14/10/2026
CAMP 4 Yosemite:
Tucked beneath Yosemite’s granite walls, Camp 4 became legendary in the 1950s–70s as a home base for climbers like Royal Robbins, Warren Harding, Yvon Chouinard, Tom Frost, Lynn Hill and many others. Here, the “dirtbag” lifestyle wasn’t about having less for the sake of it — it was about choosing climbing over comfort: sleeping in camp, scavenging food, hitchhiking around, working odd jobs and spending every possible hour on the walls. It is even said that Yvon Chouinard lived off cat food for a while, it was grab what you get.
From Camp 4, generations of climbers set out to establish some of Yosemite’s most iconic routes and redefine what was possible on big granite. The camp became more than a place to sleep; it was a classroom and community .
Its history also reflects the complicated side of Yosemite’s past. Camp 4 was a place of resistance to restrictive National Park rules, and climbers fought to preserve their right to live and gather there. In 2003, Camp 4 was added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its significance to American climbing history.
Today, you can still walk through Camp 4 and feel echoes of that era — climbers cooking dinner, swapping stories, studying routes and dreaming about the next day on the granite.
Photographers like “Glen Denny” documented the Camp and its chaos circa 1960s, the photos show how wild camp was and show some great garments and outfits used in those time periods.
Camp 4 isn’t just a campground