Planning a Summer Week at a Long Lake Cabin

A week at the lake works best when the decisions are made before you pull into the gravel. Who's sleeping where, who's bringing the fishing gear, and whether anyone needs a porch to hide on when the kids get loud. The Pioneer on Long Lake in Sarona, Wisconsin rents seven on-site cottages by the week through the summer, plus a separate island cabin. This guide walks through how the weeks run, what's already in the cottage, and how to match a cabin to your group.

How the summer weeks run

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the cottages are rented weekly, Saturday to Saturday. That's the one rule that shapes everything else. If your family has been floating the idea of a long weekend, summer is the wrong season to ask for one. Between Labor Day and Memorial Day the minimum drops to two nights, which we'll get to in the fall and winter guide, but in July the week is the unit.

The Saturday-to-Saturday rhythm has an upside. Everybody arrives on the same day, and you get seven days to settle into a routine: coffee on the porch, a morning on the water, an afternoon doing nothing at all, dinner somewhere you don't have to cook. Pricing and availability are subject to change, so call (715) 354-3500 before you lock in travel plans.

What's already in every cottage

Every cottage has a bath or shower, cable TV and a fully equipped kitchen. That means a gas range, microwave, coffee maker and toaster, with pots, pans, dishes and utensils supplied. Linens and bedding are supplied too. Each cottage also comes with a dock space and a Weber grill, and the resort now offers AC and WiFi.

There's one thing the cottages don't supply: towels. Bring your own, and bring more than you think you need. Lake weeks eat towels. Between swimming, boat days and the occasional rain-soaked dog, a family of four can go through a surprising pile by Wednesday.

Pets are welcome, with a fee, so mention the dog when you call.

Picking a cottage by group size

The listings give you beds, sleeps and a weekly rate, so you can shop by headcount. Here's how they read at a glance, using the numbers printed on the resort's lodging page:

• Cabin 2: one bed, sleeps 3, $754.33 a week. A small, cozy cottage that suits two people, with one double bed and a small sofa sleeper.
• Cabin 7: one bed, sleeps 4, $822.90 a week. A one bedroom cottage, also a good fit for two, with a double bed and a sofa sleeper.
• Cabin 5: two bedrooms and two double beds, $870.38 a week. A solid choice for a small family.
• Cabin 3: three double beds, $986.43 a week. Two bedrooms and a large glassed-in front porch. The resort calls it a favorite.
• Cabin 4: three beds, sleeps 6, $986.43 a week. A large three bedroom cottage with a tub and shower in the bath.
• Cabin 6: four beds, sleeps 8, $1044.45 a week. The largest cottage, with two bedrooms, a loft and a free standing gas fireplace.

Couples tend to do well in Cabin 2 or Cabin 7, where the sofa sleeper handles an occasional extra guest. Families with young kids usually want the extra bedroom, which points toward Cabin 5 or the three double bed cottages. Cabin 3's glassed-in porch earns its keep on a drizzly afternoon, when the whole group can spread out with cards and still watch the lake. Cabin 6 is the one to ask about for a bigger crew, and the fireplace makes it an easy sell when the evenings cool off.

If you're counting heads for a larger group, call and confirm the sleeping setup for the specific cabin before you commit. Reading the beds and your own group honestly beats a number on a page. Cabin 8 is listed as coming soon and isn't bookable yet, so don't plan around it until the resort says it's ready.

Want the whole shoreline? The island cabin

For a big family reunion or a group that wants real privacy, there's the island cabin. It has almost 960 feet of shoreline, two bedrooms plus a bunkhouse, a charming kitchen and a huge deck. The yard is low and leads down to sandy-bottom swimming areas, and the views take in sunrises and sunsets. It has 10 beds and sleeps 12 or more.

The island cabin runs on its own schedule: Friday to Friday at $3000 a week, check-in at 2 p.m. and check-out at 9 a.m. It's available from Memorial Day to mid-October, so it's a three-season rental rather than a year-round one. If your group is the type that wants to cook together, swim off the yard and sit on the deck until the stars come out, it's worth a phone call.

Booking without the guesswork

Because summer weeks are fixed Saturday to Saturday, popular dates are the ones to settle first. Pick your cabin by headcount, check the rate against your budget and call (715) 354-3500 to confirm availability. Pricing and availability are subject to change, so a quick call beats trusting a number you saw months ago. Once it's booked, the rest of the week is just packing the car and deciding who gets the first spot on the dock.