Report #2 Coarsegold, California
My site at Escapees Park of the Sierras in Coarsegold.
I've been here at the Escapees Park of the Sierra in Coarsegold, CA for almost a week. The park is beautiful; 254 sites on 160 acres. Most sites have great privacy, and some have views. It is a Co-op park, with each site owned by a member (or a member couple), many of whom live here full time. Most live here part of the year and travel at other times, making their site available to visitors like me while they are away.
Maintenance of the park is done almost entirely by volunteers - yesterday morning I worked with the crew that collected brush cleared from lots by the owners. We collected the brush with a dump truck and chipper, and a front loader. The speed limit in the park is 10 miles per hour and most people are careful to drive slowly, but the fastest I've moved in the park was hanging on the side of the front loader as we drove every road in the park, looking for brush piles.
I've been spending my time in the park visiting with members and other visitors, exploring the park and the local area by foot, and doing minor maintenance on the trailer. Outside the park, I took a driving tour of the immediate area with Jack, a park member who grew up in the area and told me stories about the old days. We visited Bass Lake and North Fork, which claims to be the geographic center of California (much to my surprise - I thought I was well East and North of the center of the state).
I plan to leave here Monday morning for the trip to Yosemite, over Tioga Pass (the highest road in California at 9945 feet), and south to June Lake where I will stay overnight, then head to the ranger station in Bishop, CA to learn what I can about Boundary Peak, NV before attempting to climb it later in the week.
Page last updated August 02, 2004