Just returned from a week's stay at Black Bear Lodge. Our first trip to the Northwoods area of Wisconsin. We are city folk, used to renting summer homes and were looking forward to a new adventure. We enjoyed our stay.
Pros:
Location. If you like to fish, have a boat or water craft, this is the place. The lake is at your door and it's beautiful. We bought a $15 pole and sat on the dock every night. Caught tons of fish and saw bald eagles, muskrats, you name it. Awesome.
Clean rooms. We stayed in lodge home #204. Recently upgraded, it appeared, and very clean. The sheets and beds were superior. It was completely quiet at night and the air conditioning was awesome. Also, our bathrooms had the best hair dryers we've ever seen in hotel rooms.
Bear's Den Restaurant on site. We ate there three times and took pizza out one night. They have themed dinners and great entertainment several nights a week.
Staff was amazing. They lend you board games, give you day trip ideas and always have a smile to boot.
Cons:
It seems kind of pricey for Northwoods, Wisconsin. Our six night stay exceeded $2000 for the room alone. The recently upgraded decor of our room (#204) was severely basic. No knobs on the kitchen cabinets (which stick . . . wave bye bye to your fingernails), the Lazy Boy chairs do not have side tables for coffee or drinks, the internet is ethernet cable accessible only and the bathrooms are poorly lit. That being said, the place does grow on you!
The bike/hiking trails are over a mile away. To access them, you need to go down their main road (people speed there, so watch the toddlers) and cross the highway. Also, the kayaks and the one peddle boat are very last century -- but they are free, so no complaints. The lodge provides life jackets. We recommend using them.
The bedrooms do not have suitcase space (the TV is on the dresser in front of the mirror), so plan on putting everything on the floor -- actually the master had one suitcase rack, but none in the guest room. Also, a draw string curtain pull would be far superior to the two bar pulls. The sun shined brightly through the curtain gap as our wake up call at 5:30 each day!
Overall, a fun new experience.
- Black Bear Hotel
- Black Bear Resort
