Travels With Susan

Yosemite Pines RV Park

20450 Old Highway 120, Groveland, CA 95321 | (209) 962-7690

I stayed at this private campground over Memorial Day Weekend in May of 2009. All in all I enjoyed it and thought I got my money's worth. I will be posting pictures later.  The basics: This resort is about 29 miles from the west gate of Yosemite.  It provides a variety of accommodations from tent sites with water and electric to deluxe cabins.  It has a swimming pool, a petting zoo, a children's play ground, meeting facilties for groups up to about 40 and a volley ball court in sand.  The rates are a little high compared to, say, Mc Grath State Beach, but a) you're close to Yosemite, b) you get electric and water or full hookups, c) there is a small general store on site and d) unlike a lot of state and federal parks you can actually reserve a place two or three weeks in advance.  If you want to reserve a site in Yosemite between April and October you pretty much have to get on the phone or the web 4 months in advance (when they start taking reservations.) otherwise, they are all booked up for weekends.

The site assigned to me was small, but adequate.  I lucked out and was assigned a site that had a fairly dense green forest on two sides.  The site was covered with green growing stuff probably due to the time of year.  It looked like my lawn which is to say I water it and mow whatever comes up.  I doubt that they water it, but they do mow it. 

I had a very good time.  The place was noisy during the day because of all the amenities they have for children.  I sort of don't mind a lot of children running around and having fun, so it was okay with me.  I spent one day trying to see Yosemite from what must be the worst gridlock I have ever been stuck in  and one day sitting around the park recovering and visiting nearby Groveland.  If you are planning a trip to Yosemite and can't get a reservation in the park, I would highly recommend this place.  If you can get a reservation in the park, I would take it not because the facilities there are better ( they are not) but because it is easier to avoid the gridlock that occurs there on weekends.  Meaning.  You can walk once you're in the park.

What a great place! I picked this campground from the list of available campgrounds at www.reserveamerica.com for one reason-- it had available campsites. The reality of beach camping in California is that the state has a near monopoly on beautiful beach camping real estate. The prices are set low for-- whatever reason. so if you want a reservation-- and you better have one for weekend camping if you don't want to sleep in the parking lot at the local Walmart-- you have to reserve months in advance. So back in April, I went to the website, selected California, put in the dates I was looking for and put "beach" in the box where you can enter the campground name. There were two with available campsites-- Mc Grath and Emma Wood. I chose Mc Grath because Emma Wood is more suited for bigger RVS.
My chalet at Mc Grath That was it. When I reached Mc Grath-- which is near the Channel Islands Harbor, I was delighted. I wasn't expecting much. What I found was a beautiful campground with spacious campsites, flush toilets, hot showers (25¢ for two minutes so bring lots of quarters) and beautiful dunes with birds and bunnies and surf and wetlands stuff. Definitely a destination type campground. It is at present $25.00 per night for summer weekends and probably not available for a weekend reservation until September or October.

I picked Pismo Beach for its proximity to San Luis Obispo-- where I had some business commitments.  I discovered a charming fun, not so expensive place to visit on the central coast.  When you are up there you will notice reference to the Five Cities-- they all run in to each other-- Oceano, Pismo Beach, Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Avila Beach, Nipomo.  But that's six you say-- indeed-- that is one of the fun aspects of life in that part of the central coast.  No one can agree which the five cities are.  Pismo Beach has Pomeroy Street which is sort of like a fun pier but on dry land.  There are seafood restaurants, including Splash Cafe, which claims to be the home of clam chowder in a bread bowl.  There are places to play games.  And at the end of Pomeroy, right on the beach, is a gigantic parking lot. 

 Another fun place to eat is the Rock and Roll diner, just around the corner from San Luis Obispo County's Oceano Beach Campground and the Pismo State Beach south campground.  It is one of the few restaurant's left that is actually in an old dining car from a railroad train (actually two).  It features a Greek and American  menu.  The food was good and entertainment in the form of a belly dancer ( I am not kidding) was provided.  And it wasn't even the weekend. 

If you are looking for a fun, laid back, unpretentiousness, weekend at the beach, punctuated by riding around the dunes on a rented ATV-- this is the place to go.   

The Five Cities are home to two RV repair places because they are host to thousands of RVS.  There are at least a dozen private RV parks in addition to the state parks.   

The Sierra Nevada Mountains  in California start just north of Mojave, California.  You can travel up the Western side by driving Highway 99 and travel up the Eastern side by taking a combination of Highway 395 and Highway 14.  The Kern Plateau is  a large, relatively level valley north of Lake Isabella and South of Mount Whitney.  You can reach it from the East by Nine Mile Canyon Road off of HIghway 395 and from the west by taking Highway 155 toward Kernville and then going north. 

The Kern Plateau is NOT a big favorite for the in crowd except for the backpackers who stop there on their way north while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.  Off road bikers like the area.  Other people bring their horses.  It reminds me of what other, more developed, parts of the Sierras were like before they were discovered by the glitterati.  

Having said that, it is hot and not very  wet up on the Kern Plateau.  You will find some relief from Southern California heat here but not as much as you would find farther north.  What you will find is vast areas of forest and back country roads where you can find some solitude and privacy, and, surprisingly, lots of camping spots right on the Kern River.  You won't find all the modern amenities, like flush toilets, but that is probably why you will find this beautiful area relatively uncrowded and unspoiled.  Bring a porta pottie and water.  Hang out at the General store and explore the back country.   

Okay, before we get to the good stuff, I have to share the scary stuff.  I went camping in my little A-Frame by myself over the 4th of July weekend.  Looking for solitude in the southern Sierras, I found it at Chimney Creek Campground in the Chimney Peak Recreation Area, 10 miles from the nearest paved road.  My eyes had been dry before I started the trip, but they got worse once I had arrived.  I thought I had an eye infection so I visited the hospital in Ridgecrest and got some antibiotic drops.  Small improvement but my eyes were really hurting and my vision was blurry by Monday afternoon.  I first noticed it when I couldn't focus the lense on my camera.  There were only a few other campers  the whole weekend and no one left at all by Monday afternoon.  There was, of course, no cell service at the camp ground.  I  decided to pack up and go home.  When your health is at all in doubt you don't want to be so far from being able to summon help.  By the time I arrived at the paved road-- Highway 178  going toward Lake Isabella or Highway 14, I was getting a little worried about my blurry vision, but I knew that I was a distance from any medical care.  It was a harrowing drive to Highway 14 and then all the way to Lancaster.  Bakersfield may have been closer fromt he Chimney Peak turnoff but that highway is very narrow and winding.  I couldn't park and have an ambulance take me because I had my dog in the car and the ambulance wouldn't take him.  He would have died in the desert heat if I left him alone in the car.  By the time I reached Red Rock Canyon the vision in my right eye was so blurry that it was like looking through smoked glass.  I could still see reasonably well with my left eye, so I finally made it to Lancaster and Antelope Valley Hospital where I waited for three hours in the emergency room before I saw a doctor.  It turned out that I had a corneal ulcer which was most probably a result of having extremely dry eyes.  I won't go into all the details, but I learned that I have dry eyes, a common condition in middle aged women, and that a desert like environment-- i. e. hot and dry, exacerbates it and that your cornea when it is so dry is very vulnerable to damage which can cause serious vision loss.  Fortunately the cornea has tremendous healing powers and, with the right medication, and copious amounts of artificial tears of the right kind, my cornea has almost healed and my vision is much improved.  What a relief!! Middle aged women are at greater risk for dry eyes and the attendant problems.  Even though I wasan't in a strictly desert environment, it was extremely dry and it made what had been just irritating before into a serious problem. I had never realized before that  dry eye could be so dangerous.  Alls well that ends well as  Shakespeare said.