Mr. Ronnie, Thank you so much for choosing to stay at our lodge. I hope it provided all that your family needed. You all have been in my prayers!

Hi there Mr. John, First off I apologize if our property did not seem to meet your expectations. We strive to high standards and I wish that those would have met your needs. I would like to address each of your concerns as they are important to me, negative or positive. So I will address each of these as you list them in your review of our property. You have felt that our description and us as owners are deceiving. We state that you can ride your OHV straight from the lodge without trailering. You found this to not be the “whole picture”. The State of Colorado is not an OHV accessible when it comes to state highways. Even if your OHV is “street legal” The only access we have in Colorado on state highways with our OHVs is to cross the highways to gain access to an OHV designated route. Many mountain towns in Colorado have outlawed OHV access so the fact that South Fork welcomes them is quite a privilege. With that we encourage that ALL our renters abide by the town's rules to this matter. We as owners do not have anything to do with what the town requirements are to gain OHV access in town. In your review it states there is only one trail you can access from our property straight on your OHV without trailering. Below are a list of trails that are accessible straight from our property. CR 15, 610, 610.3B, 611, 612, 600, 613, 630, 615, 616, 645, 644, 650, 649, 795, 660, 659, 665, and 666. My husband also looked over a map with some of your family the night of the 25th and gave detailed descriptions of multiple trails and answered lots of questions about our trails. In the review it states “We alerted the owner to a few issues while we were there, they came over and they said it wasn't a problem.” You did in fact tell us of 3 issues and we apologized for any inconvenience it may have caused you. The 3 issues were one broken chair, a face of a dresser drawer pulled off, and the dishwasher was leaking water and bubbles all over the floor. The evening of June 25th we came over to try and see what the issue was with the dishwasher. My husband removed the bottom cover and then we ran it through 2 wash and rinse cycles and watched for any water leaks. There were none. When I asked if the dishwasher pods that we provide our renters were used. I was told “no we are using the pods we brought. They are on the counter in the ziplock bag” I asked if they were laundry pods because they were not labeled and that would explain the bubbles all over the floor that leaked out of it. I was told they were not laundry pods but no really knows as they were in an unmarked container. There were no issues with the dishwasher after that and with any further renters after your stay. The chair and dress being broken I was willing to let go because I know accidents happen. But when I walked into my listing June 30th the morning of your checkout there was much more damage than the chair and dresser drawer. Our cleaning fee is $300 for a 5 bedroom (with extra sleeping spaces) 3000+ sqft home that sleeps 15. That is on par for even smaller homes in our area. Our check out list includes the following. Strip only sheets of all beds slept in, empty all little trash cans into the main big trash can, please don't leave any dirty dishes, start a load of towels in the washer and put them in the dryer and start one more load of laundry. I also ask to take any food out of the refrigerator. The big trash was taken out but all other trash cans were full of trash. I honestly can’t remember if you all had started laundry because I was so taken back by the state of my home being left in. There were a few items left in the refrigerator but that wasn’t as big of a deal. The review talks about “taking heed from other reviews”. If you look at our reviews we have 1 other low star rating beside this review. It gives both sides of views from us as the owner and the renters. Other than that one (who didn’t follow house rules) we have a 4.7 average rating. We strive hard to provide the best experience for all our renters. But I as the owner will not let people disrespect my property even if it costs me a bad review. As to why you did not receive your full damage deposit back, I will list that as followed. After your check out on June 30th, I personally went in to clean to prep for new renters checking in at 4:30 the same day. Much to my dissatisfaction I found not 1 but 2 broken chairs, snot and boogers smeared all over doors, walls, and the armrests of the couches and recliner. The dresser drawer (which I knew about) had to be fixed, decks of cards torn up and left on the poker table, outdoor decor destroyed, and the most disgusting part, urine all over the toilet seat where you sit down. Not just a little but so much that when it was not cleaned up by your group (which I leave cleaning supplies in all 3 bathrooms just in case there is an accident) that it stained the wooden toilet seat. I also had to replace that before the new renters arrived that day. There was trash left all over the bedrooms, bathrooms, and dining room floors. Not even tried to be thrown away. The house was just left gross and a mess. I have date and time stamped photos of all the mess and damages. I only kept $450 of your $600 in damage deposit when I probably should have kept all $600. Like I said above I know accidents happen but this was way above and beyond that. I love hosting and providing a place for others to come and make memories but not at the price of destruction and I do deserve our property to be treated with respect.

Thank you Jessica for choosing our lodge to host your families memories to the mountains and for the crazy amount of fish you all caught! Hope to be able to host you again!

WE LOVE that you keep returning to our lodge!!!

Thank you for choosing Baxterville Lodge. We loved having you as guest and would welcome you back anytime again.

We ABSOLUTELY loved having you all here! Would love to have you back anytime as aways. You are family here!!!

Laurel, your family was a delight to have and we would be blessed to have you back!!!! Thanks for visiting us.

We are sorry you didn’t find our place fitting for your family. We appreciate you staying at our lodge. As we strive hard to keep a well maintained and clean rental, that also means we may have strict rules compared to others like not allowing pets or smoking of any kind as listed on our VRBO listing not once but Three times. I’m sorry you found it not fare or unpleasant to follow our house rules. As of the forest fire restrictions there is and was a stage two fire ban in our area that restricts any outdoor burning including smoking. I (the owner) checked in twice. Once when you got there to make sure you all got checked in ok and the 2nd time to not scold your mother but tell you all as a whole that smoking was not allowed on the property. As you had acknowledged that you knew that but decided that rule didn’t apply to your family. Living on site is and has been listed in the “about the owner” section. We apologize if you did not read that part and understand. We do not operate any business but our vacation rental on site. We do drive home from work and leave for work on a daily basis as we work hard to provide for our family. As for the power washer, we do not own one but have thought of getting one! I would make one suggestion and say maybe make sure that you are aware of all details of your next rental. Just as you want a great experience so do the owners and having renters who blatantly ignore house rules makes for a bad experience for all.

Thanks so so much for choosing Baxterville Lodge as you place to make memories. We were thrilled to have you and hope to see you again soon! You were fabulous renters!!!