My sonâs jaw dropped in joy when we stepped out onto the beautiful deck and saw that view! It was just what we needed! A sweet, peaceful lake with ducks, great blue herons, and resident loons made kayaking our favorite activity. Thanks for having two kayaks for us to use! The water is so clear and having a sandy entry by the dock made playing frisbee with our dog in the water the best! And what a nice detail that you had a doggie âgateâ to keep her safely on the deck. Loved a great big table for games and eating too. Thanks for the memories!!
This place was perfect for myself my fiance and our dog. It had everything we needed to cook and the water was perfect for all of us to swim and hangout by the water.
We found the cabin very comfortable and the lake highly enjoyable. The kayaks were a nice bonus. Left behind a couple items, the communication with the host was quick and our items made it back to us. Thank you for a lovely stay and exceptional service!
My family & I rented this house for my birthday weekend. It was absolutely perfect! The house is a cute little cottage on the lake. The kayaks were a HUGE hit! Definitely recommend this lovely home!
Really enjoyed our stay. Beautiful views from the deck - great lakefront. Easy access to Bellaire, Petoskey and Traverse City. Very quiet all week. Clean comfortable place and the bar within walking distance has good burgers.
A great gem of a place to stay.. the view of the lake was amazingâŠTammy was so great and help make our stay wonderful⊠would definitely book again..
Everything we needed or could have asked for. Spectacular view and back deck overlooking the lake was perfect.
If the host was okay with our stay, we would love to rent it again if needed.
This is a wonderful place to stay. The lake is so clear and the fishing is great and the cottage is lovely. The host Tammy is wonderful- responsive and answered all the questions we had- very kind. We really enjoyed our stay! Thank you so much Tammy for being such a wonderful host and providing us the opportunity to stay at the cottage.
We loved quiet mornings and evenings looking over the lake and the chance to kayak right from the house. Excellent cycling right from the house too. Traverse City was an easy drive away. The house had everything we needed to be comfortable. Tammy was a great host with good communication for everything.
Great location! Trails are right across the street with a snowmobile destination bar and gas station just down the bock. It is also right on starvation lake so we Attempted a little ice fishing but no luck. The place is exactly as described and was good for our family of 3. I think too many more than that it would get crowded really quick. For the fun factor it was great stay.
It was a nice place, but was not as clean as expected. There were fries on the floor, chewed up lollipop stick, used tissues under the bed, used toothbrushes in bathroom. Screens have rips so bugs get in. The area is quiet so thatâs great and lake is beautiful.
We really enjoyed sitting on the upper deck in the morning drinking our coffee and/or eating breakfast. Evening was great also having drinks and snacks when the lake was smooth as glass. There is quiet time (low speed) on the lake in the evening and morning.
Watching the loons (thought they were ducks at first) was totally interesting. We had two Great White Herons trolling on the edge of the lake below the deck.I would include a pic but I only got a video of them taking off.
Going to Mancellona for breakfast at The Iron Skillet (which we recommend) be aware that the nav system may put you on snowmobile trails. Was happy I had AWD with good ground clearance. Started using the satellite view to pick hard roads.
Although Starvation Lake is one of the smaller lakes, we definitely enjoyed our week there.
Note the following:
* No towels or wash clothes;
*No easy beach access;
*Canopy on pontoon boat damaged and not useable;
*Dangerous slippery wood steps into the water;
*submerged cement blocks immediately in water entry area;
* "jerry rigged" patio gates of canvas and hooks;
*No dresser for clothes in one of the bedrooms. Lived out of suitcases for 2 guests.
In my opinion, the beach area items must be addressed to avoid personal injury.
My boyfriend and I loved this cottage and the gorgeous lake. First of all, it was very clean, absolutely spotless! That was my main concern renting a cabin, but I was pleasantly surprised. The interior decor was lovely. The bedroom walls were hand-painted and I think the furniture was custom-crafted. We stayed in the main bedroom, but I imagine a family with children would love the second bedroom. Absolutely everything we needed for cooking was provided. We watched a few movies from their DVD selection and there was a nice little fireplace in the living room, but we didn't use it. Outdoors we used the paddle board, paddle boat, gas grill and fire pit. There were also kayaks available. We also loved the views of the lake from the three level deck. Highly recommend this rental, we will definitely be back.
It might have rained 90% of the time during our 4 night stay, but it didn't stop our family from trying to enjoy the lake. I've stayed at numerous rentals in Kalkaska/Mancelona area, and this one was one of my favorites because of the view and lake in general. The view of the lake from any of the three deck platforms is beautiful. It's nice that there is a sitting area at the waters edge and stairs for being able to walk into the water and not having to jump right in. Sandy bottom and no weeds. The cottage comes equipped with kayaks and a few other water toys/inflatables for the kids. Beds were comfy. Neighbors in close proximity on one side, but it was a super quiet. There's a bar and general store within walking distance. The bar offered takeout, and the general store was pretty much equipped with necessities in case you forgot something...and they have ice cream. I had a few questions about the cottage upon arrival, and Tammy responded instantly and was able to get us squared away. It was an overall enjoyable stay.
Our family visited this beautiful home from 8/27-8/31/16. My parents were supposed to come with us, but had something come up at the last minute and were unable to come along, so it was just our little family of 4. We had an AMAZING vacation & wished it could have been longer! We felt so at home. It was very clean & cozy, also decorated so nice. Our girls especially enjoyed the paddle board & kayaks, and playing with the little minnows on the edge of the sandy bottom crystal clear waterfront. We enjoyed the many rafts and toys provided in the "party house" down by the waterfront, and were especially grateful for the fridge which we could store our beverages in while we enjoyed relaxing down by the water. The peaceful mornings on the beautiful deck overlooking the gorgeous lake, with loons calling in the background was just what we needed. We were also very happy to bring our little...big... fur-baby (2 yr old golden lab) with us on this vacation & she had just as much fun splashing around in the water as we did. My husband was pretty excited to have caught a trout one evening when venturing out in the middle of the lake. We made wonderful memories & had the best family vacation in a long time. Owner was excellent to work with, and accommodations were above & beyond. We would highly recommend this rental for a small family just wanting to get away from it all for a while. We would love to be able to come back again for sure!
When we walked into the Lake and Trails Lodge, we were capitivated by the view of Starvation Lake from the main room of the house! It was even better standing out on the deck. The deck had three levels withe the lowest being the dock on the water. It is 56 steps down to the dock so those with mobility limitations would have a difficult time going down and coming back up. The house was small/cozy but we knew that from the property description and more than big enough for my wife and I. The house was clean and well-stocked too. The lake was cool/refreshing with sandy bottom. We didn't do any fishing but saw lots of fish jumping in the evenings. The owner, Tammy, was easy to work with and very responsive. One minor limitation was the wifi internet and TV service. There is no cable or satellite TV, just streaming and apps. We experienced frequent interupptions in the internet service so if working on-line or watching streaming programs there were recurring interupptions (lasted 3 - 5 minutes but the service restarted each time, never out for hours or anything). Our only other drawback was having 4 days of overcast skies and rain (but you can't control the weather). Overall, it was a clean, affordable rental that is centrally located to many northern Michigan destinations (about 45 minutes to Lake Michigan or Traverse City and about an hour from the Mackinac Bridge). We would certainly consider staying at the Lake and Trails Lodge again.
This was a great location to the ORV trails and conveniently very close to the local bar/restaurant. Place was clean and cozy with a great view of the lake. My only complaints are that the TV apps kept booting us out repeatedly (it rained most of our stay) and there were no life jackets/PFD for us to use the kayaks.