Great in the summer and better in the winter.
Plenty of space to gather as a family & enough space to get away from one another too. We love families with kids and the joyful noises they make.
In the summer enjoy two wood fire pits, a gas firepit, a hot tub, great fishing, plenty of board & yard games. In the winter enjoy the cozy fireplace and proximity to the ski hill. Great for a large family. 3 hours from Maple Grove and 65 min from Fargo. A pontoon is available for an extra fee.
The space
Cotton Lake is provides a rare combination of size (1800 acres is a big lake) and solitude. Even on the busiest of weekends, the lake is very quiet. Unless you try, you will not see the direct neighbors. This is a big differentiation vs. most properties in the area. On most properties your neighbors will be close enough where you can hear their conversations and they can hear yours. At our place, we need to be respectful of the neighbors but you will not see them from the beach area at all.
It is the epitome of an 'up north' cabin with soaring eagles and howling loons. I guarantee you will see plenty of both during your stay. If you are interested, pontoon boat rental is available as well for an extra charge. A slow lap around the lake will take about 2 hours in a pontoon.
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One of the benefits of Cotton Lake is the quiet. We expect you will help our neighbors enjoy the same. There are plenty of party places around - if that is your goal, I'd encourage you to look elsewhere including a hotel. We will not tolerate any significant outdoor noise - period. This means no outdoor speakers or music. Joyful noises from kids jumping on the water tramp, shrieks of excitement from catching a nice bass are highly encouraged.
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Despite its solitude, the cabin offers all the creature comforts of a year round home including a dishwasher, WiFi with 50mps speed, three Smart TVs and Air Conditioning.
If the weather turns or you just want to run into town, the City of Detroit Lakes is 9 miles south. DL is a great touristy town with great little shops, boat and jet ski rentals and a population of about 8,800. Detroit Mountain, about 7 miles to the south, is a year round recreation center with downhill skiing in the winter and mountain biking in the summer. Both bikes and skis are available for rent. DM has great XC skiing trails as well but if that is your thing, you may want to head to Maplelag which is 22 miles north.
Five miles west is a gun range if you want to shoot stuff. Five miles south you can tube the Ottertail River with an outfitter for $10 per person which is fun and is a great way to kill two hours on a sunny afternoon.
Cotton Lake has it's own restaurant, Curley's which has great food including steaks, prime rib, burgers with a pool table and juke box etc. Curley's is a ice fishing destination as they plow an ice road every year. Although you can walk directly from our place in to pop a hole in the ice, you may opt for a quick 1 mile drive to Curley's so you can drive your rig ( UTV, truck etc) directly onto the ice (at your own risk of course). You can take your snowmobile directly from our driveway to the lake. Minnesota DNR Snowmobile trails 272 and 275 both run across Cotton Lake. Park your sleds in our driveway and access hundreds of miles of trail, we take the run from Cotton Lake up to Elbow Lake a few times per winter.
The cabin has great views of the lake and of sunsets but that also means . Although there some elevation. There are 27 steps from the house to the beach, there is a private gravel road to the beach area should you prefer to drive up and down. We own this road and it a great way to get grandma and grandpa to the water's edge.
Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge flanks the North Side of Cotton Lake for those interested in birding, hiking or biking. TNWF, at 66 sq miles, features a learning center with regularly scheduled programs.
The big grocery store is 10 miles away with a convenience store located two miles down the road.
In summary - there are plenty of things to do in the area should you be interested in something other than enjoying your very own beach :-) If you have any questions about our place or the area, please let me know and I will be glad to help. We use the place quite a bit in the summer time but are happy to rent M-F. During fall, winter and spring, we rent weekends as well.
Three important notes -
1) The second bathroom is a 3/4 bath (sink, tub and toilet - no shower).
2) The beds will not be made upon arrival. Your sheets will be clean and placed on each bed. We ask that you leave the place clean including washing and drying the sheets and towels prior to departure to ready the place for the next guests. Of course we clean between guests but the laundry takes awhile so we need your help.
3) Steps - the cabin is on a hill meaning there are steps to the cabin from the driveway and there are steps to the water.
Guest access
Two family room areas each with their own TV for Netflix if it is rainy.
Two kayaks, two stand up paddle boards, a paddle boat and canoe along with fishing poles and tackle box full of crank bait for catching fishing off the end of the docks (mostly panfish, rock bass and large mouth bass with the occasional walleye and northern pike).
The place is fully furnished with shampoo, towels, sheets, pillows, dishes, gas grill etc.
Renters will not have access to the motor boats, four wheeler or jet ski unless you opt to rent the pontoon.
Other things to note
SPECIAL NOTES:
We ask that you wash and dry the sheets and towels and clean up prior to departure.
There is a camera facing the driveway from the back door - this is on and recording 24x7. Of course every hotel in the US has multiple cameras but I figured it is worth mentioning.
If you are checking in on a Sunday, please note your check in time will be 7pm. Our typical summer rental is Sunday night at 7pm to Friday check out at noon. The reason? We use our place on weekends in the summer. I will confirm you are comfortable with this during the reservation process.
We are pretty flexible with check in and check out times in spring, fall and winter.
