Wambolts Cabins

10/09/2026

Some of us want coffee and a breeze. Some want game night. Some love being together, with enough space to occasionally pretend they’re not. 😂
Every cabin has a personality. Which one feels like you?
☕ Cabin 2: Coffee and trees. Peace and a breeze.
🌿 Cabin 5: Together time. Room to retreat.
♟️ Cabin 9: Game on. World off.
✨ Cabin 14: Good taste. Unhurried pace.
😎 Cabin 15: Big family energy. Do-not-disturb vibes.
Tell us your cabin number below. Better yet, send this to the person who belongs on that porch with you.
📍 Upper Bottle Lake | Park Rapids, MN
Find your Summer 2027 spot at wamboltscabins.com.

10/03/2026

A wonderful former neighbor sent us this clipping from the Park Rapids Enterprise Centennial Issue and we love it.

Wambolts, back when getting here involved a train, a wagon and a boat.

Still cabins. Still pines. Still Upper Bottle Lake. Still Wambolting.

Original caption:
“Alexander ‘Bud’ Wambolt built the first cabins at Fisherman’s Lodge on Upper Bottle Lake in 1900. He arrived in the fall of 1899 with the idea of starting a fishing camp and became the first resorter on the Mantrap chain of lakes. Eventually, the camp offered 14 vertical pole cabins, each with a screened-in porch. This photograph shows a small cabin in the foreground and a four-room cabin (right). In the early days, only men came to fish. They arrived at the Dorset depot, then rode in a wagon to Little Sand Lake and traveled by boat to their destination to fish for muskies, perch and suckers.”

10/02/2026

This is how a sink becomes a remodel.

Cabin 14 was already cute. Then we stayed in it and discovered the tiny kitchen sink was much cuter than it was useful.

So maybe we fix the sink.
Maybe add a dishwasher.
Maybe move the range.
Then Lou got involved.

And by that I mean Lou and Sandy had the whole thing finished in about a week.

Now she has a better kitchen, more counter space, a dishwasher, better seating, the same red fridge, the same ridiculous porch, and the same lake about 20 feet away.

Also somehow the only cabin with several July 2027 openings left. 📍Upper Bottle Lake, Park Rapids, MN.

That probably won’t last.

10/01/2026

STRICTLY MODERN. Apparently.

We just hung this old Wambolts Camp sign in Cabin 14, and I love it even more because of where it came from.

A former guest had it, passed it back to us, and is coming back to stay at Wambolts next summer.

That feels pretty fitting around here.
The sign says “Housekeeping Cabins. Strictly Modern.” which is especially funny since Cabin 14 just got a much more modern kitchen.

More on that very soon.

For now, the sign is back where it belongs.

Lake Days. Then. Now. Next.

09/30/2026

Legacy.

That is a big word for a family that has only been part of Wambolts’ 125-year story for a relatively short time.

We hope our chapter is a long one, full of new pieces added to this wonderful, wild, beautiful Wambolts puzzle. And we hope we live up to the legacy we inherited.

But you cannot talk about the legacy of Wambolts without talking about Mike and Kathy Cook.

Around here, there is Wambolts BC and Wambolts AC.
Before Cooks.
After Cooks.

And let me tell you, AC is better than BC by FAR. 😂

Mike and Kathy are the heart of Wambolts. They have fixed it, built it, worried about it, celebrated it, loved our guests, loved our kids and somehow loved us through every crazy idea.

How often do you get to go to work and tell the people you work with that you love them?

We do.

They are family. And somehow, every good thing that comes our way seems to pass through them.

That is legacy.
Showing up. Loving a place. Loving its people. Leaving something behind that matters.

We are so grateful to the Chamber for Park Rapids, Minnesota for this honor and to Pam, Missy and the Park Rapids Enterprise for helping tell the stories of this community.

And yes: support local media. It matters.
We are lucky to be one small piece of the Wambolts story.

Here’s to a very long AC era. ❤️
Read the full article at the link in the comments.

09/16/2026

A lot of people thought we were nuts when we bought a resort.

Maybe you were one of them.

And honestly? You weren’t entirely wrong. It did appear a little unhinged.

Just shy of 5 years later, after an alarming amount of furniture moving, leaky pipes, rotted logs, dead batteries, boat fixing, cabin cleaning and far too many bear vs. dumpster incidents - we’re still glad we did it.

I wrote down five things Wambolts has taught us about taking a big, complicated and slightly unreasonable family bet.

Read “We Bought a Resort” here:

After celebrating 125 years of Wambolts Cabins, our family reflects on resort ownership, hospitality, courage, family and finding your people.

09/14/2026

Your Monday reminder to get out of town—and look up.

Cabin lights glowing. The Milky Way overhead. Upper Bottle Lake perfectly still.

Sometimes you just need fewer streetlights and a little more sky.
Now this is Wambolting.

These incredible photos were captured by our guest Roxanne Westman of Roxie’s Place Photography.