Former FM media professionals relocate to Pembina Gorge to become Airbnb hosts

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of feature stories on the Pembina Gorge in northeastern North Dakota.
LANGDON, N.D. — The little ranch next to a county road seemed practically heaven-sent to the prospective Airbnb hosts.

Terry and Sarah Hinnenkamp had long dreamed of creating a “home away from home” for tourists who traveled the rolling hills and wooded beauty of northeastern North Dakota’s Pembina Gorge.

They even relocated from Fargo to Langdon, North Dakota, in 2019 to pursue that dream. But after fruitlessly searching for the right property for over a year, they had to put their search on pause.

Fate had other plans.

On a sunny July day in 2020, the Hinnenkamps and their two children had spent a day exploring the Gorge. On their way home, they drove by the Triple H Horse Ranch as they’d done countless times before. But on that day, they noticed it was for sale.

As a handful of curious horses looked on, the family climbed out of their vehicle. They learned the owner had found a new vocation, so planned to sell the horse-boarding/training facility. The land featured a mature thicket of trees and plenty of room for cabins or RVs. It served almost like a hub for local attractions, including the Gorge, Frost Fire State Park, the Mount Carmel Dam Recreation Area and Icelandic State Park.

At 9 acres, it was just the right size.

It felt right, too: Quiet and serene — a place to get away from it all.

“It was dumb luck,” said Terry, better known in Fargo as long-time on-air personality Rat on Y-94. “We walked out here and … this was just the perfect spot.”

“We had kind of given up, but we couldn’t have planned it better,” added Sarah.

The Hinnenkamps bought the land several months later and transformed it into Up North Cabins. Now they rent out two short-term vacation rentals: a fully winterized, 540-square-foot park model and a 2023 travel trailer.

Since Up North’s launch on March 31, the family has been pleasantly surprised by the popularity of their cabins.

Guests have ranged from amateur paleontologists looking to dig up sea monster bones in the state’s annual public fossil dig to people looking to dig up family roots in the nearby Icelandic mecca of Mountain.

They’ve attracted sightseers, Northern Lights enthusiasts, contract healthcare providers, hunters, construction workers and wind turbine technicians from points as far-flung as Kansas and Texas.

People itching to snowmobile the Pembina Gorge Trail have already made winter reservations.

“We used to hear from people, ‘What do people do here?” Terry said. “’But once they experience all the scenery, the festivals, Frost Fire and all the things to do, they say, ‘We’re coming back.’”

The couple already knew this, of course.

Then known as Sarah McCurdy, she grew up in the country between nearby Walhalla and Cavalier, then graduated from Cavalier Public School.

Terry is from Fargo, but his mother grew up in Neche, 30 miles northeast of the Gorge.

When his family visited his grandmother in Neche, he and Sarah sometimes attended the same church service — never suspecting they would someday meet in Fargo.

It happened in 2003, when Terry’s co-host on the morning show asked Sarah to fill in on the show while a third member was on vacation.

It took her a week to learn “Rat” also had a real name. “It never occurred to me,” she joked.

They married in 2010 at Frost Fire Park’s outdoor amphitheater, which is when both really started to appreciate the area’s rich tourism potential.

But they lived and worked in Fargo. They bought a character home in Fargo’s Clara Barton neighborhood. Terry’s love of history sparked the

“Ghosts of North Dakota” project,

in which he and Troy Larson chronicled the state’s ghost towns via a website and series of books.

Sarah left TV to edit magazines, then launched her own writing/marketing company.

They had two children: Elin, now 10, and Callen, now 8.

In between it all, both found time to binge-watch “Stay Here” on Netflix, which showed property owners how to give glow-ups to their short-term rental properties.

That ignited a desire to launch their own vacation rental in northeastern North Dakota. “We started Googling and saw that Frost Fire (ski area) had been purchased by a foundation. We could see that things were moving in the Gorge and we wanted to be part of supporting the tourism efforts,” Sarah said.

The Pembina Gorge contains undulating terrain, the state’s most extensive oak and birch woodlands and one of the steepest and deepest river valleys in North Dakota. In 2023, Gov. Doug Burgum announced an $8 million project to make the Gorge’s recreation area North Dakota’s 14th state park, which will enhance the area’s services, infrastructure and draw.

And so, timing it before their daughter started kindergarten, they moved nearly 200 miles, living with Sarah’s parents until they found a house. Terry got a job — this time, co-hosting the morning show on Maverick 105.1 FM in Langdon — while Sarah continued to run her business. Just a few months after he started, his radio co-host left to move to Montana.

Terry would have a natural rapport with the new co-host, as he happened to be married to her. Every morning, Sarah joins him on air via remote from the family’s basement, in between getting the kids off to school.

“We have fun,” she said, grinning. “The longer we do it, the more the filter comes off.”

As their new radio partnership emerged, they also worked at rehabbing their new property. They cleared out dead brush and carved walking trails into the groves. They hauled in truckloads of gray shale from nearby deposits to cover the campsites and created features like a natural playground out of tree stumps.

“Every time it rains, scrap metal comes out of the earth,” Sarah said, laughing. “We’ve had so many loads of scrap here. We’ve taught Callen to fish for scrap.”

They decided to buy a camper for those marathon work days when all were too tired to drive home to Langdon.

That camper transitioned nicely into a B&B rental. The 45-foot trailer sleeps five and boasts an electric fireplace, recliners, TV, wifi, central air/heat and a double loft.

It’s located just a stroll away from their “tiny house” rental, a renovated 2008 park model which was already upgraded with extra insulation, a home-sized furnace and an on-demand water heater when they bought it. They worked with the crew at a friend’s custom-home company to update cupboards and trim, install a knotty pine ceiling and design a fireplace area with matching knotty-pine surround and shelves.

The end result is compact but attractive and cozy. It features two bedrooms and a pull-out couch; a refrigerator stocked with water, soda and necessary condiments; a fully outfitted kitchen; a large flat-screen with free Netflix, and a little porch with double-swing, cozy throw and tasteful autumn decor.

Outside, they’ve provided everything needed for a bonfire, including Adirondack chairs, a rustic split-log bench, firewood and kindling.

In fact, their days of brainstorming about vacation rentals have paid off. Numerous guests have commented on the cleanliness of the two units and the close attention to details. Realizing some of their visitors will arrive too late to cook or hunt down a restaurant, they provide them with a a frozen pizza from Johnny B’s out of Jamestown and a box of fresh doughnuts from Langdon’s Bread Pan Bakery for breakfast. Thoughtful touches like games, mosquito repellent, sunscreen and dog bowls are provided.

“You don’t want anyone to get here and think, ‘Oh I forgot,’ or ‘I need this,’ so we tried to anticipate anything a traveler might need,” Terry said.

Sarah flexed her writing and research chops to provide guests with a comprehensive binder that highlights information like local restaurants, ideal photo-taking spots and border crossing information into Canada (which is just 17 miles north of Langdon).

By August of this year, Sarah said they were at 70% occupancy, which she credits to AirBnB (where they have a perfect five-star score so far). Written reviews are effusive: “Absolutely amazing,” a Rochester, Minnesota, guest named Samantha wrote. “It was so peaceful and so perfect if you have dogs. So much space to roam and explore. Terry and Sarah were extremely friendly and super helpful with any questions we had.”

The property has room for more cabins, although the couple said they don’t want to turn the spot into an overcrowded campground.

They’re already talking about future improvements, such as adding an event center to the spot which held the old riding arena.

“At some point in time, we’d like to live on the property and be the stewards of it,” Terry said.

So did the reality of Airbnb ownership live up to what they’d first imagined while watching Netflix?

“It’s more,” said Sarah, pointing out that they can visit with California guests one day and folks from Louisiana the next. “It’s so much fun. I love that they’re coming from everywhere. And everyone has been so friendly and so kind and the gratitude that people express — that’s what strikes me. And that helps us have more gratitude. 

“We just want to build community, wherever people are from.”

Rates are $132 per night for the RV and $153 for the cabin this season. Learn more:

https://upnorthnd.com/