Camp is Officially Open!
Congratulations to all of you – who have held Tuolumne ‘s rebirth in your heart! It is alive and well and the Tuolumne Spirit is once again burning brightly by the south fork of The Tuolumne River!
We thought to recap this amazing month for Camp – from the historical ribbon cutting ceremony to work weekend (during the week!), to the first day of Camp!
It was a lot to get open, and there is still a lot to get done, but the first campers back had a fabulous time reuniting with their favorite spot… the reviews so far have been “thrilled”, “awe-struck by the beauty”, “it’s hot but I am so grateful for all the shade!”, still in “shock to be back” and “hearing the Tuolumne Rangers get announced – I was in tears”, and of course, being at a Staff Show, Table Night etc.. so many highlights!
June 3rd KTVU News:
KTVU Channel 2 interviews FOBTC on the 4pm news about the reopening of Camp Tuolumne!
Watch it HERE.
June 4th Ribbon Cutting:
The City of Berkeley hosted this marvelous celebration for key stakeholders, dignitaries, City staff, US Forest Service, construction teams, and of course, Campers and FOBTC Friends. We were honored to speak, and the day was filled with appreciation and applause for City Staff!
The City did an amazing job rebuilding Camp! 250 people came and walked through camp, had lunch in the D-Hall, and applauded every speech at the ribbon-cutting! An inspiring day!
June 22nd Work Weekend (day and a half!):
A very hearty group of 80 plus campers signed up for Work Week – a Wed lunch thru Fri breakfast frenzy of projects to get Camp open. There was a huge push to build 50 green chairs by FOBTC, and create a green circle of chairs! Led by long time Board member Richard Sheng, they remarkably built 50 chairs in a day and a half! Amazing! We were able to paint 15 of them and create the first circle of green chairs! More to come! This also meant we had to wait to put our plaques on the chairs, as well as the Donor Tree and the Fireplace Plaque. But we are planning on doing that this summer!
June 27th Camp Officially Opens:
The day broke on Monday June 27th and for the first time, campers walked into Camp to go to the new office and reserve their tent. It was magical. Of course the first few people were families who have been coming to camp for over 60 years! One was a family of 6 who all were wearing a Camp shirt from different years! (so cute). There were also lots of NEW families, excited to try the legendary Tuolumne Camp.
Other updates we’re excited to share:
Trails:
Small Falls Trail is COMPLETE!!! Wow – what a lift by our Trails Team of Phil, Matt, Adrian, and Janet! They did an amazing job getting us talented Trail Builders to help make Small Falls trail accessible and safe and ready for campers! It is done!
Fire Road above Camp that connects to the Sugar Pine Trail is cleared! Hikers love going up thru here and down around to camp. This is also a key defensible space for fire trucks if we ever need them. Next job is the Sugar Pine Trail – which has been flagged, but needs a lot of work to use. We’re on it!
Red Rock Trail has been cleared as well! This is from the Archery Range area up to HWY 120.
It will need tending to, but the US Forest Service has cleared all the major downed logs!
Cobble Beach: This key trail needs a fair amount of USFS help, and is not accessible or safe this summer. Trees have not been cleared for safety and some could be dangerous (could fall) – this area needs a mortality survey, and clearing for safety process and that won’t happen until next year we assume.
FOBTC Gift Bags:
FOBTC is excited to give every Camp Family one gift bag when they check in! It is our way of saying “Welcome to Camp!” It includes a beautiful Centennial Mug, a shopping Tote that you can use for tie dyeing, and some cool stickers to remember camp by! The City also has an orientation/information packet and an updated Song Book for you as well!
Staff Appreciation Dinner:
For over 40 years, there has been an end of summer Staff Appreciation Dinner to give the staff a chance to dress up and go out on the town! They LOVE this night! Please help us send them to a night they won’t forget and say thanks for all their efforts to bring us a great summertime!
You can contribute by clicking HERE.
Table Night, Theme Days and the Staff Show!
You can look forward to all of these great traditions, and all the songs, and all the Tuolumne Camp Spirit this summer! The staff show, written by Scott and Steve for the past 35 years, is called “Finding Tuolumne.. the Journey Back Home.” The staff are awesome and you have great talent to enjoy! (hint: we find Little Nemo and his Dad Marlin have been living at beautiful Echo Lake for the past 8 yrs.. after leaving Beaverhead Rock. Nemo overhears Camp is reopening for the Centennial Celebration (100 yrs!) and MUST go! With Marlin right behind him, and Dory joining up, they all must travel through the dangerous California River systems to get back to Camp…) Bring your tissues, and your camp sense of humor!
Friends Labor Day Weekend! Fri Sept 2nd – Monday 5th
We are getting quite full but there is still room to get a tent! We are planning an epic Friends Weekend back after 9 years – filled with everything a Tuolumne Camper loves, and more.
Click Here to join us and have an end of summer 3 day weekend!
Happy Summertime!
There’s No Place Like Camp Tuolumne!
Scotty, Kara and the Board of FOBTC
