Saddlebag Lake Resort

We took the boat ferry across the lake and did the 5 mile hiking loop. This is one of our favorite hikes! It’s challenging, but beautiful. The boat operators were fun and told us on the return trip about the pie in the café. After their hype, we had to try the pie. Hubby had the coconut macaroon and I had the berry pie. Both were delicious (pricey, but delicious). People in the café were friendly too.

How do you rate a unique out of the way «resort» when there are few peers for comparison? Simple, I’ll just tell it like it is and apply the «would I come back» and «would I recommend to a friend» rule.
Saddlebag Lake Resort is not really a «resort» per se but rather an alpine lakeside refurbishing station with a boat dock. What makes it so appealing is that the longtime owners have taken the time to make it cozy and comfortable for the travelers who happen to wander through.
I was one of those travelers as my son and I were preparing for some high elevation backpacking in South America. Saddlebag Lake sits at 10,087 feet and was a perfect launching point to get us acclimated to thin air and heavy packs. We camped at the Saddlebag Campground and had heard about the Saddlebag Resort’s Water Taxi that gets you started in the 20 lakes wilderness, so we stopped into the restaurant for an early breakfast.
To our surprise it was open and ready at 7:00 am, so we had a seat at the little bar and ate breakfast as we stared out the windows at the lake.
Food — We each ordered the #1, which consisted of two dinner plate sized fluffy pancakes, two eggs cooked your way (easy over for me), and bacon or sausage. We also ordered a side of hash browns, which may have been too much food. In the future, only one person should order the pancakes and share them. The cook, Greg from Utah, does a wonderful job keeping the pancakes extra fluffy, and getting the eggs just right.
Pro Tip — Even though the hot maple syrup is good, you have to ladle onto your pancakes a few generous dollops of the home made strawberry jam. The owner makes it fresh, and it is so delicious.
Service — As mentioned in other reviews, the folks who work at the resort are surprisingly helpful and friendly, which was such an unexpected but welcome attribute when you’re backpacking. Not only were our cups filled, and the strawberry jam gently pushed our way, but Amy who’s been there since she was a kid, went out of her way to allow me to use my Amex and even get cash back. Celia allowed us to purchase some firewood after the resort was closed, which kept us from getting too cold that night. Greg the cook was a great resource for fishing in the 20 lakes as he’s out there often and talks to the incoming fishermen. He even gave a few specific tips on how to get the Sierra Slam (Golden, Brown, Rainbow, Brookie).
Overall, a place I would definitely come back to the next time I’m hiking Saddlebag, and would recommend to a friend.

I’ve been coming to this lake since the 70’s. My father was told about this lake from a friend, and you need to drive in two miles on an unpaved, gravel road, with short sections of pavement. It is worth the drive. It is a beautiful lake at 10,000 ft. Best action is when they stock the lake. One day the five in my family all limited out in less than an hour.

The campground at Saddlebag Lake was the meeting place for a recent backpack trip I was on. I had never been there and wasn’t even aware that the «Resort» existed, so I was happily surprised that I was able to get a hot breakfast the morning of our departure into the backcountry. What was even more surprising was the staff. The second I walked into the café/​store I was warmly greeted by a handful of the them sitting enjoying their morning coffee, I didn’t realize til later that I had shown up prior to their opening at 7am. Still, the door was open and I felt like I was part of the family. This isn’t the typical mandatory salutation you get these days when entering so many other businesses. Each and every one of them looked me in the eye and gave a meaningful greeting with a big warm smile (and did I mention it was before 7am?!). I don’t know where the owners found these kids (age=20’s) but they are truly a rare breed!
This happened each and every time I entered the place and later had a similar experience when being shuttled back across the lake on the water taxi. I then recognized the boat captain as one of those in the café on that first morning. The crew saved us from a hailstorm at the far end of the lake and were so helpful and cheery about it, it was actually fun for everyone on the boat!
I’ve been in the customer service biz for around 15 years and have never seen anything like it, not at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus nor the best restaurants. These kids clearly love what they’re doing and it shows through their winning service. To say they are fantastic is a tremendous understatement. Oh, and did I mention the place itself is wonderful too!
Side note to reviewer John (below): please save your unpublished poetry for a literary site where people might appreciate it. This is a review for the eastern Sierra crowd, not Berkeley coffee house snobs.

Very friendly staff! We were hiking in the Saddlebag Lake area with a boy scout troop and came across the Saddlebag Lake resort at the end of our hike. First, the hiking in this area is spectacular – some of the most beatiful lakes I’ve seen. The staff at Saddlebag Lake Resort was extrememly helpful. One of the boys in our troop had become sick and since he was diabetic, the situation took on some additional urgency. The resort had not even opened yet for the season due to massive snowfall, but several staff members enthusiastically offered help. They used their own truck to drive the boys and leaders a few miles to where we had parked our cars. It’s rare to come across this type of exceptional service – and we weren’t even paying customers! We’ll definitely be back soon – just this time for a burger and ride on the water taxi. It’s a beautiful location with a family-​run staff that only enhances the experience.

SLR is an amazing place to hike and fish. I wish the actual store were open all year round, but with the immense amount of snow, of course I understand. The staff is friendly and helpful, and fairly knowledgeable. I recommend going in July or August, when you won’t freeze your bum off. Beware of wild animals, as it is out in the mountains. The restaurant/​store is a little overpriced, but the way I see it is: if I forget to bring my own tackle and bait, that’s my fault. I’ve been there multiple years, and it’s never a let down. If you wish to camp at the campground, get there ASAP. It fills up extremely quick, and there is rarely a spot open on the weekends.
The staff is professional, but does not make you feel stupid. I recommend picking up a map at the store, of the 20 Lakes Basin, behind Saddlebag. It’s a gorgeous 5 mile hike. Make sure to bring your mosquito repellent, and lots of water. There is a water taxi boat that takes you from one side of the lake to the other, but make sure you are on time for it — you buy a ticket for it in the store. I found out the hard way that there is no «announcement» when the taxi leaves, so check your watch.
Oh yeah, the HOMEMADE PIES are to die for. AMAZING.

Rustic places can be soothing. They can be relaxing. They usually excite my imagination, because I’m obsessed with the past, especially the historically relatively recent past (as opposed to the Cretaceous Period), and places that seem old make me wonder about the people who lived in and around them and what they were like. Of course, there were specific people who lived in and around these specific places, and while I can get a general sense of what life was like, I can never know about the specific people who lived there. That’s part of the magic of fiction for me; it’s always a lie, especially when it’s well done. Put another way, although it’s possible to imagine a particular person who lived in a particular place, this person will never be more than an imaginative placeholder. This is both soothing and frightening. It makes me think about crossing the street and finding room on airplanes and the utter illusion of urban time-​lapse photography.
What does all of this have to do with Saddlebag Lake Resort? Everything. Whenever we fished at Tioga Lake, my family stopped by Tioga Pass Resort to stock up on fishing supplies. Sadly, TPR no longer carries tackle, so my dad and I had to drive up and down the bumpy/​smooth/​bumpy/​smooth/​bumpy road to Saddlebag Lake Resort.
«Resort» is a misleading word in this case. Unless resorts make you think of old people in old T-​shirts sitting on rickety porches in rocking chairs. I don’t really have a problem with any of this, but again, my imagination. I know that’s not really an explanation or even a complete sentence, but I’m getting at something here; I really am.
The appointments are old and shabby. There is a lot of fishing tackle, and it’s as overpriced as you’d expect it to be. The woman who helped us was friendly but not terribly knowledgeable.
I’m dinging a star because of complete and utter wheelchair inaccessibility. The view of the lake is beautiful, but the whole area reminds me much more of the arid highland near the northern border of California along I-​5 than of the rest of the eastern Sierra Nevada. Again, that’s not a knock per se. It just rubs up against my imaginative expectation rather abrasively.

This is a small piece of heaven at 10,000 ft elevation! The Saddlebag café is a wonderful surpise! The café serves hearty and delicious breakfasts. They also serve lunch. The featured pie is always tempting! The café/​store sells tickets for the boat taxi that crosses Saddlebag Lake, so that you can reach 20 Lakes Basin area. Wonderful hiking there. If you stay at the campground, even better.

We first found Saddlebag lakes about 2004, when we were trolling around for a backpacking destination that would allow us to acclimate at 10,000 ft elevation to get ready for the one day Mt. Whitney hike me and my group was doing.
Its about 5 miles out to Helen Lake from the resort parking lot and we laze around in the beautiful sierras hiking and fishing before we set out for our adventure. Its beautiful here! Tons of lakes in the back country… And if you run/​hike back before 10:00am you can get breakfast at the resort where they serve you plate sized pancakes that’s yummilicious and worth the jaunt out!!!
Its a great place!!! Just don’t go in September like we went last year where your water will freeze in your bottle… and the wind is pretty fierce all day and all night… we ended up cutting our trip short.