Ta-Ga-Soke Campgrounds

My experience at this campground was disturbing and alarming. Families with children or women alone should absolutely not stay here. The staff/​owners I experienced are verbally abusive and potentially violent. I had arrived to visit my brother who had rented a cabin on the grounds because his girlfriend’s parents have had a seasonal camp on the property for many years. I drove an hour to see him for a short time on his birthday. The camp’s policy is to have visitors purchase a pass for their vehicles if going on the grounds. My brother’s girlfriend went in to the «store» (decorated in Christmas lights and wreaths — it was July, P. S. and smelling extremely foul) to purchase the pass and came out with a woman who was treating her with such disrespect that I expected the woman to be a stranger and not the owner of the facility. I got out of my vehicle to see if I could help with the situation. The woman would not let my brother’s girlfriend speak and berated her over and over, spoke to her in a condescending, rude and unprofessional way that left me almost speechless. Be aware, the issue she was being treated so badly about? My brother did not have a pass for his car, because his girlfriend thought her pass for both of their cars was adequate as the rental came with two cars for parking on site. Trained in conflict resolution and difficult communications, I interjected. The woman said to me: «And who are YOU?» I answered her politely that I was there to visit my brother for an hour for his birthday and that I would be leaving before midnight. (It was 10 p.m.) I said «I believe there is a solution here for you and everyone involved, but I need to understand the policy and the issues overall.» She now turned her condescending, berating tone toward me. I said: «I am not comfortable with how you’re speaking to me. Can you be clear about where this tone is coming from? It seems like you’re angry and I am trying to help and understand why.» She then apologized and finally we were able to explain to her the car situation. We paid for a pass and received a pass for my brother’s car. He made a sincere apology, which truly wasn’t necessary, for the misunderstanding and the owner apologized for her disrespectful, unprofessional tone. I paid for my pass, went out to my car and waited for my brother’s girlfriend. (Side note: When I arrived another camper was being treated in the same way by this woman. That camper was not as calm and professional as I was and came out of the store yelling.) Within about five minutes, a man who appeared to be on bath salts or some other psychotropic drug, bursts into the store, flailing his arms and screaming at the people there to leave and he wouldn’t put up with this anymore. He then barrels down the stairs to my car window and screams in my face that I am to leave immediately and to get the hell out of there and off his property. Extremely startled by his almost violent approach and abusive language, and extremely confused by this random person, I said «Who are you and why are you asking me to leave?» He started screaming and waving his arms at me telling me to get the hell off his property or he was calling the police. It was bizarre. «I’m trying to understand what happened. Why are you asking me to leave? Who are you?» «I’m the owner,» he screams this repeatedly while stamping his feet. Now, a younger psychotic version of this man lunges at me repeatedly screaming «get the hell out of here». He seemed to have a violent nature as the people around him began to hold him back. I’m a 120-​pound, 4′ 11″ woman. This man was likely 6′ and tipping 200 or more. I told him if he got any closer to me I would have him arrested and press charges. I truly believe this man would have hit me, so, scared of the violence, I left. I still don’t know what set off this man and his younger version. Having worked with mentally ill and emotionally disturbed people in my past career, they exhibited these types of behaviors. Please do not stay here. You will risk being unsafe.