Day 21: Five Star Fish Camp Hospitality

This morning, we left Randy at Bass Lake, he would be headed to a motel in Oakhurst tonight while we are headed to Fish Camp to stay with the family of my friend Alan. We will try to meet up with him again later in Yosemite.

The view behind

The group on the move

Still cruising along

The climb to Fish Camp was not too difficult.  It is hard to tell if the inclines are getting a bit less steep or if I am finally getting a bit stronger.  Probably it is some of both.  The road surface was nice but the combination of the very narrow to non-existent shoulder, steep drop off at the edge of the road, and heavy holiday traffic headed into the park combined to make this one of the worst sections of road so far on this trip.

We were shooting for an early afternoon arrival.  With a much faster climb than expected. We were quite a bit ahead of schedule by the time we reached the top.  Our map shows Fish Camp as a town with a population of 59 but indicated we might find a convenience store.

There were a few B&B places along the road on the way up.  When we saw a sign for a lodge, I thought we might find a few more services and maybe a cold drink so I decided to turn off at the entrance.

As we made our way up the lane it was clear that Fish Camp held more than 59 people.  The "roadside lodge" was a AAA 4 Diamond resort.  Unexpected.  I was able to get directions (from the parking valets) to a spot inside for cold drinks.  Life was good.  

Pop 59??  I don't think so

It would have been 5 diamonds if they had valet bike parking

As a super bonus, it was also the first time in weeks that my phone has had full service.  We hung out, had lunch, made phone calls, and enjoyed being done with the climbing for the day.

Not a bad way to catch up with the world

By mid-day we made our way across the road to our hosts cabin.  While I thought it would be just my buddy's parents, it turned out to be them, grandparents, brother and brother in law.  We joined the crowd.

The perfect wood hauling truck

It isn't possible for them to have been more welcoming.  We had showers, did laundry for the first time in ages, ate another lunch, and spent the afternoon swapping stories and relaxing.  The outside decks were surrounded by great large trees, nice views and perfect temperatures.

They have all been in the area for quite a while so they had lots of local knowledge to share and great tips for our upcoming Yosemite visit.

A great family dinner

One of the funniest things I learned was when I told them that I felt like I was in a John Candy movie when we passed through Bass Lake.  They thought it was clever and I didn't quite get why.  It turns out that the movie I meant (The Great Outdoors) was actually filmed at that very lake.  It became a very funny story when they realized I had no idea about that.

We were a bit late getting to bed but we had decided to sleep in and get a late start for what will be a short day tomorrow.