Place: CA-Camp 4

Camp 4 (Half Dome)   
(37°44′30″N 119°36′9″W)

Description:

National Registry of Historic Places ID: 030221 or 03000056

Camp 4 is located in the middle of the Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park. It is situated north of Northside Drive immediately west of Yosemite Lodge and north of the Leidig Meadow area. Yosemite Valley is seven miles long and one mile wide. And like the rest of the Valley floor, the campground lies at an elevation of approximately 4,000 feet, and is surrounded by granite cliffs that rise to elevations of 8,800 feet at Half Dome, 7,500 feet at El Capitan, and 7,200 feet at Glacier Point. Camp 4 is known for receiving the first rays of sunlight in this narrow and impressive landscape. Offering modest, designated campsites and camping facilities, the campground covers some 5-6 acres of the forested meadow area extending north of Northside Drive to the boulder-strewn talus slopes at the base of the Valley's steep walls. Although Camp 4 is bordered by forest to the west, a small deteriorated, non-functioning electrical power substation stands near the campground's southeast corner, and a gravel parking area abuts it immediately to the east.

During its historic period (1947-1970), Camp 4 earned national and international acclaim as the center of modern rock climbing. Yosemite climbers invented and developed the techniques and technology to ascend Yosemite's vertical walls; they invented big wall climbing. At the time, Camp 4 was an informal campground of picnic tables and drive-in campsites scattered across the gently sloping Valley floor. An elliptical roadway, leading from an entrance to the center of the campground from Northside Drive, provided access to the area. Although lightly developed, the campground was characterized by its landscape features, such as its canopy of ponderosa pine and oak trees and open space. Especially significant were the massive boulders that dot the campground—among them Columbia Boulder, Wine Boulder, Pratt Boulder, and Kor Boulder.  

 

This attempt to impose an order on the sport revealed an effort to preserve and promote an ideal of
climbing in which the landscape was not harmed and the inherent adventure of climbing was not diminished. Although climbers would debate the limits of technology in their ascents, they would not abandon its use altogether. Like other encounters with nature, especially through automobiles, climbing displayed the complex and often contradictory relationship modern Americans have with nature. Pitons and nylon ropes may have enabled climbers to appreciate the natural world, but pitons and ropes were also potentially the source of its destruction. It was one thing to climb safely; it was quite another to dominate the great walls with bolt ladders and other devices.

Although climbing took place above the Valley floor, Yosemite climbers made their home in the park's
Camp 4. In the postwar era, Camp 4 was attractive to climbers because it was the only all-season campground in the Valley. More than casual resting place, Camp 4 soon became the center of the climbing community—or climbing "colony"—not just in Yosemite but in the world. Camp residents included Royal Robbins, Warren Harding, Yvon Chouinard, Chuck Pratt, and Jim Bridwell, all of whom were climbers with world-class reputations. They were the innovators who advanced climbing. They were the ones who charted new routes up Yosemite's walls, and they were the ones who invented new techniques and equipment to make those climbs successful. They also began to promote climbing as a sport by publicizing their feats and by initiating a number entrepreneurial efforts, including Yvon Chouinard's Great Pacific Iron Works and Patagonia®, Wayne Merry's Yosemite Climbing School, and Royal Robbins's Rock Craft.

In the twenty-five years after World War II, Yosemite was the epicenter in the evolution of climbing
techniques and technology, as well as the evolution of beliefs about the best way to climb. It was a period that climbers called the "golden age" of Yosemite climbing. During that time, the Valley's major walls would be climbed, and the park would earn an international reputation as a climbing Mecca. Thus besides its function as a campground, Camp 4 served as a kind of social arena for unaffiliated climbers who resided there for extended periods of time. Cohabitation shaped a sense of community and forged relationships that were crucial to the innovations and outdoor recreational business ventures that emerged
From National Registry of Historic Places ID: 030221 or 03000056

As much time as we have spent in the Valley, we cannot think of a time we have camped in Camp 4, or sometimes known as Sunnyside Campground. We have walked through it several times and understand the deep historical significance of the place.

Currently Camp 4 is a walk in camp. So it is a combination of people parking cars and walking in 100 yards to climbers waiting for the early morning light for the big climb to backpackers to campers who want a cheap place to sleep in the Valley. Whatever the reason, there is a patchwork of color on the Valley floor where Camp 4 is.

The American Alpine Associations says this:
Camp 4 is such a simple setting: forested space, boulders, campsites, sun in the morning, views across the Valley, closeness to the easy Swan's Slab, and closeness to the ever challenging El Capitan. The simplicity itself is part of Camp 4's evocative force. Climbers, by their very nature, seek a direct, intense interaction with nature. For them, the spareness of the campground is far more evocative than any of the more luxurious lodgings available in the Valley.

Trips:

• May 28, 2014 - West Yosemite Valley Loop hike
•  October 29, 2014 - Meetup hike around the west end of the Valley
•  October 31, 2015 - Walk around West end of Yosemite Valley with meetup group
• April 30, 2016 - Meetup hike around the west end of Yosemite Valley
•  October 1, 2016 -  Meetup hike around the west end of Yosemite Valley
• May 5, 2021 - Walking the middle portion of Yosemite Valley on the Valley Loop Trail with Rose, Sherri and Gary
  

References:

• NoeHill
  
• WAY
  
• Wikipedia
  
• National Registry of Historic Places: Documentation and Pictures
• NPS Camp site
• Wikipedia
• 
  

Pictures:

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