3 Br Cottage Vacation Rental In Backus, Minnesota

Just In!! Dates of Aug 22 - Sept 5 are open and available and rates discounted

Four seasons. Great value year around. Try it. You will like it!

September and October are my own absolute favorite times of the year!!

Special winter rates are implemented for many non-holiday weekends/periods between mid-October and mid-May each year.

Read-away vacations are newly popular. Take a trip centered around reading, relaxation, and quality time with loved ones. I suspect that we may have the best in-home library of any VRBO rental.

This professionally designed beautiful 3 bedroom - 2 bath cottage is available year around. Our cottage was newly constructed in the spring of 2013. The cottage is well maintained. The interior is clean, uncluttered, and bright with natural light. New or improved features are added to the interior and/or to the property exterior each year.

Added new this year: We installed entirely new living-room furniture in 2026

Whole Home is dedicated to the guest. Non-contact self-check-in. No shared interior spaces or facilities. This is rural MN lake country at it's best.

Cooking for family and friends in a commercial quality and professionally designed kitchen

The installed internet service will support work simultaneous with remote education. Bring your family for a week or two away. The service was updated again in the spring of 2025 to triple the overall internet speed.

Cleaning charge will always be applied. Extra charge for more than six people. Extra charge for one pet.

Typical Repeat Visitors: multi-generation family vacation; weekend or week getaway for a couple; Thanksgiving, New Year day, or Christmas family celebration; extended family groups; hobby groups; craft groups; women's weekend away groups; small group reunions; church groups; quilting groups; wedding groups; special anniversaries; engagement proposal weekends; honeymoon cottage; snowmobiling groups; ice fishing groups; XC skiing groups; winter weekend getaways; waterskiing groups; wakeboard groups; wake-surfing groups; fishing opener groups; hunting groups; and more......

DATES IN MID-SUMMER ARE GENERALLY RESERVED THREE OR MORE YEARS IN ADVANCE. Dates in mid-October to mid- May will often be reserved 6 months to 1 year, or more, in advance. Reserve now to acquire a week in the spring, summer or fall of 2026 and the winter of 2027/2026

Grand piano is provided for your enjoyment.

Two tiled bathrooms and full separate laundry area

Exterior fire pit, exterior gas and charcoal grills, interior gas grill and griddle, and interior gas fireplace.

Relaxing recreational location

Large commercial grade kitchen for family special meal prep and relaxed gourmet dining or just serving a family reunion crowd. Please see the pictures.

Nearby access to Paul Bunyan and Heartland trails for great bicycling, inline skating, and X-C skiing.

Great bass fishing (1/2 lb to 5 lb) from dock. Good walleye and northern when trolling lake shallows and sand bars

Quiet, calm, incredibly clear, and nearly weed free lake good for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, water skiing, and recreational boating. Ultra-clear and clean spring fed lake with a sandy bottom

Loons live here. You should see/hear adults and offspring every day/night in spring, summer, and fall. Variety of other animal life is almost endless. A keen wild-life observer might well see: Hawks, eagles, owls, otters, beavers, bears, raccoons, ground hogs, deer, coyote, pelicans, egret, herons, ducks, geese, swans, common and rarer songbirds, various squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, possums, and more.

Docks: Semi-private dock will be, installed in and removed from, the lake as seasonal weather permits. Exact installation dates in spring and exact removal dates in the fall are affected by weather and availability of the dock vendors, the ice out in the spring, and very low air temperature and/or prospect of early ice on in the fall. Docks are often in by late April. and often out before mid-October. Sometimes the docks are not in by late May. Sometimes docks come out in September. There are two 3000 lb boat lifts. One is for the owner's boat and one is for the guest's boat, if any. The owner, or owner's family members, may sometimes be present and use the dock and the owners boat lift. Guests have shared use of the dock, and access for use of (1st of 2) 3000 lb boat lift/canopy cover. Owner will access dock, 2nd lift, and store owner's boat on one of the two lifts (2nd of 2)

Boats: Supplied with 17' Old Town canoe, 15' Lund fishing boat, two paddle boards, and two kayaks. Outboard motor(s) not supplied but available for rent at limited regional commercial locations. Best option is to buy a well maintained used outboard motor, or trolling motor, and bring it with you. The cost of a used motor will likely be less than one week's rental cost if you find a local rental.

Property has multiple exterior video cameras and monitored interior house/ and garage security sensors. Video systems include (24 hr X 365 day) exterior video surveillance and recording. There is no video interior to the occupied sections of the house (basement is monitored).

CAN SLEEP UP TO TEN PERSONS IN A LARGE FAMILY. THIS MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR 8, 9, OR 10 ADULTS EACH REQUIRING PRIVACY. BEST SUITED FOR 3 OR FEWER ADULT COUPLES OR AN ADULT COUPLE AND THEIR CHILDREN. EXTRA CHARGES FOR MORE THAN SIX PERSONS. See bedrooms discussion in website AMENITIES section for further explanation/clarification.

Not fully handicap accessible: Most of the house is on one level. One step up to the exterior front porch. One step up at the entrance from the porch. The kitchen, dining room, both bathrooms, both first floor bedrooms, the sunroom, and a portion of the living room are all on the entry level. One step down between most of the house first floor and just a portion of the living room. 10 steps down (or gentle sloped walk on grass) to lake in front of house. The interior doors are generally 30 in. width. No ramps are provided. The lawn is gently sloped to the lake shore. Lake can be accessed from the lawn easily as well as the steps. The lake sandy bottom is also gently sloped and ideal for handicapped entry, teaching swimming, and monitored child's play.

Pets: Please let me know the breed, weight, and temperament of the pet as soon as you know that you want a pet to be part of your reserved stay. I need to approve any pet in-advance of your stay. There is an extra charge for a pet.

If/when a pet is approved you will need to always keep the pet on leash when outside; you will not leave the pet outside off-leash, unattended, or barking; you will not leave the pet in the house unattended without placing and retaining the pet in a portable kennel; and you will pick up and dispose of pet waste bagged separately within the trash, not leave same in the yard. In addition, I charge a $150 pet fee per pet that covers added cleaning that is needed (pet dander, pet hair, pet odor and etc), and damage that pets cause to flooring in the house no matter how well behaved (wood floors which I have had to refinish every two to three years). That extra fee does not cover damage such as a pet scratching or chewing on a piece of furniture, or scratching/ruining a door or a piece of trim. Your job is to prevent that, and/or to personally cover the costs of that sort of damage if it occurs. Depending on how extensive such damage might be it may not be totally covered under the limited insurance policy.

Owner may often not be present during a portion of guest stay. Guests do not have access to the owner's boat, the lift supporting owner's boat, the house basement, or the garage at any time. Owner retains access to the house basement, the garage, and one of two boat lifts on the dock at all times. All non-guest spaces will frequently be locked. Owner will store one boat on a lift (2nd of the 2) at the dock. Owner may routinely access those areas. Owner will be considerate of time of day and guests needs if/when accessing the dock or the basement. Owner/family sometimes work from and may infrequently spend an extended period in the two-story garage. Windows are carefully offset between the house and the garage so that persons in the garage do not have a view into the house interior, and vice versa.

Exterior of house and all property have full recorded video surveillance at all times. Interior of house ground level, and second floor upper level have extensive security sensors BUT DO NOT include ANY video cameras or audio receivers, except glass breakage sensors. Interior of the garage has extensive security sensors and video/audio recording as well. Basement has extensive security sensors and recorded video, but no audio sensors.

The entire rest of the property has extensive security sensors but in addition includes extensive recorded video surveillance. Any access to the garage or basement will immediately initiate automatic notification of owner and recorded video surveillance. The house ground level and upper-level security alarms will be disabled when guests are present. The garage and house basement security alarms may not be disabled unless owner or owner's family are present. If an alarm occurs other than immediately after guests enter the main house, it is likely the garage system. If officials arrive to investigate an alarm, direct them to the garage first, unless the alarm occurred promptly upon initially attempting to access the main house for the first time, or upon entering the house basement.

Cottage features, furniture, and facilities are improved every year. A portion of each rental is set aside for improvements and maintenance of the home. I try to keep it interesting and in like-new condition. There are many antique pieces of furniture in the cottage. Antiques are obviously not, and should not be, new. Those too may evolve year to year.

Located in Backus, this cottage is in a rural area and on the beach. While the natural beauty of Deep Portage Conservation Reserve and Mule Lake Wildlife Management Area can be enjoyed by anyone, those looking for an activity can check out Black Bear Golf Complex. Take in the nearby slopes with cross-country skiing and snowboarding, or check out other outdoor activities such as snowmobiling and sledding.