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Four more places where clans can be happy campers
Owned and operated by the city of San Francisco, Camp Mather is 180 miles east of the Bay
Area, and 15 miles from Yosemite. Nearby gold-rush towns include Angels Camp, home of Mark
Twain's famous Calaveras County frog-jumping contest.
Activities Swimming in Birch Lake, mountain
biking and hiking on trails in the High Sierra, and kids-only horseback-riding trips. There's
a huge tie-dye party and a jam session for tots every week. Plus: Bingo, campfires, and s'mores.
Accommodations Ninety-five cabins for two to six people, with electricity but no bathrooms—think
communal washhouse. Twenty tent sites are also available.
Dates June 10August 12, plus two
long weekends in September.
Rates $1,350 per week for a San Francisco family of four, $1,480 for nonresidents.
415/831-2715; www.sfgov.org.
Year after year, the same families have been coming to this 115-acre camp that dates to 1897.
Especially popular: the Monday-night capture the flag game, the 5K run/walk on Thursdays,
and the big square dance on Fridays.
Activities Hiking, softball, tennis, boating—and
daily organized events such as "wacky" canoe races. Supervised playgroup for three- to five-year-olds.
Teen boat trips and rock climbing.
Accommodations Sixty cottages and two lodges overlooking
Big Squam Lake, where On Golden Pond was filmed. Each cottage has a private dock, screened-in
porch, and vintage icebox—ice harvested from the lake over the winter is delivered daily.
Dates June 2September 15.
Rates $4,285 per week for a cottage that sleeps four.603/968-3313; www.rdcsquam.com.
No coercion here—parents can spend their days reading and napping while the kids head
off on a supervised hike or just go jump in the lake.
Activities Swimming and windsurfing at
Indian Lake, hiking hundreds of trails. Plus, the usual camp suspects: canoeing, sailing,
tennis, horseback riding, and archery.
Accommodations Cabins, many with private bathrooms,
none with electricity.
Dates June 24September 18.
Rates Adults $172 per day, $1,029 per week for a cabin with bathroom; children
$76$128 per day, $454$770 per week.518/648-5494; www.timberlock.com.
A year-round schedule of programs includes bird-watching, dogsledding, and cross-country
skiing.
Activities Canoeing, sailing, kayaking, and fishing on Burntside Lake, plus cookouts,
campfires, and a talent show.
Accommodations Seven cabins built in 2000 have full kitchens
and indoor bathrooms; 24 older units range from one-room hand- hewn log cabins with wood-burning
stoves to lodges that sleep 16. There are also platform tents and pitch- your-own tent sites.
Dates
June 17September 2.
Rates From $395 per week for a tent site to $2,995 for a lodge that sleeps
14.651/645-6605; www.dunord.org.
—Emily Shetler
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