Rip Van Winkle Ranch

Consider yourself warned. My family planned a weekend getaway to the Catskills specifically to rent snowmobiles. I believe this is the only game in town to rent from so there is no competitors. The website is full of disgustingly false advertising. The pictures are not accurate, the photo leads one to believe this is a nice establishment in or perhaps associated with Hunter Mountain. It is not by any means. The place is a run down wooden building by the side of rt 23a in Haines Falls.
Prices charged are $ 40 for 30 mins of guided tour which is $ 80 an hour for (1) person. If a 2^nd passenger rides along on the same snow mobile, the cost is $ 160 an hour ($ 40 an hour for kids under 16). CASH ONLY. No deals for large groups or longer tours (which they don’t exactly do). I now realize why they don’t and why it’s cash only. Anyone in their right mind would reverse the charges.
Tours of 12 – 15 snow mobiles go at a time if it’s busy on a Saturday with a random assortment of helmets and sleds. There are NO repeat customers, only unsuspecting tourists. We rented (3) snow mobiles and none of the throttles worked… on our machines or any others. All you smell is gas for 30 minutes. Press the throttle past 20% power and the engine drowns and stops. Also, these machines were in terrible shape with busted windshields, skis etc. Clearly purchased as junk.
The tour area is of a «salvage yard», literally. After passing 2 – 300 yards of trees (as shown in the websites go pro video) you stroll by dozens of rusted out trucks, sheds & trailers along with rusted out garbage and snow mobile parts strewn throughout the woods. A spray painted sign on the back of a large, broken down shed type asked for tips. An additional spray painted sign apparently advertises «rentals» in a dirty window.
The clerk had to use a calculator to add up our $ 40 charges up numerous times to arrive at the $ 200 total for (5) people. She also couldn’t figure out what day of the month it was. Our tour guide was in full camouflage gear and had very few teeth.
We went less than 5 mph for 1 mile or so into this property, circled twice around an open field and then headed back. The entire tour was not more than (2.5 to 3 miles@ 5 mph). There’s your 30 mins.
Angrily, I had to watch the go pro video posted on the website again. While the pictures are false, this is accurate. I had falsely assumed the 1 minute or so video showed snowmobilers headed on their way out to an excellent your. Nope, as you can see, they’re going 5 mph or so and headed along that couple hundred yards of wooded area (that doesn’t have the salvage parts). Where that video stops, you hit an open field, circle twice, then head back.
We came to full stops about 40 times. You can’t go fast10, no passing and you can’t veer off the existing single path. All 12 – 15 snow mobiles must be within the tour guides line of site as he looks back or he stops the entire procession. You can see how we stopped 40+ times and traveled 2 – 3 miles total at 5 mph totaling 30 mins.
Biggest waste of $ 200 bucks. Consider yourself warned. I’ll make sure this review gets out to help other paying customers save their hard earned money.