Big Foot Resort is a campground that offers RV spaces, as well as cabins for more temporary stays, and is located southwest of Alexandria, Minnesota. The resort is found on the edge of Lake Mary and offers two docks for guests to use if they bring their boat for the trip. If they don't have a boat and would like to take one out on the lake, Big Foot Resort has a boat and several pontoons available to rent for an additional price. Named after the famous cryptid, known as "Big Foot," the campground is designed for guests who want to spend time away from the city. Some guests to the property have been known to search the nearby woods looking for the mysterious creature. For anyone that forgot something from home or needs to pick something up at a store, Alexandria is only six miles away from Big Foot Resort and offers various stores and restaurants.
Big Foot Resort has a total of 10 cabins and 81 camper slots available to the public. Seventy-six of the available slots for RV camping are meant for seasonal campers that plan on being at Big Foot Resort for a more extended period of time. The other five slots are nightly camping spaces and allow for guests to stay for a shorter period of time for vacations and quick getaways. Regardless of whether someone is staying in a cabin or an RV space, guests have the option of renting a boat or one of the pontoons from Big Foot Resort to use on Lake Mary during their stay. Also available for patrons staying at Big Foot Resort are pedal boats and kayaks, which are free of charge to use. Guests are only required to check them out and return them when they are done using them.
Visitors that reserve one of the cabins will also be allotted a boat slip if they decide to bring a boat of their own. The cabins come equipped with a fully stocked kitchen, which includes a stove, refrigerator, coffeemaker, microwave, pots, pans, bowls, plates, cups, and utensils. Also provided with the cabins is a flat-screen television with satellite, a charcoal grill, a fire pit, air conditioning, and a deck with a patio table and chairs. Towels and dish rags are not provided by Big Foot Resort, so it is recommended that guests bring their own if they expect they will need them.
The cabins themselves range on how many rooms and how many beds are in each one. Cabins one and two are single-room cabins with less distinction between the bed count, kitchen, and living area. Cabins three through six are two-bedroom cabins and offer more sleeping arrangements. Number three has a queen bed in one room and bunk beds in the second room. Four has a similar layout to cabin three. Both cabins five and six have full-sized beds in each of the bedrooms. Cabin seven is close to the lake and can sleep up to 12 people in total. There is a television in each bedroom. Cabin eight has a private outdoor yard and can sleep up to eight people per stay. Cabin nine is one of the more popular cabins as it is the largest of them all. As the only two-story cabin, it is capable of sleeping up to 14 people. The kitchen has everything listed before, as well as a dishwasher. Cabin nine can be found at the front of the campground and is located in close proximity to the lake. Finally, cabin ten has two bedrooms, able to sleep up to eight people, and is substantially larger than the other two-bedroom cabins.
The RV spaces are a less expensive option for guests that would rather bring their campers and trailers. The campsites all come with full hook-ups, including water, electric, and sewer lines. The most significant difference between some of the sites is that some of them are classified as "Lakeview," meaning they are significantly closer to the lake and offer easier access to it. Depending on the location, some of the sites may also have more open space, while others have more trees nearby.
There are a number of other places in Big Foot Resort that guests can take advantage of and visit. The main office building has a meeting room that people can use for get-togethers and other small events. A mini-golf course, as well as two pools, can be used by the visitors at their leisure. The store on the property sells a variety of things, including fishing bait, ice, and food items like eggs, bacon, milk, pop, candy, ice cream, and more. There is enough space in between campsites and cabins that can be used for yard games and smaller activities that don't require a large amount of space. The two docks have a total of 100 slips for boats.
Outside of the establishment, Big Foot Resort is surrounded by trees and a number of lakes. The city called Alexandria is less than ten miles away, and there are a number of stores and restaurants that guests can travel to if they want to spend time in the city. The owners like to recommend restaurants to their visitors in case they decide to travel into town and eat out. One place they like to recommend is called Pike & Pine Grill. Pike & Pine serves a number of dishes and a wide variety of beers, wine, and cocktails. A nightly special is present every evening. Another restaurant they like to mention is called Longtrees Woodfire Grill, which makes all of their dishes with locally grown and gathered ingredients in an atmosphere described as "cozy and modern." The owners also like to recommend Copper Trail Brewing, which is mostly known for its extensive list of beers. These three restaurant recommendations can all be found in Alexandria.
The owners of Big Foot Resort, whose names are Kevin and Lori, explain that the goals of the property are to make people feel like they are at home and to give them the freedom to enjoy themselves and do what they came here to do, be that rest and relax or to do some adventurous activities. The location of the cabins and campgrounds of Big Foot Resort is in a much more rural setting, so Kevin and Lori try to offer an escape from busy lives and bustling cities. The owners enjoy interacting with the visitors to their establishment, but they also understand privacy. If guests don't want to talk or interact with anyone outside of their group, the owners try to leave them alone. However, they try to remain nearby in case the guests develop a need of some kind. If there are any patrons who do want to talk, ask questions, or get advice, the owners explain that they are happy to assist if they can.
Big Foot Resort has several policies in place to help guests have a safe yet enjoyable time at the campgrounds. One policy in effect that they ask their visitors to abide by is that pets are not allowed to be inside the cabins. However, guests that are staying in an RV space are allowed to bring their pets as long as they are kept on a leash when they are outside. The owners understand if dogs bark or whine a little, but if the pet continually causes too much of a disturbance, the patrons will be asked to quiet the dog or remove it from the property entirely. While fishing is allowed in Lake Mary and the other lakes, they ask that guests fish in the appropriate boats. Patrons are not allowed to fish out of pedal boats, as they are not licensed watercraft.
There have been a number of visitors in the past that have stayed at Big Foot Resort. Many of them have left reviews regarding the quality of their stay at the campgrounds. Due to the fact that there is an abundant amount of people that stay for extended periods of time, the community of campers tends to be mentioned often in the reviews. One person that recently stayed at Big Foot Resort wrote, "Really awesome sense of community at this resort. Especially the permanent people. Always have events on big weekends, but you are not pressured to join in if you're not interested. Good docks, good cabins, and decent bass fishing." The typical demographic of guests ranges; during the early summer months of May and June, they see an abundant amount of fishermen. As summer progresses, many families will come out to enjoy their time off from work and school. The busiest time of the year for Bigfoot Resort tends to be between June, July, and August, though Kevin mentions that July is the busiest month of them all.
One popular activity that guests can enjoy at Big Foot Resort is hiking on one of the several short trails that can be found within the property limits. Another activity that is usually enjoyed while guests stay at the resort is fishing. Guests can take their own boats or rent one from Big Foot Resort and travel further into the lake to drop a line. Some of the fish that swim in the lake include Walleye, Crappie, and Pikes.
As the name implies, Big Foot Resort can be a popular location for "Big Foot Hunters" to set up camp. In fact, at the water's edge of Lake Mary, there is a statue of Big Foot. There are also several signs that are posted on the edges of the roads in the vicinity that read, "Beware of Big Foot."
Though Kevin and Lori have only owned the property for about a year, there are a number of changes that they have made to help improve the campgrounds and make it more enjoyable for guests that visit. One change that was made after they took ownership of Big Foot Resort is that they added the new docking system. The docks now float on the water, making it easier for boats to dock when they return from spending time on the lake. Another thing that they have done is acquiring new pontoons. The pontoons are made of better quality than the previous ones and are updated models. Now, all of the pontoons that are available for guests to rent are crafts that were made in 2020 or newer.
There are several future plans for Big Foot Resort as well. Kevin plans on adding more power connectors for the RV slots in the campgrounds. This would allow guests who are using the RV hook-ups to get more power, up to 50 AMPs of electrical. There are also plans to add a total of 42 more RV parking spaces. These slots would allow more guests to come to Big Foot Resort at a time. Kevin explains that they will likely be for daily or weekly use, rather than for seasonal use, to allow more people that want to spend a shorter amount of time at the resort to visit.
8231 St. Hwy 114 SW
Alexandria, Minnesota 56308
United States
Campground
Kevin & Lori
Joe & Terri Martin
