YMCA Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood
Potosi
The YMCA Trout Lodge and Camp Lakewood in Potosi is only about 70 miles southwest of St. Louis, but “one of our mottos is ‘Disconnect to reconnect,’” said Andrew Dodenhoff, director of sales and conferences.
The resort has Wi-Fi and cell service, but organizers often find that attendees get to know one another better and aren’t as distracted when they are disconnected, making the resort “a great place to get stuff done.”
Camp Lakewood, on the north side of the 360-acre Sunnen Lake, is a youth summer camp, and the YMCA Trout Lodge welcomes grownups — and groups. The lakefront lodge has 60 guest rooms, many with decks, as well as 19 loft rooms, and 20 duplex cabins have either lake or forest views.
The main lodge, which just completed a $4.3 million renovation, houses most of the meeting space. The 2,500-square-foot Mallard Room can be divided into four smaller rooms. Out back, a covered patio and adjoining deck overlook the lake and are enjoyable for meals or receptions.
A short walk from the lodge is the stand-alone 3,060-square-foot Hillcrest Hall and the 1,080-square-foot North Hall. The chapel’s 3,200-square-foot open floor plan can be set up for any kind of event.
The resort offers up to 100 leisure activities, and its team-building program “is pretty phenomenal,” Dodenhoff said. Groups can tackle high- or low-ropes courses; arrange for barn dances, hayrides and horseback rides; try out archery, paintball and skeet shooting; and go kayaking, canoeing and sailing.
Morrell Ranch
Gallatin
Morrell Ranch can be summed up as a “Hilton in the woods,” said Ron Kroeger, public affairs director for the 3,500-acre ranch located about four miles northwest of Gallatin. About 500 of those acres at the heart of the resort feature stocked lakes, stables, trails, cabins and the main lodge.
Though the lodge was built in 2009, it opened only as a guest ranch in March 2016. The rustic-chic ambiance comes from massive timber beams, stone fireplaces and tongue-in-groove floors, the same finishes guests find in the six sleeping units. The ranch also has eight single cabins, eight family cabins and a large luxury cabin called the Bunkhouse.
The lodge’s dramatic Great Hall can be used for receptions, and five additional lodge rooms work well for small gatherings or breakout sessions.
Housed in the converted stables, the Rose Room can seat up to 200 people, and the dramatic circular rotunda is capped by a cedar-clad ceiling. The room connects to the guest services building, where visitors will find the restaurant, which is also available for events.
Outdoor options are nearly endless for groups that want to set up an event tent, but the ranch’s lakefront amphitheater has room for several hundred people, although most groups use it for 150 to 200 people.
Groups can face off on the disc golf course, compete in a fishing derby, ride horses or the ranch’s 20 bicycles, and roast s’mores around fire pits. Attendees can also go to the greenhouse to pick fresh fruits and veggies to use in preparing a meal together in the lodge kitchen or visit the stables to meet the alpacas and horses.
