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Wawona’s Yesterdays (1961) by Shirley Sargent

Camp Hoyle

Camp Hoyle — the Only Known Photo

Camp Hoyle was established on the site of Camp A. E. Wood in 1922 by Bert Hoyle who filed three mining claims there. ⁷³ He carried a flask of gold in his pocket to substantiate his claim, but Yosemite officials tried to make him prove there was gold or silver on it. Hoyle explained then that he had filed a claim for a granite quarry and, since literally thousands of granite rocks were part of the landscape, the officials let him be. ⁷⁰

Hoyle’s “gold”—what there was of it—came from tourists’ wallets. His up-to-date camp afforded a dining room, fountain, store, six tents, six cabins and a gas station at rates below those of the Wawona Hotel. ²⁸

The camp catered to touring families who couldn’t afford hotel lodging, fishermen, and — oddly enough — dogs. ⁷⁴ Dogs were not allowed in the Park and there we no special kennels for them at that time so they were left in custody of the Hoyles while their owners “did” the Park.

The Park Service bought Hoyle’s interest in 1932 and demolished the buildings in 1933. Hoyle, his wife and two sons, moved to Long Barn Tuolumne County where he “mined” more tourist gold with a hotel there until his death in 1937. ²⁸ His former Wawona campsite became a public campground—now Camp A. E. Wood.

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