By Jennifer Massoni Pardini, May 20, 2024
Sheltered in the Stanislaus National Forest just outside the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park is a getaway within a getaway. A three-hour drive due east of San Francisco (the 170-mile trip that John Muir famously first walked in 1868), Evergreen Lodge in Groveland has been welcoming families for over a century, since the construction of the nearby Hetch Hetchy Reservoir’s O’Shaughnessy Dam, initially completed in 1923, inspired a need for material transport and lodging.
Families have been making memories at Evergreen Lodge, founded in 1921, for generations.
Through generations of owners, including San Francisco’s Dan and Angie Rovero, who operated Evergreen in the 1930s, John and Kay Bargmann, who revitalized it over 25 years, and today’s proprietors under First Light Resorts, Brian Anderluh and Lee Zimmerman, the 20-acre property that was saved from the Sierra Nevada’s 2013 Rim Fire has grown to house 88 one-bedroom, two-bedroom or vintage cabins. For a large or multifamily stay, the 2,500-square-foot John Muir House on a private edge of the property sleeps up to 10 and is where my family was among three who recently discovered a bevy of onsite activities for the whole gang, as well as proximity to awe-inspiring adventure at this doorstep to Yosemite National Park’s nearly 1,200 square miles.
