I found this lodge on the internet and booked an aniversary getaway for my husband and I. We were greeted in 100+ degree heat with "You are to early and we have no water!" We arrived about 15 min before check in according to the website. It indicated that if you arrive early and your cabin is not ready you can have lunch or a cold drink in the cafe. Not! The cafe is not open for lunch or to provide a cool waiting area. Upon checking in the cabin it was so blasted hot you could not breathe. There is no air conditioning! The only seating, other than a table and hard chairs, was a filthy futon. I realize it's in the wilderness, but it was dirty and there were cobwebs all over. We had to go down the street to Ryan's Wilderness cafe to eat and wait for the water to be on. (A great little place!) We left and asked for the cabin to be cleaned and for a sheet to put over the futon so we could sit down. We got the sheet, but no cleaning. The food was ok and dinners all seemed over-cooked, the salads were great. The bed was hard! The cafe is definitely old and showing much use. At best, it could use some cleaning. The grounds are minimally taken care of. The cabins are newer and nice in structure, but with no air and no window coverings on the west facing side we spent most of the late afternoons in our car in the air conditioning. There are fans, but it was not cool by any means. We stayed 3 nights, as I booked the all inclusive, and only one night was spared from the heat. The staff were nice, however, the guides were very young and not highly experienced as the information is presented. They did do their best to answer questions and help when asked. Our second day was spent on the river, a gentle float which I was aware of due to the season, but returned in the heat of the day to have the water off again due to a leak they were still fixing. Although the staff apologized for the water (and we realized it was not their fault), there was nothing done to go the little extra mile you would hope for based on what we had paid and the extreme heat. I even suggested a free beer with dinner, but nope that was not possible. The third day was a hike at Canyon Creek which spared us from most of the heat and Landon did his best and was a nice young man. Our lunch was sandwiches made with mayo that had been in his backpack, not refrigerated, for a minimum of 3+ hours. Yuk! The rivers and surrounding areas are beautiful. At check out there was still no comp even offered for the water being off, at times, for 2 days. My expectations for the cost of this trip were definitely not met. Do you research on what you are expecting.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
13 September 2011
Thank you for your comments. I was glad I telephoned you to learn more about exactly what your disappointments were. We will do our best to correct those within our power and improve our guest service, as that is always our goal. It's unfortunate that during your stay we had a broken water pipe (our first ever) and no doubt that was stressful for our staff. We do disclose that we don't have air conditioning on our website, so I'm sorry that was a surprise and that we had such unusually hot weather. As we discussed, I do hope you'll join us in the spring when it's cooler and you can also do a thrilling whitewater rafting trip on the Lochsa. Many thanks - Peter G.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC