Camp2 in the Stanislaus National Forest

After the bear escapade, I set off on a hunt for Saturday night's camping spot. As I mentioned before, I had originally thought to go all the way to the Tuolumne River and the Lumsden campground, so I headed down the hill and to the western most point of the trip. You can see where I drove west from Camp1 on the Overview Map.

When I got to the turn off and onto the dirt road leading to the Tuolumne River, it didnt take long to realize that the Van would not be able to make it over the rough road. That, coupled with the fact that I was now down at 1200 feet of elevation and it was much warmer, with fewer smaller trees, led me to the decision to drive back up the hill (about 60 mi round trip sheesh), where I found Camp2 not too far (about 5 miles) from where I had camped the previous night.

As I pulled off the paved 1S02 near Jones meadow, I climbed a small hill and came to a barbed wire Gate in the road. It had a hand-written sign on it that said "Please keep gate closed between April and November" ... hmmmmm ... it didn't say "Keep Out" or "Private Property" or anything, so I followed their instructions, opened the gate, drove thru, and then closed it behind me! Another 1/4 mile up the hill led me to the campsite shown in the photo below.

I was very careful in setting up the fire arrangements in these dispersed camping areas. I gathered up wood, made a secure circle of rocks and cleared the brush away for 6 ft around the campfire. As I did so, I was reminded of the utility of the Van as it took me only a few minutes to set up (or break) camp leaving me time for a short evening hike. And after my "bear escapade" earlier in the day I am kind of fond of the security that the Van provides tonight, thinking how thin a tent could be in the wilderness! I kept it pretty low key that night. I strummed a few tunes on the guitar at the campfire and cooked up some good food. It didn't seem like as much bear country as before, tho on the walk I did see the tracks of a mountain lion stalking a deer, so I kept my antenna up. But I wanted to be well rested for Sunday, when I planned on driving back thru Yosemite, over the Tioga Pass, to the Eastern Sierras, so I got to bed pretty early that night.

Continue onto the next page of my Yosemite Trip ..