NE Cali News

As California grapples with the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a small motel in the far northern Siskiyou County village of Happy Camp wants people to know it is open for business.

Although March and April were slow, as is typical that time of year, more people have been arriving lately to stay for a night or more while on their way to wilderness destinations, Forest Lodge Motel manager Sheri Pasterick told the NE Cali News.

“I just had a motorcycle group come in last night from the Bay Area, so folks are starting to get out a little bit, but that was a very slow time, March and April,” Pasterick said.

The motel, which has been around since the 1960s, has 14 rooms.

“We did have four employees, we laid two of them off April 1, so we are down to two," she said. "They are getting unemployment so we haven’t hired them back, but as soon as it starts getting busy again, we will. People are very poor up here, we’re trying to help them as much as we can.” 

Nestled in mountains near the Klamath River, Happy Camp, which got its name during prosperous mining days, is 1½ hours from big town civilization, Pasterick said. The county seat, Yreka, is 70 miles away.

“The [motel] owner did apply and did get a small loan, but I’m not sure what the government could do to make it better for us,” Pasterick said. “Our little village has about 1,000 people. It hasn’t been impacted much by the virus, but people are still wearing masks.”

With few heath facilities nearby, keeping the virus at bay is a primary concern, and Pasterick says she uses the night window to interact with guests when they check in.

“We tell people to be careful, be safe, wear a mask when you need to [and] you might carry your own disinfectant,” Pasterick said. “This whole thing is just so weird, we really don’t know. We’re hanging in there and hope they don’t bring [the virus][ to Happy Camp, because if it comes to Happy Camp, we’ll be in trouble, it could wipe out half the town. There are a lot of poorer and older people here, so even though people are coming and going, we just hope they don’t bring it to us.”

The village’s only restaurant was doing carryout only the past two months but is getting ready to serve diners again.

“Our biggest fear is someone would bring the virus to Happy Camp, but we’re lucky they haven’t so far,” Pasterick said.