Dear Lauren,
Your post about Yosemite really provided us with the idea for what has
turned out to be a terrific vacation.
We just returned from camping at Wawona Horse Camp. Daytime temps
reached the low 90s but evenings cooled off into the low to mid 60s
(something important to us from the hot valley!)
We are a single horse family and enjoyed hikes using my mare as a pack
animal to carry my six-year old son and I enjoyed a nice ride every
morning after my distance running husband returned from aworkout.
We spent afternoons at the swimming hole directly below camp. The
rapids channeled into a deep area there and some kids quickly showed us
we could dive in at the head of this channel and ride the current
through the rocks safely emerging in a still big pond. This was a
heavenly treat.
Evenings around a campfire didn't keep us up very late and on two
mornings we were joined in camp by some of the mule deer that abound.
The wild flowers were still blooming because of the wet year. What a
treat! Thankfully, no bear appeared!
A concern: like when you went, no one else came and the second horse
camp remained empty. This is a concernbecause I know the park was full
and people were being sent down to Bass Lake to camp. I'm afraid this
might become a use-it-or-lose it situation. While we enjoyed the
privacy I would hate to see the park reassess the use of these
campsites.
Most of the riding we did was between 4000 and 6000 feet so some good
training is possible. I found the trails to be pretty rocky in places
with some windfall logs etc... that were great training for my horse.
She returned a better trail horse for the experience.
One other concern and my husband really wanted me to post this to
ridecamp: we were ticketed for failing to pull over and let cars pass
on the road from Oakhurst to Mariposa (where we over-nighted at a
relatives one night.) There were absolutely no marked turnouts on the
section we were ticketed and we were in the process of entering the
right-hand-side of the first passing lane we came to when Mr Attitude
CHP came up with red-light on and ticketed "us". My husband was driving
and politely asked him what were the expectations: we had seen no
where to pull over safely and didn't want to endanger the horse. With a
fully loaded camper and two-horse trailer we couldn't "stopand go " in
the same space a car might. The CHP told him it was "his problem".
Not a nice man. This is a ticket we might fight but are caught in the
"court out of town" delima which would cause at least two missed work
days. We are sending letters of concern to both the CHP and the local
chamber of commerces because we feel "targeted" and the man was RUDE.
Any others have problems with this or insights? I might add that the
road into Yosemite itself (highway41) has many marked trunouts that are
properly paved and safe to use so this isn't a problem if you are going
the south entrance into the park. Anyway, it didn't spoil a wonderful
week and we thank you for bringing this possibility to our attention.
jan freed
Events