Nature

Tuolumne camp closed for intestinal illness

July 16, 2010 9:43 am by Lance Knobel

Two Berkeleysiders have written in about their family’s sadness at the temporary closure of the Berkeley family camp at Tuolumne. The camp, a summer tradition for many Berkeleyans, is closed this weekend and will reopen on Monday evening.

One Berkeleyside reader writes:

We got a phone call from the camps office last night. We had reservations for four nights starting on Saturday, and two of the nights have now been canceled. We go with three other families every year.  We planned our week back in October, and registered in November, and we have family members coming in from out of town, mini vans already rented, and camping equipment hauled up from the basement! After a round of phone calls with the other families, we decided to skip Tuolumne this year and take the kids to Disneyland instead on Saturday. Nothing short of Disneyland would make up for the little ones’ disappointment of no Camp Tuolumne this year!

Never heard of camp closing, so it must be pretty severe.  My family has been going off and on for about 20 years, and the camp has stayed open during local forest fires (smoke everywhere in camp!) and periods of no potable water due to aging septic system crises (truckloads of bottled water were brought in)! There are always a few cases of “intestinal illness” among campers, but it sounds like it reached epic proportions this time!

Another writes:

My kids were in tears all night when we got a call from Berkeley Parks and Rec this evening: Berkeley Tuolumne Family camp is shutting down for a couple of days because of a stomach virus.

Photo of Berkeley Tuolumne Camp by Sonny Abesamis from Flickr

3 Comments

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  • http://workingmomsbreak.com Katrina Alcorn

    Oh no! This is the first I’ve heard about Tuolumne closing. We just got back from our first vacation there a couple weeks ago. Luckily we came home with no stomach bugs. I wrote about our Berkeley family camp experience here: http://wp.me/pVKXl-js

  • terry moore

    I just feel so bad for the staff.
    When campers bring up a virus to camp, it can make everyone sick. We were there the first two weeks of camp, and a family brought their sick kid to camp. Four days later our kids were throwing up in the middle of the night. No fun with no kitchen or bathroom. It was ugly. Do you put your vomiting kid in a bumpy car ride, or tough it out in a tent. It ran through the camp. We figured it must be finally done, but then got this news.

    A lot of the staff got sick when we were there, and a couple had to go home, they were so bad off.

    I can understand why they can’t risk more people getting it and it cycling through the camp all summer long. They shut down and those amazing kids are scouring down the entire camp with bleach, dealing with angry and frustrated campers, and then reopening camp
    on Monday.

    I really feel for them.

  • Writesuzyp

    People need to be more considerate when taking their illness into a crowd.  It is very selfish.  This inconveniences many people and can be life-threatening for vulnerable individuals.  I am very sad to hear that this long awaited trip for so many has been disrupted and people have suffered with violent GI upset.  Please think twice before you send your sick child or yourself into a crowd of people.  Keep your germs at home.  Now countless people will suffer and sacrifice needlessly.  This is very sad.  If you are sick, stay home and accept the mishap.  Don’t share it with others.  I hope you all feel better soon and I’m sorry for the campers who were forced to leave early.  My son loves this camp and I am grateful to the incredible staff who provide such an amazing experience for all to enjoy.