Reviews for this site — 001, Loop: AREA DITCH CREEK GUARD STATION CAB

4.0
(18 reviews)

Showing 9 of 18 reviews

Chris W Verified
Stayed date
Dec 2025

Decent cabin, good furniture in living room, good propane stove and refrigerator. No running water so bringing your own water is essential. If the water source/piping or whatever was fixed so the sink and toilet had water I would give it 5 stars. Oh, one other downside is the critters in the walls or ceilings (rats?) that make scratching and digging noises at night. Bunk beds with good sized mattresses but all in common bedroom. I brought my own pad to go on top.

Becky D Verified
Stayed date
Jun 2025

Wonderful cabin. Checked out Bull Prairie Reservoir and Penland Lake. Explored many back roads amd walked along some closed roads. It was very nice to have e a propane cooking stove and refrigerator. The water system was down, but we filled up containers with water from the spring up the road. We could not figure out how to get the heating stove to light, so we lit all the propane lights and they put off some heat and warmed thecabin!

Michael P Verified
Stayed date
Aug 2022

This wasn't my first time at the GS, and won't be my last. Ditch Creek GS is a great place to kick back and relax. Not much to do there, unless you have, heaven forbid, an atv. Great pond for swimming (at least my dog loves it).

Ron I Verified
Stayed date
Jul 2022

We have stayed at this cabin for several years. The carpenter ants are still around, but not as bad as past years. Having running water back was really nice. Real hassle running up to the spring to get water like we had to do last year. Having a fold out bed instead of the old futon was a blessing. Need ladders for the top bunks as getting up and down is difficult. There were not kitchen eating knives in the utensil drawer this time. Don't know why someone would take those. A curtains would be nice on the windows. We found that the moon shining in was like have a street light outside of the cabin. Suggest you bring a towel or two to use as temp curtains and a few clothes pins as there are not many up there to hold them in place. Overall, a very nice stay. Also suggest bringing an alternate light source as the wall gas lamps do not provide much light for reading or playing games. The carbon monoxide alarm was going dead and needed new batteries which we did not have so consider replacing those. It was just lying around as someone must have removed it from its original location.

Karen M Verified
Stayed date
Jul 2022

Cabin was really dirty upon. arrival. I emptied at least 5 dustpans sweeping it out. Spent an hour cleaning while my spouse drove to the campground for water to flush toilets. We rented this for the running water and propane appliances. Disappointed that there was no water, but the campground host up the road states it is a regular occurrence over the past few years. We were warned a few days prior to arrival, but wouldn't have rented if we'd known this wouldn't have water. The shower obviously hadn't been used in quite some time (years?). Lots of bird activity, so that was nice. We did enjoy the solitude.

Jeff D Verified
Stayed date
Nov 2021

Very fun and neat old cabin. Beautiful scenery surrounding. The staff had the place well stocked with why we needed including water since it was shut off In late November when we were there. Would definitely come back

Richard M Verified
Stayed date
Jun 2021

Small cozy cabin in shaded area away from the dusty road. Kitchen is well stocked with cooking gear. All appliances work well. Three miles from Lake Penland. The hide-a-bed couch is a typical uncomfortable hide-a-bed bed! We will return, but please repair the running water problem.

Chris S Verified
Stayed date
Jan 2020

I went late in the season (10-28-2019) and had some nice hikes around the cabin and surrounding area. Everything in the cabin worked fine though heater may have difficulty if it gets real cold (was in teens when I was there) and it only heats living room (which has a futon for sleeping). Note: water is only supplied through 10-1 (I believe) and fortunately I didn't trust the local NFS office when they said running water would be there when I was there (fortunately I brought my own). There is water for the indoor toilet 100 yards up the road which didn't freeze (but I wouldn't drink it without purifying it). It's a fine cabin with a good road into it and a number of hikes within easy driving to the trailheads. I enjoyed the hike to Little Bald Mtn. but didn't get to do any fishing (too cold). Lake Penland looks like it's worth a try, just a couple of miles drive from the cabin.

Colleen G Verified
Stayed date
Jan 2020

Had a great time!