Pine Mountain Lake

[mjc]

This weekend, I flew to Pine Mountain Lake Airport with a friend. We met up with friends in a car who drove us to the Yosemite Park entrance only 30 minutes away. I had called the nearest car rental agencies and they would not deliver a car to the airport, and there isn't a bus to the park. It is an airpark, but there is no attended FBO. It's really too bad, because the airport is a very convenient way of avoiding the long and traffic-infused drive from the Bay Area, and parking is only $4/night! (I'd pay more if there were some services.) There also used to be a cafe on the field, but it's been closed for several years.

I called the county public works folks and was told that they would like to offer more services such as rental cars and a cafe, but they aren't sure if they'll get enough traffic to make it worthwhile. The woman to whom I spoke thanked me for calling and said that phone calls from pilots are about the only way they can get this kind of information. So if you have an interest in a cafe or transportation to Yosemite at Pine Mountain Lake, please let Tuolumne County know at (209) 533-5685.

[Ron McBride]

Michael

Come to Mariposa KMPI about 20 minutes south, or maybe 5 minutes direct from Reid Hillview.   They have car rentals, transient parking I think is $5.00 a night. Yosemite park is 40 minutes away, but you will be a lot clower to the valley than the north entrance is.

KMPI phone number is:(209) 966-2143.

[MooneyMitch]

Quote: N9154V

Michael

Come to Mariposa KMPI about 20 minutes south, or maybe 5 minutes direct from Reid Hillview.   They have car rentals, transient parking I think is $5.00 a night. Yosemite park is 40 minutes away, but you will be a lot clower to the valley than the north entrance is.

KMPI phone number is:(209) 966-2143.

[mjc]

Quote: N9154V

Michael

Come to Mariposa KMPI about 20 minutes south, or maybe 5 minutes direct from Reid Hillview.   They have car rentals, transient parking I think is $5.00 a night. Yosemite park is 40 minutes away, but you will be a lot clower to the valley than the north entrance is.

KMPI phone number is:(209) 966-2143.

[DaV8or]

Pine Mountain Lake needs a reason for pilots to go there. One of those reasons used to be the Corsair Cafe. However, this cafe needed some fixin'. One, it needs better outside seating that faces the ramp and runway. Two, it needs good customer service oriented owners with good food. Examples of how to do an airport cafe are to be found at Petaluma, Auburn and Camarillo. There are others, but these sprung to my mind as thriving cafes. They need to ditch the "locals only" attitude that used to prevail there.

Pine Mountain is beautiful country and it is a gateway into Yosemite as well as some great boating on Don Pedro and McClurre. It has decent RNAV and GPS approaches, so it has that going for it too. A great, dynamic, resoursful and funded owner of the cafe could really turn that place around. They could also take over ad hoc FBO duties perhaps in the beginning by working with car rental agencies. Another idea would be for them to hook up with realestate agents in the area so they could arrange rental lodging for pilots flying in. Perhaps something on the field.

In short, there needs to be a reason for non residents to go there. At the moment there isn't much other than a runway with pretty scenery around it.

[N6843N]

I have a friend that lives on Pine Mountain Lake, been in there many times and ate at the Corsair, loved the pics on the walls. I think Columbia will always make PML less usful then it could be. It is a cool place to land thou.