Lots of places to spread out so we weren't breathing down each other's necks. The weather was not cooperative when we were there, so the game room was perfect to keep teens and small children happy. Caught a couple of mice, but understandable when surrounded by woods and in a vintage cabin. It's life. Used the sauna and the pool. It was a bit cool and would have liked to swim more because the pool was so nice. The little kids 10 and under were thrilled about the mess of blue gill they caught. Thanks, Josh for having a large place to rent!

Had a great week- the cabin worked for our large group- the bar area and game room are large and accommodating. We made great use of both. The kitchen is large and well stocked. The outdoor space was great and the pool and sauna were a big hit! Josh was a great host- he was very responsive and helpful. The cabin is a little cluttered with many Knick knacks, partly kitschy- but partly overwhelming. We had trouble finding a boat rental- so we were not able to take advantage of the lake to the extent we had hoped.

Our overall stay was nice. The access to the lake and pool were great throughout our stay. The large yard provided a fantastic place for the kids to play wiffle ball and run around. The inside bar area was a fun place to hangout, eat, and just look around at all the great memorabilia. The game room/great room was a hit for both kids and adults alike, especially when we were stuck inside because of rain. Overall, this was a great choice for our party of 20!

Perfect size and location for our group!

We had 25 family members stay at the house when we were in the area for a wedding. The lodge was amazing with great character. We brought most everything we needed but the amenities offered were above and beyond what you would expect. Kitchen fully stocked with appliances. Plenty of cold storage! Too many indoor and outdoor activities to list here, but there are activities for every age. Plenty of outside seating if you just want to relax and enjoy the views of the lake. The owner was in contact before, during and after our stay and responded quickly to our messages. Highly recommend this lodge to anyone looking to VRBO in the area.

The House was everything we expected!! We plan to be back next year, hopefully with more people!! Josh was super helpful and responsive!

7 couples stayed very comfortably in Bowstring Lodge. We had a wonderful weekend! The place was very interesting and the owner was great to work with. Would definitely recommend this to anyone!

The property was awesome. Beautiful lodge.

25 members of our snowmobile club stayed here for our annual trip. We loved efact that we could all be under one roof. This layout is a little quirky, but it had tons of space for everyone to hang out and socialize, especially in the bar and huge game room. Awesome to see the historic lodge being put to good use.

We rated the property, amenities, location to trails a 10/10. The condition of the trails we rated 11/10. Only note: the floors are a little crooked, which adds to the charm, but if you have vertigo or a few beers ... beware ;)

This place is awesome!! It's a quintessential lake-side cabin. Parts of it date back to 1908 with other parts added on later. We spent Thanksgiving week there with 16 family members (adults, teens, and littler ones) who all fit comfortably. The game room was where we spent most of our time playing pool, foosball, skeeball, or curled up on a couch catching up. The lake was frozen enough to walk on and to try some ice fishing. The kitchen was big enough for several adults to prep meals. The owner was very responsive to any of my questions or concerns and the wifi was shockingly fast. We highly recommend this property for any large groups trying to get away from the chaos to relax.

An interesting cabin what appears to be built from a bar for deer hunters. Host was very friendly.

There was a lot of space and plenty of things to do inside and out. Great for large groups of people. The owner was very nice and communication was on point! Would definitely recommend and would definitely come back.

Lodge is very spacious & has so many amenities.....loads of things for everyone to do. Lake has great fishing & boating. The lake did have swimmers itch during our stay, but we were ok with the above ground pool, hot tub & sauna. The owner is quite responsive & easy to work with. It was just a great stay.

It was a great experience. Josh was great at communicating and a super nice guy.

Great for the right type of trip! We were here for a bachelor party and the main living area was highly spacious with lots of fun activities possible!! Really great. We had a great time. No hand towels in bathrooms and water smelled a bit funky with some rust on shower heads. Listing didn’t accurately reflect how rarely the hot tub is in use (summer months only). Communication with host was pretty good and overall for our type of trip the main living area and bar area made it worth it!

Property was clean and lots to do inside and outside. Rob responded quickly with any questions and was very accommodating. Was even able to help us out in a pinch. Will be back next year and would highly recommend.

unique

For our icefishing trip we usually bounce around the state and havent found a place that fits us or group. This is our home away from home and we were very happy with the place. Rob was very helpful and stayed in contact for all questions. We hope to return soon and already scheming when that will be.

We love this place so much. It’s so accommodating to our large family. There is room for everyone!

Beautiful place to relax. The lakes and changing leaves were wonderful. Plenty of games and activities to suit many different fancies. The kitchen was large, and having an extra fridge for drinks was great. The place has character. Some flooring wasn't level, there were several exposed copper water pipes, a couple windows and drains could use some TLC, and the wifi didn't connect well on the far side of the house, but none of the eccentricities were problematic. There were a couple miscommunications about date/time and canoe availability, but Rob was extremely flexible and always accommodating. He did everything he could to make sure our stay was great, and it certainly was.

This 1908 historic log old resort and bar is now a wonderful rustic vacation rental. I would like to address a few comments I read before my vacation. The wires in the house being exposed, this is a 100 year old log home, the wires are not in the wall like a modern built home in the bar and game room, they are however unseen as normal in the rest of the house. Another comment was about bedding, we used all 7 bedrooms and they all had linens, blankets and pillows. We did bring our own towels for showering and beach but there is a new washer and dryer available. The two refrigerators was a bonus for a large group. There is also refrigerator/collet in the bar area which was perfect for all the beverages. We used the hot tub and sauna a lot, ih and the outdoor shower was a fun touch also. Rob was a gracious and helpful host. Hope to go back with a group of friends someday.

Rob was extremely responsive, helpful, and informative from my initial inquiry through the check-out process! He answered questions during our stay via text within minutes. The property itself was so fun - our group of 12 played all of the games in the entertainment room, spent lots of time in the hot tub, cooked and ate meals together, did puzzles, and laughed around the bonfire. Plenty of room to sleep, hang out, and spread out. Such an amazing, relaxing, fun weekend! Would recommend 100%!!! 5+ stars :) Thank you, Rob!

We enjoyed the hot tub and pool. It’s quiet, spacious and beautiful and allows for a great family (or friends) vacation with plenty of space to play games or just enjoy the lake and scenery. Fun to visit the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids or the Lost Forty Acres for additional activities.

This was a great property for our family. Plenty of things to keep the family occupied on the property and many lakes in the area for boating, fishing, etc. The property manager kept in contact to make sure everything was good while we were here. We will definelty look to rent this place again in the future.

I was very impressed with this cabin / lodge. It had plenty of room for a dozen friends -- plenty of bedrooms, bathrooms, and refrigerator space, plus several great common spaces including a former bar. The features -- hot tub, sauna, pool, campfire, and more -- got a lot of use. The wifi was excellent, which was critical for several guests who were working remotely. I am likely to book this cabin again.

This is by far the most spacious and unique property we have ever stayed at. The cabin had everything you needed and more. Owner was awesome.

Rarely do we arrive at a rental to find that is actually bigger than the pictures make it look! Upon arrival I immediately redeemed myself with our group for a cramped location I booked for last year's trip. Everything worked like it should and Robert was a pleasure to deal with. There are a lot of instructions with this property which makes sense with such a large place. Robert is very clear that if something is wrong, just let him know, which we did. When one of our guests inadvertantly broke a plumbing fixture, I contacted Roger and he immediately responded. He even had some spare parts on hand so that I could perform the simple fix myself. There was no blaming or being upset, only solutions and working together to make our stay enjoyable! It happened to be unseasonably hot for our trip reaching 96 degrees one day. Robert had some extra fans waiting for us upon arrival and the house handles the heat nicely. The main level stayed cooler than many places I've rented that had air conditioning. The lake was a bit of a drawback as it is unusually low this year. The only dock that could accommodate our large boats was 30 minutes away on the other side of the lake so we did a lot less fishing than we would have liked. Luckily the cabin was so well set up that we had just as much fun playing games and telling stories out of the sun. I would gladly stay with this host and cabin again.

My family was very happy with the location. We had a lot of fun sending off my Marine to his deployment. Hopefully we will get another chance to stay at this location.

The house was big and very nice. One side is more up to date then the other. The living room, bar, kitchen and dining room were huge but on the other side of the house, it seems more out date and spooky. Very dark. The host was always very easy to get a hold of. After checking out, we made sure we checked out correctly but I guess we didn’t. The owner called us 1 week later and right away threatened us with a lawsuit for “damages”. There wasn’t any instructions on where to put the blankets that we used so we piled it in the living room thinking that was okay. There were plastic shot cups and a beer can in the hot tub filter and apparently, we left the kitchen a mess when we made sure we cleaned it well. We made some rice, and had left some in the sink from washing the pot, the owner considered that trashing his kitchen. We were also told we broke his cups and a picture frame when we didn’t even use his cups and didn’t even touch his pictures. We brought our own red solo cups. He also said we left the trash where we were not suppose to and the animals got to it. We asked him where to put it because we did not see the dumpster by the garage. He stated to put it in the gray shed next to the fish, which we did. At the end, we were threatened with a lawsuit again and was told driving up would be an inconvenience if he’d went on with the lawsuit. Owner also stated that if he filed the lawsuit that he would ok because he lives there. The cabin was a good experience but the host professionalism was not. This situation could of been handled very easily without being threatened with a lawsuit. Don’t get me wrong, this place is a great place to stay at and the host is very attentive when you have questions. He ask for us to let him know if there’s any issues before posting it on the review but we’re not treated the same back. Could of just called and let me know what the issue was and we could of gone from there instead of calling and threatening us with a lawsuit. Also, we checked with VRBO customer service and they said that the host is suppose to send an invoice through vrbo if they charge extra on a cleaning fee which we are not obligated to pay. They are not suppose to have us send it through PayPal or venmo so be aware. We were not told about these issues until a week after we checked out. Whoever books with the host, make sure you don’t leave any mess because he may demand more cleaning fee. Be sure to take pictures when checking out as proof also.

Great time, definitely going back!

Awesome cabin to hangout at!