Sandy Sue
Is there a campsite there with a shower facility. Where you can just pop a tent for the night. Suggestions would be wonderful :)
Answer
Camping in a park campsite will take a reservation. Generally, applications start 4 months in advance of a specific date.
Campsites fill-up quickly as there is a limited number and Yosemite is a huge attraction:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/camping.htm
http://jrabold.net/yosemite/camping.htm
Camping in a park campsite will take a reservation. Generally, applications start 4 months in advance of a specific date.
Campsites fill-up quickly as there is a limited number and Yosemite is a huge attraction:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/camping.htm
http://jrabold.net/yosemite/camping.htm
Bus to Yosemite national park, from Bay Area?
xu c
So, my friend and I want to go up to Yosemite national parks for a weekend. But we do not have a good car to do so. So we are wondering, if there is a bus or any public transportation that can take us to Yosemite National park and back. Most likely we will go to the glacier point, and some other places. If there is a bus, that would be wonderful.
Answer
For transportation into Yosemite, the key link is the YARTS bus:
http://www.yarts.com/
It runs 6 times a day between Merced and Yosemite Valley, so you need a way to get to Merced.
From the Bay Area, you can get to Merced via Greyhound or Amtrak:
http://www.greyhound.com
http://www.amtrak.com
The Amtrak train to Merced starts in Oakland; but if you start somewhere else, Amtrak offers ways to connect to this train. Just enter your starting point and Merced on their reservations page, and see what's offered. Obviously, there are lots of other public-transit options in the Bay Area to connect to Amtrak or Greyhound; I can't say more without knowing your starting point.
There's a tour bus (not a transit bus) that runs three times a day from Yosemite Lodge to Glacier Point:
http://www.yosemitepark.com/Activities_GuidedActivities_GlacierPointTour.aspx
Alternatively, you can take the tour bus one-way to Glacier Point and walk back down to the valley.
Finally, there are shuttle buses that run frequently within Yosemite Valley, and also less frequent buses that take you to Tuolumne Meadows or the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bus.htm
YARTS also runs buses to Tuolumne Meadows and over Tioga Pass.
The concessioner offers a two-hour tour around Yosemite Valley ("Yosemite Valley Floor Tour"). If you've never been there before, it's a good way to get an overview and orient yourself within the valley.
http://www.yosemitepark.com/Activities_GuidedActivities_ValleyFloorTour.aspx
---
Lodging in Yosemite Valley is at high demand. The choices are either a campsite, or else lodging offered by the concessioner (Housekeeping Camp, Curry Village, Yosemite Lodge, or the Ahwahnee Hotel, in increasing order of price). You shouldn't arrive in the valley by bus without knowing where you're going to stay.
---
The only problem with taking a bus to Yosemite is -- where do you stash your stuff? (A car offers the advantage of a locked trunk.) Some possibilities:
1) There are pay lockers available at Curry Village. I don't remember exactly how big they are, however. Bring lots of quarters.
2) If you have a reservation for a cabin or indoor room, you can store things there. These rooms are difficult to get, however. Campsites and tent cabins (at Curry Village) do not offer secure storage.
3) If you have a backpack, you can carry it with you everywhere, but that's a nuisance for day hikes. (To make life easier, you could offload some of the heavier items to a storage locker.)
Unless you're inside a hard-walled room, you have to store your food overnight in a location safe from bears. Here's some information on that:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/lockers.htm
It mentions that you get a locker if you stay in a tent cabin. I'm not sure whether the locker has enough security to hold your gear, or whether it should only be used for food.
---
If you can't get a place to stay inside Yosemite Valley, another alternative is to stay at lodging on Highway 140, and catch the YARTS bus into the park each day. For instance, Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort offers inexpensive lodging options, and Cedar Lodge is a more traditional motel. The YARTS bus stops at these places, but you'd have to spend significant time each day traveling into and out of the park.
You could also stay in Mariposa and catch the YARTS bus from there. As the first sizable town west of Yosemite on Highway 140, It has plenty of motel rooms and restaurants, and has lots of interesting old buildings from the gold-rush era. Unfortunately, it's so far that you'd be spending nearly 4 hours a day round-trip on the bus -- not a very good option. Yosemite Bug Resort is about 30 minutes closer (one-way), and Cedar Lodge and Yosemite View Lodge are about 60 minutes closer.
Finally, as Time Travler mentions, you can take a packaged tour to Yosemite. This makes planning much easier, but you lose the freedom of exploring the park on your own.
---
note: I checked some of the packaged tours on the web, and many of them do little more than arrange lodging and transportation to lodging, so the question is whether they offer a better price than you can get yourself. The only real advantage I see is that some may make pre-arrangements to reserve lodging units within the valley; so the tour groups might give you access to rooms that you would be unable to reserve on your own.
If you want to reserve lodging within the valley on your own, you might try the following trick: Reservations require a one-night deposit, and refunds are given only to people who cancel at least 10 days in advance. Therefore, you might check the reservation web site 10 or 11 days in advance to see if you get lucky.
Except for cancellations, getting weekend lodging in the valley at this late date is very difficult. Note also that park lodgings are grossly overpriced for what you get. They have only one quality to justify the price, and that's location. Read the tripadvisor reviews for Curry Village. When asked what they liked, people say "location." When asked what they disliked, they say "everything else." I've stayed in Curry Village a number of times, and that's pretty accurate.
If you use the online reservation system for park lodging, note that the site lumps rooms in Wawona together with rooms in the valley. Wawona is a nice place, but it's 30 miles from the valley and less central to transportation.
For transportation into Yosemite, the key link is the YARTS bus:
http://www.yarts.com/
It runs 6 times a day between Merced and Yosemite Valley, so you need a way to get to Merced.
From the Bay Area, you can get to Merced via Greyhound or Amtrak:
http://www.greyhound.com
http://www.amtrak.com
The Amtrak train to Merced starts in Oakland; but if you start somewhere else, Amtrak offers ways to connect to this train. Just enter your starting point and Merced on their reservations page, and see what's offered. Obviously, there are lots of other public-transit options in the Bay Area to connect to Amtrak or Greyhound; I can't say more without knowing your starting point.
There's a tour bus (not a transit bus) that runs three times a day from Yosemite Lodge to Glacier Point:
http://www.yosemitepark.com/Activities_GuidedActivities_GlacierPointTour.aspx
Alternatively, you can take the tour bus one-way to Glacier Point and walk back down to the valley.
Finally, there are shuttle buses that run frequently within Yosemite Valley, and also less frequent buses that take you to Tuolumne Meadows or the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bus.htm
YARTS also runs buses to Tuolumne Meadows and over Tioga Pass.
The concessioner offers a two-hour tour around Yosemite Valley ("Yosemite Valley Floor Tour"). If you've never been there before, it's a good way to get an overview and orient yourself within the valley.
http://www.yosemitepark.com/Activities_GuidedActivities_ValleyFloorTour.aspx
---
Lodging in Yosemite Valley is at high demand. The choices are either a campsite, or else lodging offered by the concessioner (Housekeeping Camp, Curry Village, Yosemite Lodge, or the Ahwahnee Hotel, in increasing order of price). You shouldn't arrive in the valley by bus without knowing where you're going to stay.
---
The only problem with taking a bus to Yosemite is -- where do you stash your stuff? (A car offers the advantage of a locked trunk.) Some possibilities:
1) There are pay lockers available at Curry Village. I don't remember exactly how big they are, however. Bring lots of quarters.
2) If you have a reservation for a cabin or indoor room, you can store things there. These rooms are difficult to get, however. Campsites and tent cabins (at Curry Village) do not offer secure storage.
3) If you have a backpack, you can carry it with you everywhere, but that's a nuisance for day hikes. (To make life easier, you could offload some of the heavier items to a storage locker.)
Unless you're inside a hard-walled room, you have to store your food overnight in a location safe from bears. Here's some information on that:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/lockers.htm
It mentions that you get a locker if you stay in a tent cabin. I'm not sure whether the locker has enough security to hold your gear, or whether it should only be used for food.
---
If you can't get a place to stay inside Yosemite Valley, another alternative is to stay at lodging on Highway 140, and catch the YARTS bus into the park each day. For instance, Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort offers inexpensive lodging options, and Cedar Lodge is a more traditional motel. The YARTS bus stops at these places, but you'd have to spend significant time each day traveling into and out of the park.
You could also stay in Mariposa and catch the YARTS bus from there. As the first sizable town west of Yosemite on Highway 140, It has plenty of motel rooms and restaurants, and has lots of interesting old buildings from the gold-rush era. Unfortunately, it's so far that you'd be spending nearly 4 hours a day round-trip on the bus -- not a very good option. Yosemite Bug Resort is about 30 minutes closer (one-way), and Cedar Lodge and Yosemite View Lodge are about 60 minutes closer.
Finally, as Time Travler mentions, you can take a packaged tour to Yosemite. This makes planning much easier, but you lose the freedom of exploring the park on your own.
---
note: I checked some of the packaged tours on the web, and many of them do little more than arrange lodging and transportation to lodging, so the question is whether they offer a better price than you can get yourself. The only real advantage I see is that some may make pre-arrangements to reserve lodging units within the valley; so the tour groups might give you access to rooms that you would be unable to reserve on your own.
If you want to reserve lodging within the valley on your own, you might try the following trick: Reservations require a one-night deposit, and refunds are given only to people who cancel at least 10 days in advance. Therefore, you might check the reservation web site 10 or 11 days in advance to see if you get lucky.
Except for cancellations, getting weekend lodging in the valley at this late date is very difficult. Note also that park lodgings are grossly overpriced for what you get. They have only one quality to justify the price, and that's location. Read the tripadvisor reviews for Curry Village. When asked what they liked, people say "location." When asked what they disliked, they say "everything else." I've stayed in Curry Village a number of times, and that's pretty accurate.
If you use the online reservation system for park lodging, note that the site lumps rooms in Wawona together with rooms in the valley. Wawona is a nice place, but it's 30 miles from the valley and less central to transportation.
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