The drive to and from Yosemite is spectacular - gotta love the western side of the Sierras. The golden hills were a feast for my eyes. That aside, my decision (which I do not regret) to visit friends Sunday morning and afternoon in Carmel Valley meant that I entered the park about 9:30 p.m.. Finding a specific camp site in the dark is VERY difficult. I finally gave up, pulled over and asked a father, with a young daughter in tow, for the number of any site he could see so I could figure out which way to head when, incredibly, my brother Carroll appeared. I don't know who was more surprised - he or I - but I was grateful to have blindly stumbled into the right area. By the way, that 5-year old daughter who accompanied her father looked up at me and said, softly, "You are going to have a really good time here." I told her, quite solemnly, that I knew I would.
It took 3 trips, stumbling in the dark, to unload my few belongings - sleeping bag and pillow, small suitcase, camp chair, carton of stuff that might help when camping and cooler. I tried to be as quiet as possible because it was 10 by the time I started loading food, lotion, toothpaste etc. into the 2 bear lockers outside my tent.
I love the Housekeeping units and am also aware that they are at the very bottom of the luxury scale at Yosemite (well, setting up your own tent would be more challenging). If any of you are unfamiliar with Housekeeping, let me share how the Wall Street Journal described it several years ago in an article about the infrastructure at the park. Let's see, their exact words were "worse than a Third World refugee camp." Unfair. Sure, you get your water from leaky faucets scattered among the sites and the actual tent canvases appear to been through the war. And, yes, there is dust everywhere but hey, we are talking camping here. Slowly Yosemite is updating the units. Mine had new beds (a double and a bunk bed) - gone are the twisted, tilting beds with lumpy mattresses of the past.
This photo shows the table, seats and counter along the back wall that are attached to the unit. Inside the curtain (you can see it on the right edge of the photo) is the space with beds and storage unit. The bear lockers are outside. What elevates this from good ol' tent camping? There are two lights and two sockets. Ah, electricity! It changes everything.
Here is my sister's unit, next door - before half of her belongings were unloaded. See the difference? I was a minimalist - out of necessity. And thank goodness my extended family and friends in the other 9 tents of our group were even better stocked. Some brought grills, ice makers, massive coolers, bicycles, rafts, computers, and lots of power strips.
What is of major importance is the string of lights each family brings to hang from their stockade wall. Why so important? You use these to locate your tent after you have gone to the bathroom (in the communal facility some distance away) in the middle of the night. Of course, this assumes you have also put on your glasses. Several years ago I made the mistake of forgetting to put mine on and spent abut 30 minutes, in the dark, trying to find my tent.
The 10 tents rented by my extended family stretched along the Merced River. That doesn't always happen. There are 300+ units in Housekeeping and probably 20% are along the river so we were lucky.
My cousin, Pattie, joined me Tuesday morning and stayed until the group broke camp on Saturday. It was lots and lots of fun. We all spent time visiting among the tents, sitting on the beach (or, this year, because the river was so low that the water was warmer than usual, IN the river), helping whichever family was preparing dinner for the group, hiking, rafting, reading, golfing at Wawona, and visiting museums and sites within the park.
One of my favorite things to do while at Yosemite is to have an "Ahwahnee Day." I pretend I am staying at the grand old hotel.
If I can catch an early shuttle from Housekeeping to the hotel I slip in to join the hotel residents who are sipping their free coffee on the mezzanine. One of the best things about my white hair is that people assume I am legitimate - I could NOT possibly be the type to sneak in where not wanted. Wrong, oh they are so wrong.
Then I peruse the things in their wonderful stores and pick spots around the hotel to sit and read. I start in the large lounge but move every half hour or so to take advantage of all the public rooms. This year I sat at one of the lovely old desks and wrote postcards to mail to family in Oregon.
For our first drink both Pattie and I ordered El Capitanis - note the caribiners at the base of our drinks. I am sure that anyone spotting them assumed we were climbers just returned from some major feat. Yea, right.
What I love about my Ahwahnee Day is noting the HUGE differences between life at this lovely hotel and at the Housekeeping Units.
Let's look at some of these:
The Ahwahnee store has gorgeous leather purses, fine jewelry, lovely clothing, books and Native American artifacts for sale. The Housekeeping store?
Although there are differences, don't get me wrong, I love everything about Housekeeping. It is somewhat amazing that 1000+ people lived in the 300 tent sites and there seemed to be no theft (and it would be so easy - everything is left out in the open) and little unpleasantness. This is especially nice in light of the fact that budget cuts have greatly reduced the number of rangers. We used to have daily visits from rangers who checked that we were properly storing anything with a scent in the available bear lockers. This year we did not have a single visit. Yes, there were some problems with campers leaving food out and we did have visits by raccoons but bears stayed away.
On the hottest afternoon Pattie and I rafted down the Merced River - we rented a raft at Curry Village. I have since added inner tubes to the list of things to bring next year. Much cheaper to use your own than to rent but whether on raft or inner tube, it was wonderful to float along the river, with moments of frantic paddling to keep on course.
Looking back over the week, how much did our minimalist camping require mooching off others? Not much. We brought coffee but used my brother's technology to make it (given the electricity at our sites I have added electric coffee maker to my list for next year). My sister offered us food (which we happily ate) but, technically, we didn't ask for it. She also loaned us a second chair. That was about it for mooching. We thus found that minimalist camping works and we liked how easy it was to pack up at the end. I have been lucky to be part of this group for the past 5 years or so - but it started 30 years ago so I am a relative newbie.
We all had much much fun at one of the most beautiful spots on earth.
I am now back at Pattie's house in Novato. We have written our next To Do list - what is still needed before we leave for Africa this coming Saturday. We have been re-reading all the docs, getting visa applications in order, packing. We will spend 15 days in 4 animal parks in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana and 4 days in Capetown, South Africa. Thank goodness there are great photographers in the group - would hate to depend on my abilities for this upcoming safari.
Animals, here we come.
It took 3 trips, stumbling in the dark, to unload my few belongings - sleeping bag and pillow, small suitcase, camp chair, carton of stuff that might help when camping and cooler. I tried to be as quiet as possible because it was 10 by the time I started loading food, lotion, toothpaste etc. into the 2 bear lockers outside my tent.
I love the Housekeeping units and am also aware that they are at the very bottom of the luxury scale at Yosemite (well, setting up your own tent would be more challenging). If any of you are unfamiliar with Housekeeping, let me share how the Wall Street Journal described it several years ago in an article about the infrastructure at the park. Let's see, their exact words were "worse than a Third World refugee camp." Unfair. Sure, you get your water from leaky faucets scattered among the sites and the actual tent canvases appear to been through the war. And, yes, there is dust everywhere but hey, we are talking camping here. Slowly Yosemite is updating the units. Mine had new beds (a double and a bunk bed) - gone are the twisted, tilting beds with lumpy mattresses of the past.
My unit - note how few supplies I have.
This photo shows the table, seats and counter along the back wall that are attached to the unit. Inside the curtain (you can see it on the right edge of the photo) is the space with beds and storage unit. The bear lockers are outside. What elevates this from good ol' tent camping? There are two lights and two sockets. Ah, electricity! It changes everything.
Candy's Unit
What is of major importance is the string of lights each family brings to hang from their stockade wall. Why so important? You use these to locate your tent after you have gone to the bathroom (in the communal facility some distance away) in the middle of the night. Of course, this assumes you have also put on your glasses. Several years ago I made the mistake of forgetting to put mine on and spent abut 30 minutes, in the dark, trying to find my tent.
The 10 tents rented by my extended family stretched along the Merced River. That doesn't always happen. There are 300+ units in Housekeeping and probably 20% are along the river so we were lucky.
My cousin, Pattie, joined me Tuesday morning and stayed until the group broke camp on Saturday. It was lots and lots of fun. We all spent time visiting among the tents, sitting on the beach (or, this year, because the river was so low that the water was warmer than usual, IN the river), helping whichever family was preparing dinner for the group, hiking, rafting, reading, golfing at Wawona, and visiting museums and sites within the park.
I snapped these photos on a walk Pattie and I took in the Wawona area. So beautiful and so different from the Valley floor with its sheer walls of granite.
One of my favorite things to do while at Yosemite is to have an "Ahwahnee Day." I pretend I am staying at the grand old hotel.
The back of the hotel - by the way, I learned on this visit (on a guided tour of the hotel) that the rocks in the towers are identified (from the bottom to the top) as 4-man, 3-man, 2-man and 1-man - according to how many men it took to lift each one.
If I can catch an early shuttle from Housekeeping to the hotel I slip in to join the hotel residents who are sipping their free coffee on the mezzanine. One of the best things about my white hair is that people assume I am legitimate - I could NOT possibly be the type to sneak in where not wanted. Wrong, oh they are so wrong.
Then I peruse the things in their wonderful stores and pick spots around the hotel to sit and read. I start in the large lounge but move every half hour or so to take advantage of all the public rooms. This year I sat at one of the lovely old desks and wrote postcards to mail to family in Oregon.
I have lunch in the restaurant and . . . .
Drinks at the two bars (inside and outside).
What I love about my Ahwahnee Day is noting the HUGE differences between life at this lovely hotel and at the Housekeeping Units.
Let's look at some of these:
Note that the Ahwahee has their own wine (and crystal glasses) for sale in the hotel store. The photos below show the wine for sale in the Housekeeping store.
The Ahwahnee store has gorgeous leather purses, fine jewelry, lovely clothing, books and Native American artifacts for sale. The Housekeeping store?
S'Mores supplies - for crowds both large and small.
Although there are differences, don't get me wrong, I love everything about Housekeeping. It is somewhat amazing that 1000+ people lived in the 300 tent sites and there seemed to be no theft (and it would be so easy - everything is left out in the open) and little unpleasantness. This is especially nice in light of the fact that budget cuts have greatly reduced the number of rangers. We used to have daily visits from rangers who checked that we were properly storing anything with a scent in the available bear lockers. This year we did not have a single visit. Yes, there were some problems with campers leaving food out and we did have visits by raccoons but bears stayed away.
On the hottest afternoon Pattie and I rafted down the Merced River - we rented a raft at Curry Village. I have since added inner tubes to the list of things to bring next year. Much cheaper to use your own than to rent but whether on raft or inner tube, it was wonderful to float along the river, with moments of frantic paddling to keep on course.
Whoops - we are on the back raft, the one having trouble - heading right toward the bank!
Looking back over the week, how much did our minimalist camping require mooching off others? Not much. We brought coffee but used my brother's technology to make it (given the electricity at our sites I have added electric coffee maker to my list for next year). My sister offered us food (which we happily ate) but, technically, we didn't ask for it. She also loaned us a second chair. That was about it for mooching. We thus found that minimalist camping works and we liked how easy it was to pack up at the end. I have been lucky to be part of this group for the past 5 years or so - but it started 30 years ago so I am a relative newbie.
We all had much much fun at one of the most beautiful spots on earth.
I am now back at Pattie's house in Novato. We have written our next To Do list - what is still needed before we leave for Africa this coming Saturday. We have been re-reading all the docs, getting visa applications in order, packing. We will spend 15 days in 4 animal parks in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana and 4 days in Capetown, South Africa. Thank goodness there are great photographers in the group - would hate to depend on my abilities for this upcoming safari.
Animals, here we come.
Ok, now I'm fully jealous. Not really, but I so enjoy your writing- and your sense of adventure. Thank you for all the adventures you have invited me along on. The housekeeping adventures in Yosemite were particularly wonderful- such memories!
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