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We enjoyed our stay at the Swall Institute, finally leaving around noon. We drove
south along 395, stopping briefly in Bishop where it was a sweltering 98 degrees.
We continued south to Big Pine, turned right onto Crocker Avenue, which
turns into Glacier Lodge Road, climbing thousands of feet up to Big Pine Creek campground,
about 7600 feet elevation. Here, it was still 82 degrees when we arrived just before 1:30pm.
I'd made reservations for Big Pine Creek campground just 3 1/2 weeks ago. It has 30 sites for
tents and RV's, situated next to Big Pine Creek. I'd reserved site 18. When I made the
reservation, little did I know that it was separated from most of the rest of the campground
by a small hill. This had the disadvantage of requiring a walk up to the restroom. But it
had the advantage of added privacy. Only sites 16 and 17 share the somewhat private road,
and site 16 was empty the entire time we were there. It's not completely private, however,
as there's a trailhead nearby that leads to a short trail along the creek. So there were a few
people who walked by during the day to access the trail. At night, though, we had the place
pretty much to ourselves. Oh, if you're going after privacy, site 17 is probably the most
private of all, having only site 18 as a distant neighbor.
After lunch we stopped by the tiny Glacier Lodge store (next to the campground),
where I picked up a map. There are
a few snacks and ice for sale here, but not much else. The main lodge burned down in 1998,
and the store looks like it occupies one of the old cabins, several of which are still
available for rent if you are not up for camping.
Next, we went for a short walk on the trail next to Big Pine Creek. We saw butterflies and
wildflowers, then found a small spot amongst the trees next to the fast-flowing creek to rest
from the afternoon heat. If you want, you can walk the entire trail about 1/2 mile down to the
next campground.
Big Pine Creek
Big Pine Creek
We returned to camp and had dinner, after which we saw lots of people heading down to the creek
to go fishing. Not sure if they caught much. We stayed in our camp, having a campfire (wood is
for sale from the campground host) and s'mores. It was quite warm still, so this was one of the
rare times when we slept without the rain fly on the tent. This was a good thing, since the
space for our tent was so small that we couldn't really put the rain fly on even if we wanted to,
at least not with the vestibule. So if you have a large tent, that's something to keep in mind.
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