A Weekend Away at Sardine Lake

We spend 4 wonderful days at the Sardine Lake Resort in Sierra City, California and it was the most beautiful place to rest, relax and recharge. Sharing our favorite things to do, places to see and tips for visiting.

Traveling Close to Home

My husband and I love to travel. We’ve been fortunate enough to visit many countries together like France, Italy, Greece, Thailand, Mexico and Fiji. In addition to many places within the U.S.A. like Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Louisiana, Georgia, Oregon, Montana, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Utah and Hawaii.

Obviously travel was not an option in the last year and a half. Due not only to the Covid crisis but the fact that our daughter was going through chemotherapy. As the world slowly starts opening back up, we’ve decided to to try and travel close to home with our children (at least for now).

When we had kids, we both agreed that it is important for them to be exposed to traveling to different parts of the country and world. We both love experiencing new foods, cultures, different geography, and just experiencing as much of this beautiful world as we can.

Sardine Lake Resort

Sardine Lake Resort is a stunning, lake side resort that is run by the Hunt Family. It’s a picturesque location consisting of 9 cabins, 1 main lodge (complete with a wonderful restaurant) and absolutely adorable Lakeside Bar.

We were lucky enough to get a reservation last minute 5 years ago and have always wanted to go back! They only have 9 cabins available for rent (ranging from studio to 2 full bedroom), so you can imagine it fills up quickly.

Dan called just at the right time this year to inquire about a stay and we were able to book a cabin the first weekend they opened for the summer season.

Why We Love Sardine Lake Resort

Have you ever seen movies where a family has a lakeside cabin and they return every year and their kids grow up having so many great memories of “summers at the cabin”?

Sardine Lake Resort is that type of place. Many of the families that reserve the cabins come back the same week year after year. They get to know the other families well. It’s the type of place where kids run up to the other kids once they arrive and talk about how much they’ve missed them the past year, how much they’ve grown, etc.

It’s so family friendly and everyone there is genuinely nice, helpful and just looking to get to know one another. One woman we met on our recent trip has being going to Sardine Lake Resort for 70 years! She learned how to swim at the Sand Pond and just had so many wonderful memories of growing up there.

The Cabins

There are 9 cabins total at Sardine Lake Resort and we’ve stayed in 3 different ones during our two visits there.

The cabins range from 1 room (a studio type cabin), to a 2 bedroom deluxe. This past visit we stayed in the Cabin #4 which was a one bedroom and it was the perfect size for our family of 4. It has one main room that contains a full size bed, a set of twin bunk beds, a kitchen (complete with a stove, sink, fridge, microwave and coffee pot) and a full bathroom (sink, shower, toilet).

Before we left, the cabin across from us let us check out their digs and it was beautiful! It was one of the two bedroom deluxe cabins and it had the best view of the lake on the entire property. The cabin had a large living room area that had a couch, love seat, full kitchen and large dining table. It also had a full bath, room with a full size bed, and bunk room with 2 sets of twin bunks (4 beds total). The porch had chairs for lounging and patio dining table.

All the cabins are well spaced from each other, so you don’t feel like you’re right on top of your neighbor. However, you can easily walk from one end of the cabins to the other. Each cabin has a porch with a dining table and a set of outdoor bunk beds.

My kids thought the outdoor bunk beds were so cool! They fell asleep every night on the outdoor bunks and we would carry them inside when we went to bed. Definitely a cool summer camp feel!

The Restaurant

Depending on what time you go during their season, the Lakeside Restaurant has 2 seatings every night – 6pm or 8pm.

The first time that we came to Sardine Lake Resort (5 years ago), we weren’t able dine at the restaurant because we had two really small children (plus another small baby with us that week) and it was just too hectic for us.

We finally got to take advantage of the restaurant during this trip and it was a great experience. The menu is lovely with a few entree choices each night, including a special. The choices range from steak to fish and come with a variety of sides, soup or a salad.

The food is good! Great portion sizes, delicious rolls before dinner and lovely dessert options. We’d highly recommend having at least one dinner there.

If you are like us and don’t plan on eating at the restaurant every meal, here is a great post on Healthy Camping Meals.

Lakeside Bar

One of our favorite things about this place is the Lakeside Bar. It’s an adorable little cabin that sits right on the lake and opens every night at 5pm for cocktail hour. It’s such a fun social event and in addition to the fellow cabin renters, people that are camping nearby, staying close by or that live around the area attend.

The bartender (Nick) is fantastic. Personable and makes great drinks! He’s a local cattle rancher and his beef was on the menu as the special the night after we ate at the restaurant. It’s just a cool vibe, something to look forward to and nice to mingle with the other families at the cabin. My son says that the Shirley Temples are the best he’s ever had.

Boat Rentals

There are little motor boats available to rent right onsite and the most gorgeous little boat dock. Our family loves taking them out and fishing or just trolling around the lake looking at all the amazing wildlife. To date, we’ve seen a fox, otter, turtles and an eagle just putting around the lake on one of the their boats.

My husband loves to fish and this is great place for that. There are some serious fisherman that come out early every morning to fish from nearby areas. One day we caught two trout and cooked them up for dinner on the BBQ at our cabin. It was delicious.

Things to Do Near Sardine Lake

Most cabin rentals are from Sunday through Saturday. Since the kids were still in school we were lucky that they allowed us to come Wednesday through Saturday. You may think that 6 days is a long time but there is so much to do there!

Directly next to the resort, you can walk about 5 minutes to a beautiful swimming hole that is called Sand Pond. We saw so many families there that were just set up beach side enjoying the day. The kids had a blast using nets to catch frogs, floating on inner tubes and rafts and just playing in the water.

We took a short (but fun) 4×4 off-road trail and then hiked down to this beautiful Deer Lake. It was perfect for swimming and fishing. There was a couple there that were camping a few nights in their car and had a great little set up, complete with a kayak to paddle around in.

There are also many golf courses available, small local towns that have cute little restaurants and so many hidden gems for hiking, swimming and fishing.

What to Bring – Our Tips for Packing

If you are anything like me, then you always appreciate when people give tips on what to pack. An over-packer by nature, I tend to either bring too much or the wrong things.

Here are our tips for what to bring for a trip to Sardine Lake Resort –

• If you are going to be making your own meals at your cabin, then I would recommend bringing foil, plastic wrap, paper towels and salt/pepper/seasonings. The cabins have plates, dishes, serving spoons, etc stocked when you arrive.
• Shampoo and toiletries. There is bar soap and fresh towels in each cabin
• Bug spray and sunscreen
• Ice – there is a small ice cube tray in the freezer but we recommend bringing your own
• Fishing gear (if you want to fish)
• Charcoal – each cabin comes with a BBQ on the front porch but you have to supply your own charcoal
• Water toys – rafts/floats/nets make the swimming pond more enjoyable, especially if you have little ones
• Games – they typically have games available to borrow in the main lodge but due to Covid restrictions they recommend you bring your own
• A light sweater/pants – it can get chilly in the evening (depending on what time of year you visit) and fire pits aren’t allowed so if you want to relax outdoors then we recommend some warm clothes