TUOLUMNE TRAILS: A camp for everyone
Jerry Baker stood in a hallway in the main building at Tuolumne Trails, where he and his wife, Paula, have spent more than a decade developing a camp for special needs children and adults outside of Groveland.
It's been a $4.5 million undertaking to scratch an 80-acre facility from a wooded plot at the edge of the Stanislaus National Forest. The main building, called the Great Hall, is immense, made of Ponderosa pine logs with a patio across the back that has a sweeping view of the western mountains of Yosemite National Park.
Even now, Baker said, he remains amazed at what's been accomplished.
About 3,700 kids and adults have been to camp at Tuolumne Trails in that time, most of whom would have never been able to experience camp life due to physical and emotional challenges. Children with cystic fibrosis, adults with muscular dystrophy, veterans with PTSD.
“We look for a way to say yes,” Baker said
ere are seven cabins and two ponds loaded with blue gill, a basketball court, pool, a mile of trails, paved walkways to accommodate wheelchairs. There is a challenge course, a meditative garden dedicated to campers who have died and most dramatic of all, a deck at the edge of the property, overlooking the canyons burned in the 2013 Rim Fire, which came close to taking out the entire camp.
Now, as the camp moves into its second decade, the Bakers are looking for what's next.
“The challenge is how do we make this an entity that will outlive us,” he said.
Baker started as a technician for National Semiconductor in the Bay Area in 1972. He worked his way to general manager of a division whose revenue doubled every year before reaching
$100 million. He then and four others founded a spin-off company, which went public.
About the same time, Baker's best friend was diagnosed. with terminal cancer. Baker retired on his 50th birthday. It was 2001 and he was a millionaire who wanted to do something besides make money.
He and Paula considered all sorts of philanthropic avenues — maybe something in the Philippines or other parts of Asia.
Then they remembered the families they met when their son Scott was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 9.
“It was a real kick in the stomach moment,” Baker said.
Scott's illness required five surgeries over five years.
“Life was put on hold,” he said.
They would build their own field of dreams near their retirement home at Pine Mountain Lake.
The property on Ferretti Road stands 1,000 feet above the Tuolumne River. “We had to build a city,” he said. Before long, the goodwill of the greater Groveland community became apparent. When styrofoam blocks for
the foundation of the main building were stuck at the airport in a snowstorm, a cavalcade of people showed up with pickup trucks while others formed a bucket brigade, passing block by block down the long drive to the building site.
When seven cabins needed to be built, members of the Rotary Club and Coldwell Banker showed up.
In the early years, the camp was what is called an accommodations camp — Tuolumne Trails offered the space for groups to come with their own staff and mission.
Then, after about four years, when they realized some of the organizations could no longer afford to operate their camps, the Bakers began running camp themselves.
“Those were kids we loved,” Baker said.
This summer they are offering a camp for kids and teens.
More than a dozen camps are scheduled this summer, and Baker thinks they can double that number in years to come.
Veterans groups have come, including one for veterans to train their service dogs. A group Baker calls the Pine Mountain Air Force took the veterans and their dogs up in their private planes to experience the Sierra from a whole new perspective.
Baker wants to do more camps for female veterans, whose injuries are often overlooked. He's adding features to provide living history education to fourth-graders studying state history and challenge courses for those who need team building.
He wants school groups to come for outdoor education programs.
“It doesn't make sense for it to be empty,” he said. “We need to make sure there's enough support to pay people to do the stuff I do.”