One room with two full beds, a kitchen you can cook a real dinner in, and a backyard with a firepit, a picnic table and a charcoal grill. One thing to know before you book rather than after you arrive: the water pressure in this cabin is low, and the shower is a stall. The name is the county's own — Alpine was created on March 16, 1864, at the height of silver fever, with some 11,000 people expecting to rival the Comstock, and by the 1870 census it held 685.
This cabin is named for the county itself — carved out of parts of five
neighboring counties in the silver spring of 1864. Markleeville that year had
168 houses, a telegraph line from Genoa, and a population of 2,620. The ore
turned out to be the stubborn kind, and by 1868 the county's population had
fallen below 1,200 on its way to 685.
What the bust left behind is the point. Today Alpine County counts about
1,204 people — the fewest of any county in California — across land that is
roughly 96 percent public. The Chamber of Commerce keeps its own famous list:
no traffic light, no bank, no movie theater, no dentist, no supermarket.
The list is not an apology. The passes still close each winter and the
night sky still gets genuinely dark. The county courthouse, built in 1928
of stone quarried above the ghost town of Silver Mountain City, stands on
the original 160 acres its murdered founder staked. The county that
expected to rival Virginia City is the quietest corner of California
instead.
The whole boom-and-bust story is told in Silver Fever, in The Story.
The essentials- On the East Fork
- Dogs welcome
- Open year-round
- Full kitchen — full fridge, stove and oven, microwave, coffee pot, toaster, pots, pans and utensils · fan for summer, propane heat for winter · backyard and a small front porch with chairs · firepit, picnic table and charcoal grill · room for an extra tent ($10 for the stay)
Stated plainly- Zero cell reception
- Free Wi-Fi at the resort
Dog fee — $30 for the visit, declared at booking, priced in the receiptCheck‑in 2pm · Check‑out 11amNo limit on how many dogs, or how bigSleeps 4 · one room · 2 beds (2 fulls) · 1 bathThe plain terms.
Deposit & balance — tonight’s deposit is half the lodging, plus Alpine County’s tax on that half; the balance is charged automatically about a week before arrival, to the same card.
Dogs — $30 for the whole visit, declared at booking. Dogs camp free at the riverside sites.
Times — check-in from 2pm, check-out by 11am. Campsites and RV slots turn over at noon.
Cancellation — Cancelling: a $25 cancellation fee applies to any cancelled reservation, and the rest of what you paid goes back to the card it came from — or keep the whole of it as an open credit toward a future stay, with no fee. Either way, call (530) 694-2229 and talk to us — we are a family resort and we would rather hear from you than not.
