Golden Gate Fiber Institute

                                    Welcome to Point Bonita 

our biannual home

Point Bonita is approximately 5 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco. It is a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Our facility sits on a promontory facing the Pacific Ocean to the west and if you look back east you can just see the Golden Gate Bridge.

There are two roads to Point Bonita - the one most people drive winds thru a tunnel and then thru open rolling hills, along the creek and up onto the promontory, the other hugs the San Francisco Bay entrance and is quite steep -

    definitely not a drive for the faint of heart! The day i went to take pictures was a lovely fall day with blue sky over head and fog out to sea. The camp is on the point out in front of me here.

This is the camp - on the left nearest the camera is a building with 3 class rooms and the camp office. The building just past the white car is the dining hall. The building at the end of the drive is one of the two sleeping buildings and houses the 4th class room. The second sleeping building is across from the dining hall. The facility was originally owned and used by the US Army. It housed men and officers whose job it was to "man" the gun placements protecting San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay area.

This is a better view of the front of the dining hall. Let me introduce you to Andrew, the Associate Executive Director of YMCA Point Bonita. He works hard to make sure we are comfortable and is the main person we have worked with in securing reservations. Another reason this is a wonderful picture is that you can see the windows to the left side of the dining hall.  While we are there we will use that part of the dining hall as a class room.      The kitchen serves three meals a day - all fabulous. The chef graduated from the California Culinary Academy and they use fresh produce grown in the camp garden.  There is coffee and tea available all day.

This is the fire pit and the Pacific Ocean. For our first intensive we will use this area for the natural dye class. All the classes will have meeting space and the class rooms are available to us in the evenings for gathering, working on an exciting project, or just hanging out.

The sleeping accommodations are in two large buildings. Each has rooms ranging in size from 4 beds to 13 beds - these are bunk beds so 4 beds are really 2 bunk beds.  There are enough beds that most of us will be able to choose lower bunks.  This is one of the larger rooms.

The camp is used for outdoor education for kids during the school year so the beds are comfortable and thoughtfully covered with plastic (we are putting together a list of things to bring that will make your stay delightfully comfortable including a fitted flannel sheet to muffle the rustling plastic!) Each sleeping building has a large bathroom with showers and coin operated laundry.

Each year during the institute we have the facility to ourselves - well almost -- there is the staff and then there are the locals........

black tail deer, many kinds of hawks and other raptors, lots of birds, fox, raccoon, many small furry creatures, and this past spring we even had a young bobcat.

Things to bring:

    a single size fitted flannel sheet to cover your mattress

    bedding - can be sheets and blankets or a sleeping bag

    a pillow

    layers - summer in the coastal Bay Area can be warm and sunny or foggy and quite cool. It is not a time of high winds but brings long sleeve shirts and wraps to add if it gets damp.

    Good walking shoes - in many places the ground is uneven and there are many miles great trails including one down to the beach.

    Camera

    When I was there last I took a little electric tea pot because having tea or coffee in my room without walking to the dining room.

I will add to the list as I think of things that will help

Things NOT to Bring:

    food  - remember the small furry creatures and raccoons mentioned above- they will come into your room and eat your snacks!

    Alcohol - This is a YMCA camp in a National Park - Alcohol is not allowed in the park.

    Be aware of the scented things you bring as many people have sensitivities