This was my first time at the Yosemite Lakes TT. First of all, be prepared that the weather is not cool here in the summer like I was assuming. The week I was here, it was actually hotter than in Sacramento. Secondly, it's the first TT resort I've been at where it appeared that at least 50% or more of the sites were not level. On the plus side, the members only area has a key code entry and it's really nice by the river. I like that the members and non-members are separated.
The first day, we could have parked next to the river but the spots seemed rather close together so we found a place across with a huge pine tree. It was a great spot with no people on three sides but I could not get level. I tried periodically so many times that a couple other campers came by to ask if I needed help. The next morning, I decided we would have to move. Luckily, about 11:30, as I was walking one of the dogs, we found a guy pulling out of a river spot and he said it was ours. The rest of the trip was spot #84, not only by the river but the spot next to us was out of service.
Our spot by the river
Doesn't get any better than this
Day one -- we explored and got to know the place. The family lodge had benches outside which many people used to sit and check phones as it's the only place in the whole resort that has wifi and there's no phone service at all. Areas include a group camping area, a yurt village, and lots of little cabins.
The cabins in the Group Camping area
Tuolumne River
Day two -- took our first extended walk up Hardin Flat Road in the morning. It's paved all the way so I took the stroller for Jorja. Much to my surprise, 1/4 mile up the road, we found a sign that said Entering National Forest. We ended up at an abandoned group camping area that I found out later was Berkeley Camp. It got burned out in the Groveland fire of several years back.
This is a home that borders the National Forest
Entering National Forest
What is left of Camp Berkeley after the fire of 2015
Day three -- we decided to hike the fire trails that leave from the group camp area. There are also some designated TT trails -- Mountain View and Dam Trail -- but the Welcome Center gentleman informed me that they aren't maintained and there is a lot of poison oak. The fire trails were nice and wide but OMG! Straight up the hill. Poppy and Dover wanted to run and I was carrying Jorja (20 lbs) on my back and I'm about 20 pounds overweight. Thought I was going to die! We went up as far as we could go without climbing over a bunch of downed trees and stopped for a water break. Then headed on back down. Of course, we were the only ones on the trail. People get such a kick out of seeing Jorja in her backpack. I know it looks funny but it's the only way we would get some exercise.
Riding in style -- she loves traveling like this
Stopping for a water break
Recovering from the big fire
Mountain View trail
Dam Trail
Day four -- I decided to start walking the dogs separately in the evenings and last night Dover and I discovered a secluded little beach that would be perfect for dog swimming, so that was our plan for today later in the afternoon. For our morning walk, we went up Harding Flat road the other direction and took the stroller. It was a pleasant walk with very sparse traffic but started to get too steep for us after about 1/2 a mile.
In the afternoon, we walked over to the "dog" beach and I let Dover and Poppy off their harnesses. They had a blast. There was a mom there playing with her son in the water and they had a little dog too. I was holding Jorja's leash but she surprised me and walked into the water so she ended up with a soggy harness. Thank goodness for outside RV showers. It took me about 20 minutes to get all the sand off them and then we relaxed on the patio and dried off.
The river all the way across was only about knee deep and people were having a blast just walking around or tubing or rafting. It was very cold though. Even Poppy, who's the penultimate water baby, couldn't stay in very long at one time.
Day five -- Time to think about packing up and leaving and there were two people that kind of "tussled" over my site. I apologized to the lady that didn't get it, explaining that I had talked to the other lady earlier. We managed to get out of there by 10:00. We made 5 stops along the way and got home at 3:30. It was Saturday morning, 4th of July weekend, and we passed about 1000 cars heading into Yosemite Valley while we were driving down 120. Nuts! Most of them probably couldn't even get into the park when they got there.
Our good-by photo
Something exciting but I couldn't do it with the dogs -- YARTS is a bus that picks people up from the campsite and takes you into Yosemite Park for less than $20 round trip. I am hoping I can figure out a way to still do this before I leave California. I just don't want to leave the dogs in the motorhome for 7 or 8 hours all alone.
One of the stops on the way home was on Groveland. There is a city park that includes a library and a free museum. I would highly recommend this stop if you have time. The museum is outstanding, with very professional dioramas and many historical items, as well as souvenirs to buy. One of the docents told me that the man who created the dioramas used to work for Universal Studios. I was able to leave the animals parked in the MH with the AC running while I visited so that was nice.
