IN THE BAG!

Published in the May 23, 2026 issue.

In a few weeks, Saddlebag Lake might look a lot like it used to.

A refurbished water taxi is set to push off from the shore for the first time in years, ferrying hikers across the lake toward the 20 Lakes Basin. Opening day is projected for June 5, weather permitting. 

For Julian Leeds, 26, it is the first visible sign that something larger might work. He is in the middle of reviving two of the Eastern Sierra’s oldest high country resorts, Saddlebag Lake Resort and Tioga Pass Resort, which have sat partially or fully dormant for years, slowly slipping toward disrepair.

It’s an unlikely project, and not just because of his age.

This summer will be his fourth year laboring over the project.

At Saddlebag, the work is beginning to show. In the past, the taxi ferried visitors across the lake, cutting miles from the trek to the backcountry. For decades, it had been a part of the resort’s storied history. But in recent years, it has fallen away.

After three months of work, the ferry now runs faster and can hold more people with a new engine, furniture, and floors. Leeds is also preparing additional pontoon boats for rental.

But the boat isn’t really the point.

“The product here at Saddlebag Lake is not the water taxi or the cafe,” said Saddlebag manager Mike Donaldsons. “It’s the feeling of being welcomed home.”

The resort dates back to the early 1900s. It passed through multiple long term owners, 26 years under the Grovers, then another 30 under Richard and Carmen Ernst, before being folded into the same ownership circle as Tioga Pass Resort in 2018. Since then, it has been mostly quiet.

Leeds wants to change that. He hopes to eventually bring back a general store where one once stood and potentially introduce a full kitchen. He also wants to offer boat rentals and a fishing guide service for guests.

Down the road, at Tioga Pass Resort, the work is slower.

The property has not operated in about nine years, and cabins now sit in varying stages of collapse or recovery. Eventually, the cabins are expected to be rebuilt with compact kitchens, updated electrical, slate showers, and electric mirrors. Some are nearly finished, others still have a lot of work left to do. 

Leeds is hoping to begin renting cabins at Tioga Pass Resort sometime mid-summer.

Walking the property, Leeds ran a hand along fresh framing.

“I actually did a lot of this myself,” he said.

“How do you know how to do all this stuff?”

“I don’t.”

“YouTube University?”

“Yeah,” he said, laughing. “YouTube University and I learned a lot on the job.”

If it all falls apart, he said, “at least I have the ultimate backcountry cabin… but that’s not an option.”

He holds a degree from University of Colorado Boulder, but in Business and Anthropology, not project management. Yet, he found himself at the helm unconventionally after he and his father, Ben Leeds, were the last standing bastion of a former group of investors in the property.

The group purchased the resort in 2002 and ran it for eight years. But over time, the number of investors thinned and the property closed in 2017. His father was the only one left, and after two years of serving as an administrative assistant to the project, Leeds got a fast promotion.

Now, the work, piecemeal, improvised, and constant, has largely become his. 

His goal is to bring both resorts back to something like their former scale. At Tioga Pass, he imagines a bakery, a full service restaurant and bar, cabins and yurts. At Saddlebag, he wants a functioning base again for visitors heading into the backcountry.

This vision, however, also runs into reality. 

Water systems. Septic limits. County approvals.

He is nearing the end of physical renovations on cabins, employee housing, and basic amenities, but expanding food and beverage service will require flexibility from county code requirements, especially given the age and historical status of the buildings.

Still, for all the moving parts, the money, the permits, the long timelines, the motivation behind it was less complicated than the project itself. Leeds shrugged it off when asked to explain.

“It’s just cool,” he said. “I’m happy to be here to experience Yosemite with my friends.”

For now, that looks like a boat pushing off from shore, carrying people back into a place that is slowly coming back to life.

For updates on TPR and Saddlebag, you can check out website, tiogaresort.com.