Saturday, August 13, 2016

Farewell Yosemite

I can’t begin to describe how I feel leaving this place. It truly did become my home, although I was here only for a relatively short time. The people here became my people—no matter how different we all may be. Forever a Yosemite! (Yosemite pronounced with a similar ending to termite.)

My day of goodbyes began with a scramble up to Sierra Point to watch the sunrise with Shelby and Kelly. Sunrises are tricky in the valley, but we got to watch the sky get brighter and then finally the sky lit up over Nevada Fall. Gorgeous, just gorgeous. By the time we got back down and to Half Dome Village, I was essentially starving because it had been three hours since I woke up and I hadn’t eaten yet. Also, I’ve been in one of my hungry moods ever since I got back from my last backpacking trip. I think I’ve eaten multiple lunches and suppers each day, with numerous snacks in-between. Whatever.


Anyways, today also happened to be the Half Dome Village Staff Appreciation event with free ice cream and lemonade. I was all over the ice cream thing and helped myself to fudge tracks with hot fudge, hot caramel, marshmallows, and sprinkles when Shelby and I took our break. Shortly after, Connor and Kelly took their break and came back…and I got pied in the face while I was skimming. The people on the pool deck looked horrified and Connor explained it was my last day—and he cleaned it all up and finished skimming. ;) I thought it was really funny; whipped cream pies are way better than shaving cream pies and it didn’t hurt anyone. Also, I work at a pool…not hard to wash it off myself or the pool deck. So it was funny. You should be able to watch the video here:


I had to go over my exit paperwork with Sabas—essentially fill out a survey about my experience with Aramark and my department and then go over my performance evaluation with Sabas that goes in my file. Honestly, aside from Aramark never figuring out my direct deposit and occasionally charging me double for my rent (so $14 instead of $7), I didn’t have a lot of issues with them as a company. I know they still have some sticky situations that they have to try to work out while DNC and NPS go through some lawsuits. I still feel that the two pools should be managed by the same person—a person that has a background in aquatics. Sabas, along with the rest of the staff that I interact with, was sorry to see me go. He gave me a glowing report that I appreciated a great deal when I read it. When Phil, our maintenance guy, found out I was leaving today, he said they’d have to shut the pool down without me. (To which Shelby said yes as I said no.) ;)

When I finally clocked out for the last time, I had to say goodbye to so many people…RJ, Connor, Kelly, Andrew, Todd, Abby and Susan at the Grill, 2 of the 3 ladies in Tent #2, Peggy, and finally Shelby. I’m not a fan of goodbyes or hugs so the hour between 7:00 and 8:00 was pretty rough. :P I did, however, finally eat a basket of bbq pulled pork with bacon from the Grill. And then I boarded YARTS with all five hundred of my suitcases (two suitcases and my 55L backpack, along with my small backpack and pillow) and had to say another tough goodbye—this one to the park itself. Farewell Yosemite, it’s been an adventure!

Shelby, RJ, and I

Bethany’s Yosemite Favorites
Food—Ice cream of course! Rice bowls from the Loft and fresh cheeseburgers or French toast from the Lodge tie for second.
Store—Ansel Adams Gallery. Mountain Shop second.
Scramble—Sierra Point
Day Hike—Cloud’s Rest
Viewpoint—Vogelsang Peak

P.S. I arrived in Newton, KS via train 40.75 hours after I left Merced, CA on Thursday morning. Aunt Lois and Uncle Willis picked me up from the train station, we went and ate breakfast, and then returned to Lindsborg to take a nap before going into McPherson to meet my parents (who had just gotten in) at my Grandma Thelma’s room in the Cedars. I am considering this the official end to my summer, as I’ll be home (in Plainfield) only Tuesday/Wednesday before returning home (to Cedar Rapids) for school next Thursday.

Thank you all for your support, for reading my ramblings, and for your prayers along the way!

And now I’ll leave you with two scriptures as I wrap this blog up:

Psalm 121: 7-8
The Lord will protect you from all danger;
    he will keep you safe.
He will protect you as you come and go
    now and forever.


Psalm 139: 9-10
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

My Last Hurrah—Sunrise, Merced Lake, and Vogelsang


Well, it wouldn’t be a Bethany adventure if things went according to plan, right? Right. My last trip was no exception.

I really wanted to go to the Vogelsang area, and because I only had one weekend left in Yosemite, I schemed a way to get myself there. By the time I was actually standing waiting in line for my wilderness permit, I had Plan A-H ready, with Plan I as “start somewhere, end in valley.” Somehow, I actually got my Plan A—Start at Sunrise trailhead, exit via Lyell Canyon with a backup exit via Rafferty Creek. Awesome. Doing great. I decided to try hammock-camping again because I didn’t feel like lugging around a tent.

Well on Friday morning, it turned out that Stephanie’s hiker bus was overbooked, so there was a giant standby list of people trying to get up to Tuolumne. Luckily for me, Stephanie let the three employees onto the bus, sitting in aisle. (I laid down—I haven’t been sleeping well the past few days.) Due to all the chaos, the bus was running late so I didn’t get to the Sunrise Trailhead, just west of Tenaya Lake, until around 10:30. My plan was to hike to Sunrise High Sierra Camp, Merced Lake Sierra Camp, and then spend the night at Vogelsang High Sierra Camp—summit Vogelsang Peak in the morning, hike back down to Tuolumne, and catch Stephanie’s bus at 2:00. Sounded reasonable to me.

The first day was a lot of miles, a little less than 25, so starting at 10:30 wasn’t exactly my favorite option…but I didn’t have a choice, so away I went. I booked it to Sunrise HSC and made it there in 2 hours. My friend Moose let me feed the mules while I was there. Another guy that I played volleyball with asked if I wanted to know the shortcut to Merced Lake, but I told him no thank you (given my track record with going offtrail…).

View from Sunrise Meadow—Matthes Crest

So after a brief lunch, I hiked down to Merced Lake HSC. I believe this was the biggest HSC that I’ve been to. There are tons of tent cabins there! The Merced River on the way to the lake was absolutely beautiful, and there were constantly waterfalls along the path. Since it was about 5:00, I ate some pistachios and a granola, and changed my socks. The pistachios were a bad idea because they took forever… :P From there, I just had like 8 miles left to Vogelsang, so I was feeling pretty good.

 Some of the many falls along the Merced River
 Merced Lake

A day may come when I learn to take elevation into account when planning mileages, when I actually allow myself more time to go uphill than downhill or flat, but it is not this day. An hour of time where I cover the same amount of ground no matter what, when I can travel all distances at 20 min/mile. But it is not this day! This day, we hike! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you hike, Bethany of Yosemite!

Silly me forgot to take into account when calculating time that Vogelsang is ~3000 feet higher than Merced Lake, so going up all those switchbacks at the end of the day wasn’t going to be able to be done in the usual 20-22 min./mile. I met another ranger on that trail (the first was on the Sunrise trail—checking people’s permits for Cloud’s Rest/Half Dome I’m guessing) that asked where I was going, etc. He said something about me taking the Merced Shortcut…and I was like, “No, I went around,” and his eyes got all big as he told me that I was putting in quite a few miles today. Yep……He thought I would probably get there around dark. Then a little bit late I met my new friend Sean, who was another employee on the bus. He was doing something similar to my loop, but backwards and ending in the valley I believe.

I had talked to two people with LA County SAR at lunch who were hiking the JMT and the guy strongly recommended that I take the west fork to Vogelsang, so at this point I decided to listen to him. He said it was prettier and easier. That, I can handle. And man oh man was he right about it being pretty! (I don’t have the other one to compare it too, but it was definitely pretty!) Wow.

 View from trail above Merced Lake
View south from the trail from Merced Lake to Vogelsang
 A crappy picture of the beautiful flowers along the trail
 
Falls along Fletcher Creek
 A valley on the west fork to Vogelsang HSC

 Vogelsang Ridge

My goal was to get to Vogelsang HSC by 9:00, and 8:59 wasn’t exactly what I had in mind…but I guess it counts. Darn elevation gain. This backpacker’s camp was in no man’s land in relation to the HSC. I also couldn’t find the water, so I went and asked the employee still working, and he was astonished that the rangers hadn’t told me when I picked up my permit that a boil order had been issued for their water supply. Lucky for me, being a fellow employee has its perks, and he let me use their jugs of water and hang out in the kitchen with other people after I had eaten my very late supper.

At this point, the temperature had dropped quite dramatically and I was very cold. Luckily for me, I threw in my sweatshirts, legging, pants, and a stocking hat in addition to my sleeping bag and blanket. I STILL froze my butt off! I woke up so many times because I was cold and my teeth were chattering. I was wearing two pairs of socks and I still couldn’t feel my toes! When I finally got up in the morning, there was frost covering everything, so I swear it was actually cold. I’m usually a very warm person, so for me to have to wear that many clothes was a real struggle—that’s how you know it’s cold. Again…elevation. (I was just told that by putting my sleeping pad in the bottom of the hammock, it would reduce the amount of heat lost beneath me. Never thought of that. Try it next time, whenever next time might be!) Also, thank to the temperature, my camera and iPod decided that they hated me and died. The camera I had extra batteries for. The iPod…not so much. No music for Bethany today. :(

Warning: As I continue with this post, included in the truth-telling, it will sound like I’m complaining. Please note that this is not my intention.

Also when I woke up, I realized that I had very limited actual muscle strength in my legs, particularly the hamstring/quad pair. Lifting my legs became a task for my arms. I hate those days—they’re miserable. I walked up the stairs to the bathrooms in the HSC and found myself wishing they had a handicap stall. Then I basically starting laughing at myself because I sincerely doubt a handicapped person could make it to one of the high sierra camps—unless they’re only occasionally handicapped, like me—so why in the world would they put in handicapped bathrooms? They wouldn’t.

Anyways, I felt terrible and I knew that today was going to be very interesting and very challenging. And that it was. I had talked to some of the employees last night and they thought that it would take about an hour and a half to reach the top, so three hours round trip. They also said that it would take 2.5-3 hours to get back down to Tuolumne Meadows from Vogelsang. Going off those numbers and adding in an hour for my legs’ crumminess, I left at 7:00 and gave myself a turnaround time of 9:05.

 Vogelsang Lake on Saturday morning

Well…I don’t know if you’ve ever had to manually lift your legs over every obstacle that comes in your way, but if you haven’t—let me tell you it’s pretty time-consuming. The route to the top that I was taking was a Class 2/3 scramble up the kind-of northern gully. Normally—piece of cake. Today—anything but a piece of cake. I was keeping an eye on the time and getting really frustrated, especially when at 9:00 I looked up and decided there was no way I could stop now. I made up my mind to go to the top, and there was no way that I wasn’t going to make it. My new slogan of the day became #HYPPCan’tStopMeButItCanMakeMeMissMyBus. So I chanted that to myself as I picked my way up to the top. Then, when I finally finally FINALLY reached the top, I remembered that the true summit was to my left. With all the balance of a toddler, I worked my way along the ridgeline to Vogelsang Peak’s summit. I was very disappointed that the summit log was gone. However, I was not disappointed at all with the view! Oh. My. Goodness. WOW! It took me three hours in my condition to summit Vogelsang Peak, but I was so glad I did it. That was probably my favorite view in Yosemite.

 Half Dome from Vogelsang Peak
 View east from Vogelsang Peak
 View west from Vogelsang Peak
 The "Look I'm Still Alive" shot from Vogelsang Peak
 Vogelsang Lake and HSC from Vogelsang Peak

After staying there not as long as I would have liked, I remembered a Class 1 descent that I had read about through a more southern gully. I knew my muscles couldn’t handle going down what I came up, so I decided to give it a try. In a few spots, it was still covered in snow, so I slid down on my butt and had a grand time doing so! This gully led to a part of the trail a little ways further away from Vogelsang HSC, but it was much shorter time-wise for me today. After stopping and picking up my sweatshirt, pants, and hat that I had ditched as soon as I left the trail, I got back to the camp in about an hour and fifty minutes.

 Great snow slide down :)
Back down to the trail with Vogelsang Lake behind me

After eating lunch, putting things back in my pack (because I had only taken a drawstring with me up to the peak), I set out again for Tuolumne. At this point, it was 12:45 and I had about 8 miles left. Aka there was no way I was going to make it to Stephanie’s bus at 2:00, so my plan was to either catch YARTS back to the valley or to hitch-hike. (Sorry, not sorry to all my relatives that still don’t realize that hitch-hiking is one of the most common forms of transportation in Yosemite.)

Well, any progress that had been made in the morning regarding my lifting muscles was immediately shut down by the addition of the pack. Back to square one. I was tripping over everything. You know the saying, “dragging your feet” in whatever commitment it is—well go ahead and try actually having your right foot drag along, and then rethink that saying. Or you know the eggbeater version of treading water—yeah, that’s how I had to walk with my right foot to step over things. Guess how many times I fell flat on my face? 3. Guess how many more times I would’ve fallen flat on my face if my hands hadn’t done such a marvelous job of catching me on anything nearby? At least 50. I don’t care how downhill that trail was (and honestly, it was so gradual that I didn’t really notice), I could not keep a decent pace to save my life. And at one point, this man was talking to me and he ended with, “Have a good last few miles of your Yosemite experience.” Honestly, I didn’t think I could go any slower…but I could because I got so sad. My last miles that I’m going to hike in Yosemite and I’m struggling through them so much and I’m in so much pain and I’m so dang tired and I have no idea how I’m going to get back and I’m ready to be done lifeguarding but I’m not ready to leave and I want to visit my family but I’m nervous about Grandma Thelma and I want to see my friends at school but I don’t want classes to start and I’m nervous I’ll suck at golf because I haven’t played in forever and I can’t decide whether I’m happy or sad to leave…Honestly, I was such a wreck that I cried multiple times, which if you know me at all is just the most abnormal thing ever.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I did not have a good last hike. It took me until a little after 5:00 to get to the Tuolumne Store/Grill. I didn’t get to even look at the scenery very much through the Rafferty Creek area because I was staring at my feet trying not to keep falling (I decided I didn’t have the miles in me to go back via Lyell Canyon). The Grill closed at 5:00, so from the Store I had a giant apple, chocolate milk, and two It’s It ice cream thingies. The last YARTS bus to the valley left around noon, so I missed that one by a whole lot longer than I missed Stephanie’s bus. I almost always miss Stephanie’s bus. I think I’ve made it once, and that was when I was with my parents.

So after ingesting all that sugar, I crossed the road, stuck my thumb out, and the very first car stopped and picked me up. This guy’s name was Tim and he was a retired guy that had been doing some hiking with his friends. He picked my brain for trail information about a few specific areas. He took me to the Crane Flat gas station, where I went in and said hi to Peggy and Laurence. Fallback plan: if I can’t get a ride back to the valley, wait a few hours and ride with them once they get off work. Well it turns out that a YOSAR guy named Drew Smith picked me up and took me back to the valley. On our way down the 120, we saw his friend Miranda stopped by the side of the road having van problems. It took like half an hour to fix it because it had overheated and then the battery had died. Fun fact: Miranda Oakley just recently soloed the nose of El Cap in less than 24 hours, becoming the first female ever to do so! So basically I just met someone famous! :D Another fun fact: Drew knew four people that live in the Ahwahnee Dorms that I’m friends with, and he’s the one who just married Patrick and Sarah up on the top of their climb. Pretty cool, pretty cool.

I got back to my tent, dead tired, and ate an entire package of Ramen, these two people’s leftover pasta with chicken, half a loaf of garlic bread, and two packages of trail mix. Tired and hungry basically summed up my life right now.

So to all you worrywarts out there—yes, I am alive and I am fine. My muscles may suck, but I am fine. Life lesson: you can do whatever you set your mind to do. Almost always. Just try to get a good night’s sleep first. ;)

Which is what I’m going to do right now (hopefully)—so I’ll post this later! Good night everyone!

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Bethany’s Yosemite Guide: Places to Shop/Other


Because I only have a week and a day left in the park, I figured I’d better just combine everything that I have remaining to tell you about into one post. Crazy to think about how soon I’ll be back in Iowa—the land of no mountains to look at every day. It’s a very surreal feeling.

Red=stores, Purple=employees only, Blue=Other

A: Yosemite Village Store

By far the largest store in the valley, the Village Store has a few aisles of groceries, including a frozen section and a hot section. They sell area fudge, jams, and coffee beans. About half the store is apparel and souvenir merchandise. The parking lot also acts as day use parking, but there’s a good chance it will be full around 9:00 in the morning.


B: Lodge Store
C: Half Dome Village Store
D: Glacier Point Store

Each of these stores is considerably smaller than the Village Store; however, if you look super closely, you might be able to find some merchandise that’s different. The store up in Tuolumne sells different material, but they don’t get a letter on the map because they’re not on the map.

Half Dome Village Store

E: Mountain Shop

If you need anything outdoor-related and it’s not generic enough to be sold at the Village Store, definitely try the Mountain Shop! They sell all sorts of cool stuff and there are usually some good finds on their clearance rack! (This was the shop we went to in order to fix my dad’s hiking boot—a little more permanent of a fix than my paracord laces…). They also sell tons of guidebooks for all things Yosemite and Sierra Nevada.


F: Ansel Adams Gallery

If I had hundreds of dollars to spend on wall photos, this would be the place I would spend it. Despite being a gallery, they have tables with different books and items on it. It’s a really neat little store and it’s not operated by NPS or Aramark—it’s privately owned. Again, really, really beautiful art—just go look at it if you get the chance!


G: Half Dome Village Pool
H: Lodge Pool

The pool at the Lodge is bigger than the pool at Half Dome Village—and ours at Half Dome is typically more crowded with kids. They used to have lap swim over at the Lodge, but for some reason this year they did away with that. Super unfortunate because now we get complaints about it all the dang time. Not our fault! (And the HDV pool is too shallow on one end to swim laps in anyways. It ranges from 2 to 8 feet.)

 Half Dome Village Pool
Lodge Pool

I: Chapel

Services at the chapel are on Sundays at 9:15 and 11:00, and there’s a bible study-like service on Sunday night at 6:30 and Wednesday at 7:00. I know they offer a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints service at some point on Sunday afternoon and there’s a Catholic mass also—but I don’t remember when or where those are held. The chapel used to be located at the base of Four Mile Trail, along with a number of other buildings in a community, but it was moved in 1901. The Chapel is the oldest building still in use in Yosemite!


J: Lower Pines Amphitheater

This amphitheater hosts a number of different programs in the valley, including the 9:00 Sunday morning ACMNP worship service. ACMNP stands for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks and they’re a group of people that hold Aramark positions, but also are part of the ACMNP ministry team. Fun fact—one of them (Sarah) is from Iowa and went to Abby’s college! That car was a delight for us to find in the parking lot! :)


K: Yosemite Visitor Center

I don’t know how much of a description you need for the visitor center…I went through it in about an hour my first or second day here. The bookstore there is run by the Yosemite Conservancy. The desk there is where you can pick up information and talk to the Rangers about what you should do during your stay.


L: Wilderness Center

Now this is an important place because in order to get your backcountry permit, you have to come here and talk to these mostly fine fellows. I believe I explained it already in a recent blog post, so I won’t go into too great of detail about some of the crazies that spend the night outside, trying to get the permit they want. If you need any maps, this is the place to go. If you need help planning any trips, this is the place to go. If you need to learn about Leave No Trace, this is the place to go. So really…this is the place to go. Especially if you’re going on an adventure!


M: Post Office

Here you can buy Yosemite envelopes or those National Park stamps. This is also where USPS mail is delivered to employees. Non-USPS mail (so FedEx, UPS, etc.) is delivered to the housing office by the Wellness Center and you have to go get it from there.


N: Community Center
O: Wellness Center

The Wellness Center staff plans employee events that are held at both the CC and the WC. The CC is located directly east of Huff and the WC is located directly west of Huff, east of New Housing. The CC has a bunch of couches, a tv, books and games, pool, foozball, and ping pong. It’s open from noon-1:00 am. I generally find it to be an extremely dirty and gross place. The WC has a gym for all of the dedicated employees to work out that like treadmills and weights instead of/in addition to the great outdoors. There are yoga classes and a fitness program held in the classroom-ish area. It also has a giant DVD collection that you can check out. The WC has the best wifi in the valley. Hands down.
  
Community Center
Wellness Center

Until next time my friends! Have a great day!

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Bethany’s Yosemite Guide: Places to Stay/Employee Housing


This edition of my guide to Yosemite is the places where people sleep—guests and employees, specifically Aramark employees because I didn’t take pictures of the Ranger’s houses. They’re near Yosemite Village.

Red=guests, Blue=employees

A: The Ahwahnee (Majestic)

The Ahwahnee Hotel was originally built to bring high-spending visitors into the park. The hotel is huge and fancy by typical park standards. The Grand Lounge is two stories tall with a gigantic fireplace that I watch tourists take pictures of all the time. It has a few cabins on the grounds that are used as well, and the biggest of those is where the First Family stayed during their visit. These rooms are pretty pricey (just like everything at the hotel), and I would recommend staying elsewhere since you’re on vacation in a national park…so why stay in a hotel?
 


B: Curry Village (Half Dome Village)

Curry Village Housekeeping has tent cabins, bath cabins, and WOBs. WOBs are hard-sided and stand for without bath. Don’t quote me, but I’m pretty sure there are almost a thousand units on the property, including somewhere around 600ish tent cabins. (Tent cabins are what employees stay in as well but in different areas.) Unheated tent cabins come with a double, two twins, or a double and three twins—so anywhere from 1-5 people. Heated tent cabins are a double, two twins, or a double and two twins—so anywhere from 1-4 people. The tent cabin is the cheapest option in Curry, but you’re still paying to sleep in the valley, so expect it to be around $100 still. Bath cabins are just what they sound like—little cabins with bathrooms. There are a bunch that look like the ones in my picture, found in groups of four, each with two double beds. There’s also a building we call Stoneman, and some of the rooms in that building have three double beds because they have a loft area. The bath cabins are fancier than the tent cabins, so naturally, they cost more. (They also take a lot longer to clean.)



C: Housekeeping Camp

Housekeeping Camp costs the same as a tent cabin in Curry, but the structures in Housekeeping Camp don’t have walls. A lot of big groups stay here because you can have fires, as opposed to Curry where you can’t. It never ceases to amaze me how many decorations people bring to decorate their structure in Housekeeping Camp! I’ve gotten to see a lot of cool ones. So pro—campfire, con—no walls.


D: Yosemite Lodge

I don’t know a ton about the Lodge rooms other than that there are a bunch of buildings with a bunch of rooms, and each building is named after a different tree. If you imagine a two-story hotel, you chop it into pieces, and spread it around a central cafeteria, pool, gift shop, and restaurants…than that kind of describes the Lodge. Sorry for my pitiful description.


E: Campgrounds

There are four campgrounds in the valley—Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines, and the Backpacker’s Campground. I didn’t go take a picture of the campground…because it’s a campground. The campgrounds are run by NPS, not by Aramark.

F: Ahwahnee Dorm

The Ahwahnee Dorm (and three tents) is where I live! Tent #1, special right? ;) A lot of the people here work at the Ahwahnee, but not all of us. Most of the rooms inside are double rooms and we have quite a few couples who live here. There’s a communal kitchen, lounge, laundry room, and bathrooms. The Ahwahnee Dorm has the nicest single stall male restroom in the park. (Probably also the only one…) Because there are so many more females than males that live here, the guys share a one-stall/one-sink room and a one-shower/tub room, and the females have a three-stall, three-shower, six-sink room. ;) I think it’s funny.

 My tent is the one on the right with Cassidy's bike resting next to it.

G: Huff/New Housing

Huff, which stands for Housing Under Firefall—named after the fires that used to be thrown off Glacier Point, is the biggest employee housing area in the valley. It contains a combination of tent cabins and WOBs, three communal kitchens/laundry, and three showerhouses. When my coworkers learned that I wasn’t in Huff, they wondered if I requested quiet housing. Nope…just worked out that way. Huff has the reputation of being extremely loud and a bit of a party area. People get in trouble all the time for stupid things there. It’s dead north of the Curry Village bath cabins, and west of the raft rentals and former ice rink. New Housing is west of Huff (on the other side of the Wellness Center), and those buildings are more suite-style with six-ish people sharing a bathroom/kitchen/etc.

 Huff
New Housing

H: Highland Court

Highland Court, aka Train Wreck, is right next to Yosemite Lodge. I don’t remember the entire story of how it got its name, but I’m pretty sure it deals with the boxcar-like buildings they plopped there all helter-skelter like because they needed housing and then left there. Some people also say it’s because of who lives there…typically older people who have been in the park a while that are…well…interesting.


I: Lost Arrow

Lost Arrow is a bunch of WOBs that they built on a parking lot behind Degnan’s. I know quite a few people that live here because they’ve been here long enough to move out of Huff, but not long enough to move into Tecoya or something.


J: Tecoya

Tecoya is almost all people with seniority—there are five(?) big dorms and a bunch of manager houses. I believe the dorm rooms are singles, but again—not entirely sure. Dorms A and B share a common space, as do C and D. Tecoya is across from the Village Store and I pass it every time I take the bike path from Yosemite Village to the Ahwahnee.

 Half of one of the Tecoya dorms


There aren’t any more options in the valley; however, if you get a wilderness permit, you can camp out in the backcountry. You have to be four miles from the nearest town-area (Yosemite Valley, Tuolumne Meadows, etc.), and one air-mile from the nearest road. Many of the actual camps are on a first-come, first-serve basis and charge you $5-6 for staying there. If you make your camp off a trail, you just need to be 100 feet from the trail and 100 feet from any water sources on a durable surface. A durable surface is rock, duff, and sand/gravel. Don’t set up camp on plants! The Ranger at the Wilderness Center would go over all of that with you before you’re issued your permit, but now you know ahead of time too. :) #LeaveNoTrace

Well, that wraps it up for where to sleep in the valley and also this edition of Bethany’s Yosemite Guide. I’ll post another one when I have time. Have a great day folks and be safe out there/in there/wherever you are! :D