We spend 7 days a year at Packer Lake. Took us 6 years on the waiting list to finally get a cabin with a kitchen and bathroom.

This year will be year 20. In order to get a cabin, someone must die. We vacation with the same people each year, meaning all the other cabins have people we have known for 20 years!

Click on the link below to visit my Packer Lake album. It's my favorite place in the entire world. Better than Tahoe. Much better. (Don't tell anyone I said that. LOL!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Packer Lake Album.

I'm getting ready to look at your pictures...can't wait! But I have a friend who lives in CA. and they go to Tahoe a couple of times a year and said they have a lot of gambling. I don't think I'd want to go up there and gamble though, but I'd like to see the lake, then stay at Packer Lodge. lol.

I have nothing against gambling, but why do they ruin such beautiful areas with it? Money. :)

As for the money... We pay a $300. deposit in March to secure our week. Then we generally eat dinner a couple times at the lodge during the week. ($$$) Robert buys worms, etc. It's all put on our tab. We generally write a check for about $900. upon check out. It is much cheaper than a time share and we get clean sheets and towels whenever we need them, a fully furnished cabin with a barbeque pit on the deck and good company all week to boot.

We have two cabins of guitar players during our week. One night we gather on the largest deck in the area and sing 60s songs together. "Michael row your boat ashore...", 'Where have all the flowers gone?", 'Hang down your head, Tom Duley," etc... We have songbooks and sing all the classics. Last year, just as we finished a song, we heard a lone clapping coming off the darkness of the lake, then 'Bravo!' We all cracked up. The lake is open to everyone, not just people in the cabins. It's a non-motor lake.

Good times. We have raised our kids together up there, now many of us are bringing our grandkids. Our cabin keeps a journal so we have gotten to 'know' the rest of the 'Woodchuck' people who call it home for a week a year as well.

Those pictures are amazing. Let me know when you all are leaving, I'll be there ready to go bright and early! lol.

You said on the two rivers meeting picture that you grew up there. Where did you grow up? You also said tourists are always drowning. Is the river flowing pretty hard due to winter snows and they get caught up in it?

One thing I like is motor boats aren't allowed. You know I'm a "vintage" type person, and this is my type of vacation!

Forgot to say, you can't beat a vacation like that for $900. Actually it's pretty cheap because of the ambience of it all.

It reminds me of my childhood when we'd rent a similar cabin at Grand Lake in Oklahoma.

Yes, I was raised very close to Downieville, as the crow flies, in a mining town called 'Washington, CA'

I was raised on the banks of the Yuba River. The mountain snow melt raises the river every spring. Because you can see the bottom, tourists mistake how swift the water is in the spring and the river isn't forgiving. Even wading up to your knees is dangerous during this time as the river will pull you in.

In the summer, you can't beat the Yuba for it's stunning swimming holes. People drive from the Bay Area to swim in it. As a kid, I lived on the river in the summer and tanned brown as a berry. (That is what my mom said. Now I wonder what berry is brown. Funny how familial sayings don't make much sense. LOL!)

Oh the Yuba... when my husband and I were younger and childless, we drove many a weekend from SF up to Marysville, and sunbathed and swam in the river. The stones really warm the water up -a wonderful place!

I think Packer Lake Lodge offers a very reasonable cost for vacation lodging.

We do an annual trip to the Outer Banks of NC during the week preceding Labor Day. The cost of the OBX rental homes can go from $1,500 to $15,000 per week depending on the dates, location of the house (beach front, etc.), number of bedrooms, and other amenities. Our house is mid-range and we go during mid-season, We rent a beachfront house, 7 BR, 7 full bath, 3 masters with private baths, 2 queen bedrooms with a shared hall bath, 2 bunk rooms, 4 beds each room. The house has comfortable seating for 12-14 for meals, full kitchen, LR, greatroom. Best part is the ground floor "game room" with pool table, fooseball, TV, etc., along with a second small kitchen. Gives the kids a place to hang out at night as there really isn't much to do at night, other than mini golf. A small price to play for a visit to a very isolated beautiful part of the Country. Most of the homes in OBX now offer in-ground pools after the run of shark attacks a few years ago. We usually go with two other families, so it does make it more affordable and the kids love it. Our house is the norm of the rentals, there are much more ritzy homes with high end furniture, etc. I want to be able to relax and not worry that one of my kids will break something that I can't afford to pay for:From what I've seen of Packer Lake Lodge's website, I'd love to visit. Our family enjoys activity packed vacations. We love to be outdoors from sun up to sun down.

Thanks for all of the info. Is it even possible to get cabins? I would love to propose this place for a year or two from now as it looks as though all of the weeks for this season are already taken.

Oh gosh, Golddust, what beautiful photos . . . you're very talented with your photography! Packer Lake Lodge looks and sounds like such a fun place, especially since you know the other lodgers, as well. We rented a cabin in a resort on the southeast shore of Lake Tahoe one year. It had lots of cute little cabins and was lots of fun, although I can't recall it's name. I do remember that a big paddle boat would come and dock at it's pier and we took it out one evening for a dinner tour of the lake, which was beautiful!
Your pic of the giant pinecone reminded me that this is where I picked up one of my own. I keep it on a bookcase in our living room. I was blown away by how huge pine cones get there!
Thanks for sharing your great pics. I loved seeing them all!
Lynn