Living in Yosemite

Can anyone provide information about the houses/apartments that are in Yosemite? Who lives there? Only people that work there? How many permanent residents are there?

....and I am talking about humans

Here's a start:

http://www.yosemitefun.com/working_in_yosemite.htm
http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/employee-housing.htm
http://www.coolworks.com/profile/dnc-parks-resorts-at-yosemite

There are a variety of cabins and dormitories in Yosemite Valley and in other areas. Quite a few NPS personnel live outside the park though. I believe all the in-park housing is reserved for NPS/concession employees and their families.

Apparently the park concessionaire charges $16/week to live in employee tent cabins and $20/week for dorms. Then it's $45 for the meal plan. Doesn't seem all that bad.

If you're asking about Yosemite in general (rather than just the Valley), there are also some privately owned holdings in the park:

Many of the structures in Foresta burned during the 1990 A-Rock fire but not all of them did (and some have been rebuilt). I believe these are a mix of owner-occupied and rental properties.

Most of the homes in Wawona are privately owned (and, not suprisingly, VERY expensive compared to comparable houses immediately outside the park) but they do come on the market from time to time.

Finally, immediately south of Chinquapin (where the Glacier Point Road turns off the Wawona Road), there's a road (pretty easy to miss) coming off to the right called Henness Ridge Road. You'll actually exit the park by going down the road but, since the only access to the road is from within the park, it's functionally like living in Yosemite. There are a number of rentals and privately owned homes down this road as well. Since the elevation here is a couple thousand feet higher than Foresta or Wawona, though, you'll hit rougher snow conditions up here.

Old road junkies like me (and bill-e-g) should note that a sizeable stretch of the Old Wawona Road is accessible via a small fire road coming off Henness Ridge Road a 100 yards or so from the intersection with the current Wawona Road. Since this stretch is also used as a fire road, it's kept mostly completely clear and is a particularly beautiful walk back in to time. Sadly, when I walked it last year, it looked like they were staking out plots for new homes along the section closest to Henness.

--David K

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DavidK42



Old road junkies like me (and bill-e-g) should note that a sizeable stretch of the Old Wawona Road is accessible via a small fire road coming off Henness Ridge Road a 100 yards or so from the intersection with the current Wawona Road. Since this stretch is also used as a fire road, it's kept mostly completely clear and is a particularly beautiful walk back in to time. Sadly, when I walked it last year, it looked like they were staking out plots for new homes along the section closest to Henness.

--David K

If the stakes are near the Henness Ridge Road - Wawona Road intersection, those stakes are for the new Yosemite Institute campus. The closet residential lot in Yosemite West is around 2,000 ft from where the Institute will be and can not be seen from that intersection.

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure if that makes me any happier knowing that it's non-residential use...it's still impinging on what is one of the single cleanest remaining stretches of the Old Wawona Road but hopefully they won't decide to branch out too much in their future land use.

It is for residential use. Members and participants of the Yosemite Institute will be living there while participating in the Yosemite Institute programs.

The community off of Chinquapin is called Yosemite West.
Wikipedia: Yosemite West

Not mentioned yet is Aspen Valley. There are homes/cabins there which are frequented in the summertime.

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You're trying to trick us! good trivia!

I had to dig a bit to find Aspen Valley only to come full circle back here!

Off-highway biking in Yosemite Park #2 Aspen Valley (long)

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chick-on

Not mentioned yet is Aspen Valley. There are homes/cabins there which are frequented in the summertime.

And talking about Aspen Valley, I noticed that the Yosemite Wilderness Trailhead #11 is located at Aspen Valley. So if you secure a wilderness permit for the Aspen Valley trailhead (#11), are you allowed to drive to Aspen Valley and park your vehicle near that trailhead?

And if you just want to do a day hike starting out from the Aspen Valley trailhead, can you drive and park your vehicle there too?

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plawrence
So if you secure a wilderness permit for the Aspen Valley trailhead (#11), are you allowed to drive to Aspen Valley and park your vehicle near that trailhead?

And if you just want to do a day hike starting out from the Aspen Valley trailhead, can you drive and park your vehicle there too?

Even if the gate was unlocked. I wouldn't. A home owner in there could easily lock it on you.
So I'm almost certain that you just have to walk the road to the trailhead. Or start elsewhere (I've started at Tuolumne Grove) (another story)...

I put a bunch of photos for DavidK42 w/r to that road a bit ago here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/OldTiogaRdAspenValleyWhiteWolf

Interestingly... one of the owners saw one of the photos and we had a small conversation... (it's in the photos)

I guess I could ask her about the gate... I'll let you know (and/or it will be w/i the photos)

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Thanks for the pix of the old road. I didn't understand your reference about your conversion with the one of the owners that's in the photos. The only person I saw in the photos was the old dude. Is the old dude one of the owners?

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plawrence
Thanks for the pix of the old road. I didn't understand your reference about your conversion with the one of the owners that's in the photos. The only person I saw in the photos was the old dude. Is the old dude one of the owners?

Scroll down to the comments below the picture...there's a fairly long chat thread between chick-on and the owner of the cabin in the picture.

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DavidK42

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plawrence

Thanks for the pix of the old road. I didn't understand your reference about your conversion with the one of the owners that's in the photos. The only person I saw in the photos was the old dude. Is the old dude one of the owners?

Scroll down to the comments below the picture...there's a fairly long chat thread between chick-on and the owner of the cabin in the picture.

Okay, I saw the comments now. I didn't see them initially since I used the 'Slide Show' feature of Picasa to view the photos the first time. (Only the captions (but no comments) appear when viewing the photos via the slide show mechanism.)