into the bed as the bed filled the entire bedroom space, but we also spent over an hour outside looking at and talking about the stars and space and life, in a way that likely would never have happened at home. The time together was something I wanted, and Wambolts understands that who you are with is the most important thing. I would totally go back, I want to go back, and...

My husband grew up going to Wambolts for a week every summer from 1987-2002 (and as I was grafted into the family I got to experience the resort in 01-02). He always wished he could go back, and that is now a reality thanks to new ownership with a great vision for the future while preserving the memories and character of the past. We just returned from a week at Wambolts and cannot say enough good things about the resort. The cabins are how we remember them but with some pleasing 21st century updates (Wi-Fi, awesome new Adirondack chairs, Solo Stoves, clean and crisp bedding, etc). There are few things better than sitting on the porch with the windows open, listening to the loons. The rec room and laundry facilities are great amenities for a week away from home. The hospitality is second to none. We were treated like family and can’t wait to return and make Wambolts the new family tradition for...