Camp 4 After A 25 Year Absence, Some Things Never Change

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Jon Beck

Trad climber

Oceanside

Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 23, 2016 - 09:09am PT

I am at Camp Four right now, my first stay here in over 25 years. I have been in the Valley many times in the last 25 years, have just avoided C4 like the plague. I decided to do the old C4 thing again, partly sentimental but also because it is practical (cheap and available). Some things have changed. I was advised to be in line at 3:00 am (Friday). I arrived at 2:45 am and saw that the line was almost to the parking lot, and more cars arriving. I did not even grab any gear, I just parked and got in line. I was solo so I was paranoid about losing my spot, so I just treated it like an unplanned bivy on a ledge. When the sun finally rose I realized I was not surrounded by climbers from Spain as I thought from hearing the whispers in the dark. It looked more like a refugee camp, lots of women and chidren. Very cool people though, it was great to see some diversity in park visitors from LA and OC. No complaining from the children even though they had been camped in line since midnight, it was just a grand adventure for them. I am sure there were some future hardman (or woman) among them, the next generation of dirtbags? There was two family groups in front of me that totaled at least 40 people, that accounted for a lot of the crowd. The only line drama was around 7:30 when a priveleged frat-boy looking d-bag tried to cut in the front of the line. Seeing a little Mexican lady read him the riot act was priceless. The ranger passed out numbered cards at 8:00, she had 69 cards, I got card 66. There were at least 60 people behind me who did not get a site. The only reason I got a spot was due to the fact they did not count children, they were free I guess, which was cool. It was almost 9 hours since lining up when I got my permit at 10:35 am.

The official policy is no lining up until 6:00 am, a ridiculous rule, if you wait until 6 you will not get a site. If you arrive around the weekend just plan on staying busy in the valley and bivy at the kiosk, starting at midnight. The line at 4:30 this morning was more normal, lined up to the parking lot. Life goes on, some good change and some sad change. What has not changed is I met some really great people, that alone is worth the price of admission.