Crystal Lake Camp Grounds Cafe and Trading Post

Cafe and Trading Post as of 29/May/2010

The Crystal Lake trading post, snack bar, and cafe has been rebuilt inside with an entirely new stainless steel kitchen, new glass display cabinets, a massive walk-in refrigerator room, fresh bread racks, and other equipment all intended to be used to serve up hot and cold meals and drinks.

Though the menu has not yet been completely planned, once the menu has been decided upon it will be posted here on this web page complete with the current prices along with notes on what days special items will be available.

Though it's not certain, the menu should contain at least some of the following traditional items:

• Hamburgers (with or without cheese, onions, all the usual fixings and hopefully when the kitchen has it in stock, avocado)

• Hot-dogs (with or without chilibeans, chopped onion, grated cheese, and all the usual fixings

• Burritos (various varieties which will also hopefully include vegetarian with grilled onion, bell pepper, and spices. Avocado might come with the vegetarian varieties and may cost extra with other types of burritos)

• Bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich (optionally with avocado if any is currently in stock)

• Grilled cheese sandwich (hopefully with dill pickle available on the side)

• Tuna sandwich (perhaps with finely chopped onion, celery, and sweet pickle)

• Perhaps a grilled vegetarian soy burger fried on a special skillet with a special spatula kept separated from the other kitchen work spaces. Since the Crystal Lake web site owner is a vegetarian, I would insist on having separate preparation utensils for vegetarian meals

• Bowl of chili with beans (optionally chopped onion, jalapeno peppers, saltine crackers, perhaps toasted bread, optionally with grated cheese on top)

• A variety of hot soups and stews made specially by the kitchen chef, home made in the kitchen, not served up from a can or jar

• Macaroni and cheese (on special days, perhaps, but not all the time. Macaroni and cheese is quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive and are often a children's favorite)

• Hot drinks, cold drinks, canned and bottles drinks

The trading post section of the kitchen should provide various things that people camping, hiking, biking, or picnicking might have forgotten to bring up with them or may have run out of.

The things that the trading post will have for sale are also not decided upon yet however there are a number of typical items that people forget to bring or run out of and the list of things that the trading post might carry include:

• Mustard
• Hot dog and hamburger buns
• Tooth paste
• First Aid bandages
• Headache medications
• Hot chocolate / cocoa mix
• Boxed cold cereal
• Canned and bottled cold drinks
• Sliced bread
• Sliced cheese
• Ice and perhaps ice cream
• Cookies, chips
• Perhaps camera film
• Crystal Lake Recreation Area post cards, T-shirts
• Maps of the local hiking and nature trails -- handed out for free
• Other things that are typically found in remote mini-stores

There is a very nice pot-bellied stove in the order-and-takeout section of the kitchen and there may be a few tables with chairs for people to wait inside as their meals are assembled and served.

Outside of the kitchen itself there is a large open patio with seven or eight tables next to an array of gas and charcoal grills for outdoor cooking of such things as BBQ chicken and fire-cooked hot dogs.

Finally, because the Summer months can get hot up there, the trading post has a secondary very large walk-in ice freezer that can hold thousands of bags of ice.

One other related thing that is available up there is a mobile hot-dog kitchen on wheels that is towed behind a pickup truck from which hot-dogs can be sold complete with all the traditional fixings.

It's not known whether the mobile wagon will be put back in to service however in decades past the vehicle had been parked along the lake and people swimming, fishing, or laying out in the Sun could walk a short distance to the wagon parked on the shore of the lake and get cardboard boxes full of steamed or fried hot-dogs.

The mobile hot-dog wagon has not yet been fully restored and rebuilt with preparation and serving utensils however it's certainly a possibility. In addition to the wagon perhaps being parked on the lake shore during the day, at night the wagon could be parked at the open air amphitheater parking lot to provide hot-dogs for people listening to lectures or live music.

What I personally look forward to is being able to ride my bicycle up the highway 24 miles to the campgrounds, having a cold crisp sandwich and a glass of lemonade before I continue on in to the wilderness to spend the night.

In the morning I can pack up my stuff, rope it all to my bicycle, and swing by the kitchen for another sandwich and a cold can of soda before I head down the mountain again.

It will be nice being able to not have to carry cooking equipment and my dinner on my back 24 miles up the mountain, counting upon the kitchen for my main meals and maybe only bringing up dried fruit, nuts, and water.

Though I like to ride my bicycle in the heavy rain, having a warm and dry place to collect myself before heading down the mountain in the rain will also be nice, and of course when the Recreation Area is packed with snow, the pot-bellied stove in the trading post is sure to be very welcome.

Some other things that the trading post might offer:

It would be nice if the trading post would also rent out snow shoes and perhaps have some bicycles that could be rented out to people.