Qualla: Camp Mather https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/d/z/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Camp Mather https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks Camp Mather: Introduction https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks/ Photo credit MikeVdP, CC BY-SA 4.0. The first cabins at Camp Mather were San Francisco polling booths. Someone had the idea to haul them 170 miles into the Sierra Nevada, set them among the pines at 4,520 feet, and call them summer housing. It was 1924, the camp had opened on July 5 with 35 repurposed structures from a defunct sawmill operation, and improvisation was the founding philosophy. A century later, Camp Mather still belongs to San Francisco - 337 acres of Sierra forest run by the city's Recreation and Parks Department, welcoming nearly 10,000 campers each summer for week-long stays that feel more like a family reunion than a municipal program. The camp celebrated its 100th birthday on July 5, 2024, and the waiting list for reservations remains so long that securing a spot feels like winning a modest lottery.

Read more: Camp Mather on Qualla

Image: MikeVdP | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/d/z/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks-wp/9qdz-camp-mather-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Camp Mather: Hog Ranch and the Dam Builders https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks/ Photo credit MikeVdP, CC BY-SA 4.0. Long before it was a camp, this land belonged to the Miwok people. Dozens of acorn mortar sites scattered across the property suggest a connection stretching back somewhere between 2,000 and 10,000 years. The first European settlers arrived in the 1850s: brothers Cyrill and Doril...

Read more: Camp Mather on Qualla

Image: MikeVdP | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/d/z/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks-wp/9qdz-camp-mather-hog-ranch-and-the-dam-builders.mp3 0:06 2 full Camp Mather: Margaret Morgan's Deadline https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks/ Photo credit MikeVdP, CC BY-SA 4.0. The camp exists because Mary Margaret Morgan would not accept delay. In 1923, Morgan - the first woman on the San Francisco Playgrounds Commission - argued that the city should offer its residents a Sierra summer camp, just as Berkeley and Oakland already did for theirs. Other co...

Read more: Camp Mather on Qualla

Image: MikeVdP | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/d/z/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks-wp/9qdz-camp-mather-margaret-morgans-deadline.mp3 0:06 3 full Camp Mather: Fire, Virus, and Resilience https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks/ Photo credit MikeVdP, CC BY-SA 4.0. Camp Mather has a talent for survival. The 1996 Ackerson Fire burned large areas to the north and east, closing the camp in mid-August. The 2013 Rim Fire - one of the largest in Yosemite's recorded history - burned to the camp's very edges, destroying only one building while spar...

Read more: Camp Mather on Qualla

Image: MikeVdP | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/d/z/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks-wp/9qdz-camp-mather-fire-virus-and-resilience.mp3 0:06 4 full Camp Mather: Lanyards, Talent Shows, and Birch Lake https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks/ Photo credit MikeVdP, CC BY-SA 4.0. What happens at Camp Mather is deliberately simple. Campers make lanyards, tie friendship bracelets, tie-dye shirts, and compete in talent shows that draw crowds from across the camp. Naturalists lead hikes through the surrounding forest. A ropes course offers daily challenges. T...

Read more: Camp Mather on Qualla

Image: MikeVdP | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/d/z/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks-wp/9qdz-camp-mather-lanyards-talent-shows-and-birch-lake.mp3 0:06 5 full Camp Mather: Strawberry Fields and Saturday Departures https://qualla.com/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks/ Photo credit MikeVdP, CC BY-SA 4.0. For three decades, Camp Mather's biggest cultural event was not a parks department program but a music festival. The Strawberry Music Festival drew 7,000 people to each of its two annual long weekends - Memorial Day and Labor Day - from 1982 until 2013, when the Rim Fire ended it...

Read more: Camp Mather on Qualla

Image: MikeVdP | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/q/d/z/camp-mather-san-francisco-recreation-and-parks-wp/9qdz-camp-mather-strawberry-fields-and-saturday-departures.mp3 0:06 6 full