Albany Lodge

David Jordening

This is a great location for riding atv's but the trails aren't marked very well and we were very disappointed with the condition of the National Forest. Almost all of our riding was in dead or burned out forests. The Forest Service manager should take a lesson from the person who is in charge of the National Forest in the Black Hills in South Dakota. You had to really look to find any dead trees in the Black Hills because they have been cut, piled and burned. Around Albany and Centennial there were miles and miles of dead trees or burned out forests, including the wilderness areas nearby. That Forest Service manager should be fired for letting so much timber and lumber go to waste and not doing more to mitigate the dead trees and damage caused by the pine beetle. This was the worst place of fire destruction and potential for future fires we've ever seen in all of our atv riding in Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and West Virginia! However bad it looked and what a loss of timber it was, it is good for people to understand the destructive forces of nature and how it heals itself however slow and in spite of the loss of the assets of the forests. The beds need to be replaced soon and it would be helpful if they had a refrigerator/freezer that was larger than the little bitty ones in each room currently. The staff were great in spite of being short handed. They were trained to multi task in whatever needed doing--front desk, gift shop, waitress, bartender, customer service. They were always pleasant, polite, and helpful even when they might have been overwhelmed. Sometimes they would even stop by our rooms and ask if we needed towels or anything else. David, his wife and their son Hunter are the new owners and are standing tall trying to improve the place. Hunter was great helping us old farts get Avenza maps downloaded and working. It would be helpful if they would improve their own maps with points of interest marked, description of trails (rocky, muddy, scenic, gas, food, and suggested rides marked for those of us who haven't lived and riden in the area recently. If the Forest Service and/or locals had more signage telling folks to stay on the trails or lose them, it wouldn't give the Forest Service an excuse to close the trails. It would also be helpful if they had a supply of the Forest Service maps for us to use. You really need all the maps we can get, including Avenza, to navigate and know exactly where we are. We rode there about 8 years ago and if we're still able, we'll probably be back again in a few years. We enjoy getting to see the great scenery this country has to offer.

Patricia Eastman

Very unimpressed. We stayed here for a wedding and the service was terrible. No staff was helping with the rehearsal dinner or the wedding dinner, both of which had large automatic tips. Not a single dirty dish was taken from our tables. Anytime we ate in the restaurant the service was awful. The cabin we stayed in was…. Well the ceiling fans were nearly falling off, the shower floor was disgusting, and for what we paid it was not what it should have been. Adding an extra bed to the living room doesn’t mean it has a whole extra bedroom either. Would not be coming back here again, the organization and management really needs some work.

Sara Haugen

We spent a team retreat in winter for my first time snowmobiling and summer for my first time driving UTVs, and I have been back for meals with my family since. Guides, machines, service, meals were all great. The cabin was so cozy and the morning mountain views are gorgeous. Albany is a little oasis in the woods. Their mac and cheese is 11/10 and I am now addicted to their pulled pork. I've been around a lot of barbecue with family in Memphis, and this is the best pulled pork I've found west of the Mississippi. If you're staying overnight, craft cocktails are a must.

Julie Hamilton

Our family of 5 stayed in the Fox cabin for 3 nights and rented sleds. Everything the staff does is with care and excellence. Over the weekend we had the opportunity to eat at all 3 mealtimes. There is an actual chef and most everything seemed homemade. We recommend all the breakfast items, pizza for lunch and had burgers, pasta, fish tacos and salad bar for dinner. The cabin was only two years old and had three bedrooms and a full kitchen. We played card and board games at the corner breakfast nook. If you’ve sledded anywhere else you will be shocked how well they keep the trails marked and groomed. We had the kids with us (teenagers) so we stayed pretty close to the trails though there are plenty of places and miles and miles to play off-trail. About an hour and a half in we came to 1 of 2 warming huts which was so needed. We also got all the gear needed from boots to TOBE helmets in their rental shop and they thankfully had TOBE balaclavas to purchase (our first day it was zero degrees and a bit windy). We chose to have a guide which helped us but the trails are clearly marked. Our sleds had GPS linked together so we could see where each person was on the map. We also drove over to Snowy Range to ski two of the days. We flew into Denver and made the easy drive to Albany Lodge and stopped in Laramie at Sweet Melissa’s which was featured by Guy on Food Network. We highly recommend everything about Albany Lodge!