Hey family,

We are now just about one month away from the Webber Lake Family campout from Sunday, July 30th through Tuesday, August 1. Summer is a busy time for all of us. We have closing weekend at Alpine Meadows over the Fourth of July weekend, followed by a dozen days or so touring Washington coastal areas in our van. It seemed like a good idea to get some of this conversation going before panic sets in during the last week of July.

Things To Know

• Handy link to specific directions to the Family Camp group site.

• Webber Lake was a private fishing resort for 60 years and just opened to the public for camping in 2018. It was a well kept secret for a few years until it was featured in Sunset magazine and SFGate.com Those two spoil everything! Now it’s very difficult to get reservations. We’ve been trying to reserve the group camp for 3 years.

• Webber Lake is 40′ deep at it maximum, and most of it is less than 10′ deep. It’s great for paddle boards and kayaks and small boats, until the wind or thunderstorms pop up. Fishing is good from a boat, difficult from the shore due to a lot of weedy growth near shore. The boat speed limit is 5 mph.

• There’s a lot of great hiking and mountain biking in the area. Jackson Meadows Reservoir is 10 miles down the road if you secretly bought a jet ski or ski boat recently.

• There is no cell service at all at Webber Lake…zip nada. When we were going there a lot we had a Zoleo satellite messenger, but we discontinued the service because we got tired of the fee. But know that you’re off the grid. There is enough service, sometimes, to get a text to send or make a call at Little Truckee Summit, where Jackson Meadows Road meets 89.

• There are no stores or supplies at Webber or Jackson Meadows. You’re going back to Truckee if you need something.

• The campground finally added well water availability last season, after being dry for years. We have not tested that functionality yet as our one reservation last summer got smoked out in the fall. There’s pit toilets in the campground that are generally very clean. It’s about a 1/4 mile walk from the group camp. The last few seasons, they did place a SaniHut near the group camp. Walking is good.

• For the last three years, by midsummer, all campfires and charcoal fires were banned. This year was far snowier and wetter, so we shall see. We have construction cutoffs and its okay to collect dead and down wood if fires are okay.

• Mosquitos can be bad. Bring chemicals.

• Check in time on Sunday is 12:00pm, checkout time Tuesday is 11:00am.

So the primary message is, let your people know that you are out of touch a few days. Bring everything you need.

Organizing Food

We are planning on bringing the big griddle BBQ from home. It gets a lot of food cooked fast. We are also planning on providing the base for the two dinners.

Sunday night is Taco Night. We will be grilling up carne asada and some sort of fish stuff for the pescatarians. We’ll also be doing the tortillas in both corn and flour varieties. We will do a Costco run for salsa, shredded cheese, pickled onions, avocados and other taco basics. We’re looking for you guys to commit to possible appetizers, sides, desserts and hopefully some margaritas.

Monday night is Burger Night. We will be grilling standard Costco burgers and something for the pescatarians and vegetarians. We will also cover buns, as long as you like Costco ones. We will grab the Costco picnic pack for condiments, cheese and tomatoes. We’re looking for you guys to commit to appetizers, sides and desserts and hopefully some interesting beverages.

At the bottom of this post, you can add comments to let us know what you can cover. Once I approve those comments, everyone can see them, and that will give us a little sense of organization.

Breakfasts are a bit more freestyle. Ann and I are usually up very early and we are happy with just a bagel and some coffee. But the big griddle is available, and it is fantastic for making large batches of bacon, pancakes, french toast, hash browns, etc. So feel free to do some coordination there.

Lunches also seem to be better handled individually, as you know better how you might want to spend your day time hours.

Entertainment

We are taking our van to Webber, as well as our truck. We plan to load the aforementioned big griddle, a couple of e-bikes, and up to three paddle boards plus a big cooler and two dogs. We also will toss in the Corn Hole game, although if you have ever tried to play a game of Corn Hole with Sunny around, you know she totally loves that game.

We also will bring cribbage and other popular family games. One thing to note is that we are pretty sad when it comes to lanterns, which have a low return rate after many Hoedowns. So if you have some good lanterns, that may help the afterdark gaming sessions.

RV’s ‘N People

As we mentioned when we first set this up, we can only have 4 RV’s at the group camp. According to the way the reservations came in, the RV spots go to 1) Mark & Ann 2) Danny & Tessa 3) Luke & Sarah and 4) Drew & Lauren. If there’s any further negotiations, duke it out on your own. The camp hosts have never demonstrated any flexibility. We can have 8 additional vehicles that people are not sleeping in.

The group site is limited to 20 people and we are there: 1 Mark 2 Ann 3 Tessa 4 Danny 5 Eddy 6 Reagan 7 Patty 8 Randy 9 Orea 10 Luke 11 Sarah 12 James 13 Garrett 14 Drew 15 Lauren 16 Adam 17 Jamie 18 Marley 19 Iylee 20 Braysen 21 Katie (days only) Again, the camp hosts have never demonstrated any flexibility. I did not even invite my brother’s family or my mom. That said, if Tiare can make it, that’s worth bending the rules.

Early Arrivals or Extended Stays At Our House

We mentioned previously that you are welcome to arrive a day or two early or stay a couple of extra days at our house if that fits your plan. Obviously, three extra RV’s won’t all fit, but maybe one or two. Again use the comments below to let people know if you want to make that happen.