The new road construction for Camp Wawona was completed Aug. 23. This project has come with challenges, but has also been an opportunity to see God guiding. It was begun for a few reasons, including the fact that some of the previous road was on National Park Services property. The new road is off NPS property, and has also been reduced in its steepness. The previous road was only 9 feet wide, making it a difficult road to drive. It is now 22 feet wide, making it a gradual incline.
The construction team took a break last winter, then restarted in the beginning of May. One significant change this last summer was due to some storms that passed through in April. The culverts were originally created out of rock and dirt. But when the storms hit, these culverts weren’t able to handle the amount of water. This also led to the important discovery that there are two springs beneath the road.
The team tackled these potential problems by designing the culverts out of asphalt, and creating French drains to let the spring water run off. This challenge came at the right time, because if this hadn’t been addressed while the road was being built, it could have created costly complications after the project was completed.
They also added rock beds to decrease the amount of water and earth run-off onto NPS property. “When you come up and you drive around, it looks like you're in Yosemite,” said Jackie Phillips, who oversaw the project from its beginning. “When you're in Yosemite, there's rock everywhere. If you go to the waterfalls, if you go anywhere, there's a lot of rock. It added a whole new dimension, in my opinion, to camp Wawona. It adds character and makes it more beautiful.”
The curbs were the final piece of the road finished on Aug. 23, and the new road is open. It is now a commercial road. Camp Wawona will continue to maintain the drainage for the road.
Phillips said that this road is the beginning piece of many plans for Camp Wawona. These include adding a walking bridge over the drainage rocks near the girls’ cabins, as well as eventually updating or replacing the A-frames being used as the girls cabins.
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