2008 Camp Swank

[innerSpaceman]

Here's the link again to the general reservations info page.

The reservations phone line number is (877) 444-6777.

This is the site for booking Lower Pines sites.

BUT ... I just found out only 2 sites can be booked under one name. So, even if we can snag 4 or 5 sites, we need a different person's credit card for each transaction. Any volunteers?

At 4 people per site, 4 sites will allow for 16 people. A 5th site would be required for a capacity of 20 people.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, that was fun.



Lower Pines campground sold out in about 2.6 minutes. The only person who got through on the phone was swanie ... and of course, she was the only one not on our I.M. conference, and so communications did not extend to checking other Valley campgrounds while she was still on the line.

Le sigh.



Yosemite may be a cabin or lodge adventure from now on.



OR: There's the allure of White Wolf camp .... just 10 minutes outside the Valley and populated on a first-come, first-served basis. It's a big campground, and I've never experienced problems getting several adjacent sites there on a just-show-up basis.

Of course that was in the days when it took a ful 16 minutes for Lower Pines to sell out.
Things might be a little trickier now, and in the high season especially. Dunno for sure.



The other avenues we are exploring are:

1) A Group Campsite at King's Canyon. Katiesue is faxing a request this morning, and there appear to be sites available.

2) Regular campsites at Sheep Creek campground in King's Canyon. Not Afraid, €uroMeinke, Nirvanaman and myself scoped this place out at the tail end of last Swank Camp and there are some killer campsites near the river. This is also (as are all King's Canyon campgrounds) a first-come, first-served situation. We'd have the same chance as anyone else, and this campground is vast ... if the coolest sites were to already be taken.


* * * * *

When you try to get a slew of campsites first-come, first-served, you really have to be first-come. You show up at the crack of dawn on a weekday when demand for new sites is lowest, and basically wait in line at the campground entrance until noon ... and then see what's available.


I think that strategy can work almost as well at White Wolf in Yosemite as it can at Sheep Creek in King's Canyon. And I'm alarmed that, absent some fantastic stroke of luck .... camping in Yosemite Valley is apparently a thing of the past. Certainly it's not going to happen for a handful of campsites.

And so, White Wolf will remain the only viable camping option for Yosemite, whether we have swank camp there this season or some other.





What says any of youse??

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, the news just keeps getting crappier the more research I do.

Crane Flat Campground is really far from Yosemite Valley. It's just past the Tioga Road (which is the road that actually crosses the Sierra's, and leads to the lovely Tuolmne Meadow). I don't want to camp there. Bah.

White Wolf, the closer campground, does not take reservations.

Lower Pines and the other campgrounds in the Valley will not allow for more than 2 adjacent reserved campsites.



I hate to say it, but Yosemite is going to completely suck for Swank Camp.


But if I don't hear anything to the contrary, my plan is to reserve 4 campsites in Lower Pines, in pairs as close to each other as possible.


If you will recall last years' Swank Camp ... there was the hardscrabble no-man's-land between Upper and Lower Camps (or whatever cool nicknames we had for them). If we're lucky, the distance between our two sets of double campsites would be simiilar.


Here's a map of Lower Pines Camground. The best sites, and those that will go most quickly, are the ones on the outer edges of a loop, near the Merced River. From the looks of it, 36, 37, 38 and 39 would be the prime 4 sites.

17, 18, 19, 20 also look good, though farther apart from each other (but perhaps more individually spacious, who knows?)

[Disneyphile]

Have we ever considered just reserving a group site?

Seriously - the rangers leave you alone more, and there's more room to spread out, noise is not generally an issue since you don't have others around, there are less parking restrictions, more bear boxes, super large firepits than can withstand big fires, and usually a central restroom.

For our Pagan group campouts in the Angeles Forest, it rocked. People could still spread out for privacy, but then commune in one central location. We would have (sometimes topless) drum circles that lasted until 5am, with the night ranger joining in at times. And, we even burned a very large wicker man in the firepit once.

[Capt Jack]

that actually sounds kind of fun. would there be enough attendees to qualify for a group site?

[innerSpaceman]

But a group site where? It wouldn't be in Yosemite. The Group campground there is horrible.

[Capt Jack]

hmm...I dont have enough diverse recent camping experience to answer that.

[Not Afraid]

The Valley group site was destroyed by the flooding, there are only group sites outside the Valley.

[Disneyphile]

Originally Posted by Capt Jack

that actually sounds kind of fun. would there be enough attendees to qualify for a group site?

Some places have minimums and others don't. Most don't care, because you pay a flat rate for the site, not per person anyway.

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

The Valley group site was destroyed by the flooding, there are only group sites outside the Valley.

I'm totally cool with staying outside the Valley, if others are.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Disneyphile

I'm totally cool with staying outside the Valley, if others are.

I would rather stay outside the valley in a site where we could spread out and still be communal than trying to shoehorn into several small sites.

I am all for a group site thing! Good idea DP.