Travel and Adventure by Various Travel Authors

By Jill Ballinger

The view through a kaleidoscope changes with the slightest turn. Its colors and light refraction are altered into new, but equally enchanting, views with each turn.

There are places in the world that act as the mechanism of the kaleidoscope. They take different images of any given day and change them into a piece of art, if only for seconds.

Such a place is the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge in Yosemite's high country. It has been a constant in Yosemite for more than 90 years, creating ever-changing views of beauty in a setting that remains constant.

These views, however are not just of the spectacular natural beauty of the landscape. The lodge adds a new dimension to the beauty of Yosemite's wonders. It turns the collection of people there into part of the wilderness experience. And it is an unforgettable part at that.

The lodge has been open from June to September each year, with the exception of a few seasons during World War I, since 1916. It draws world travelers, hardcore backpackers and families who have returned literally for generations. It brings young people to work in the Park's splendor year after year.

It's strange that this conglomeration of 69 tent cabins — they are numbered to 70, but there is no 13 — can require reservations a year in advance. It's odd that this far, far away place could draw employees from all over the United States and the world. It's an anomaly that its hostess would return to each summer for the better part of a half-century.

It's strange, however, only if you have never been there.

On a summer day that sizzled over 100 even in Yosemite Valley, the cool breeze at 8,700 feet kept things around 80 degrees. Camp helpers were busy making up rooms as most of the camp was empty while visitors hiked myriad trails.

Employees were the few souls around. Priscilla Neff, an anthropology student at Humboldt State University and lead camp helper, checked off a duty sheet as Zach Battles finished a room.

Battles, who is from Florida, found his way here through friends. Neff, who spent four years in the U.S. Air Force after initially working at the lodge eight years ago, made her way back.

"I just miss it up here," Neff said of her absence. "I miss the people."

Andrew Delaney and Nick Young fashioned a ping pong table from a piece of plywood and an old table. They were playing a casual game and talking about why they were there.

"The quality of life couldn't be better," recent college graduate Delaney said. "What more could you ask for? It's perfect."

Delaney said he served in the dining room at breakfast and dinner, had time to hike during the day, and saved a ton of money. It costs employees $15 a week to share a tent cabin. If they choose to get on a meal plan, they can do so for about $3 a meal.

Delaney thinks he is lucky. People pay hundreds of dollars and wait a year to get a reservation at Tuolumne Lodge. But it wasn't just economy that appeals to Delaney. The human factor was huge. "People come here to be happy," he said, noting how delightful it is to deal with people who are in that frame of mind.

Most lodge employees have a long tenure in the high country.

The lodge's venerable hostess, Martha Miller, said employees' average tenure is five to 10 years. She has been around for about 50, off and on.

Miller agrees with Delaney's assessments of her guests. "People who reserve here want to be here," she said. Those who stumble onto the lodge looking for a place to stay and are lucky enough to find an empty cabin she says "are entranced."

Miller said first-time visitors are told to expect the chilly nights, cement floors and no electricity in the cabins. "The first time it's a discovery," she said. They almost always come back.

Claire Lebare, 13, was a first-time visitor at the lodge with her mom, Monique, and two teenage brothers. Monique came to the lodge as a child, and now makes her home in Florida. She and her sons have been back, but Claire has previously declined the trip. Claire was a little put off by the lodge's remoteness. It's not what she expected. But she could still text in between the "consensus-based hiking" of the family.

And then there are those who plan their summers around the lodge. "So many people are returnees," Miller said.

Dinner at Tuolumne Lodge is another turn of the kaleidoscope. Tables in the rustic and sunny dining room pair families with individuals and back country hikers with those who were in San Francisco less than six hours before. The setting lends itself to instant conversation, long before the excellent meal is served.

Chris and Katie Rogers of Tucson checked the lodge's website every day until they got a last-minute cancellation and snapped it up. Their children, third-grade Maddy and kindergartner Jack, were experiencing Yosemite for the first time with their parents.

The meal with strangers felt more like Thanksgiving, with about the equal amount of incredible food. Dishes at the table included New York steak, trout amandine and chicken cordon bleu. An array of fine California wines is also available.

The waning sunlight created a different view of the people gathered around the two campfires. In moments, the kaleidoscope turns again, bringing different faces into the frame. The same thing will happen here hour after hour, day after day. The result of the changes, however, continue to create art of the human kind, making Tuolumne Lodge one of Yosemite's last, best places.

IF YOU GO

Rates: Tuolumne Meadows Lodge tent cabins start at $82 per night. The cost includes linens and towels, but not daily housekeeping. Reservations at Tuolumne Meadows are made on a lottery basis. Cancellations, however, do occur, making some accommodations available. Available spaces after April 1 are filled by telephone on a first-come, first-served basis.

For information about last-minute bookings, call (801) 559-4909. or visit www.YosemitePark.com.

Jill Ballinger is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.