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Questions about Wawona

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:09 pm
by miriel
Hi, everyone!

Could you help us with a few questions:

This July it will be our first time camping in Yosemite. We will be staying in Wawona for 1 week. Should we bring all food with us or could we buy necessary supplies at the local store in Wawona village? (we will have 1 year old child with us so we'll definitely need some diary products for her)

We plan to go on hikes in the valley (we failed to reserve campsite there :( ), so what would you recommend - taking shuttle bus every day to the valley and back to Wawona, or driving our own car there? (if we drive our car, will there be problems with parking space in the valley?)

It was written on nps.gov that each campsite has a fire ring (in Wawona), and when we reserved the particular site it was written - fire pit. Does it mean the same? Or does it mean that we will have both a fire ring to make a fire in the evening and a fire pit to prepare bbq (sorry, we got confused with the terms ). :(

We used to go camping in Russia a lot, but everything is quite different here. So if you could give any other advice for first timers, we would appreciate it!
Thank you!

Re: Questions about Wawona

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:15 pm
by dan
There's a small market (about the size of a 7-11 or Circle K) in Wawona. There's another small market with more food items in the residential/cabin area northeast of the gas station/market/hotel/pioneer village area. Both have dairy.

About 15-30 minutes, there's a supermarket in Oakhurst.

I would drive to the valley. The shuttle only goes around in the valley. Take the shuttle in the Valley, but drive to the day use parking. There will be no problem with parking, except perhaps Memorial Day weekend and the afternoonds of some summer weekends.

A fire pit and fire ring are the same. It's a round iron cylinder buried in the ground with a grill on top (unless it's broken).

This website has photos of Yosemite Campgrounds, including Wawona:
http://yosemitecampsites.com/

Store your food in the bear lockers.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:38 pm
by Heybooboo
Good questions! I'll try to help, one at a time.

Food: Bring as much as you can from home or buy along the way. There is no market at Wawona, just a store with some snacks, and bare camping esentials, along with the plethera of gifts. The market in Yosemite Valley is loaded but pricey and of course, always crowded.

Shuttle to Valley: I've never taken the shuttle to the valley floor from Wawona but you could always try it the first day, then if that doesn't work, drive into the valley. If you plan to get into the Valley with your car and you get there by 10:00 am you'll have your choice of parking in the Curry lots or behind the market. After 10 am then the tourists from the bay area and elsewhere begin to arrive and then it becomes the proverbial zoo.

Fire rings: Most campsites have metal fire rings with a BBQ grate which flips over half of the ring for cooking whatever. Some sites might have the additional rock ring for a warming fire/marshmallow cooker. But to my knowledge all sites have the metal ring fire pit.

Check with the rangers at the entrance to find out if there will be star parties at Glacier Point during your stay. Star parties provided by local Astronomy clubs start providing GP star parties free to all starting in late June and run through Labor Day.

Good luck and have a great time.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:58 pm
by miriel
Great! Thank you so much for sharing the information!!!

Just one more thing, where is the wood for the campfire sold? Should we bring it with us or can we buy it at campground? Thanks!!!!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:42 am
by Heybooboo
I'm not sure if the campground hosts sell firewood. The Wawona store probably sells firewood. If you have the room, bring your own. You'll be glad you're camping in Wawona, some seasons the burning of wood in the valley is prohibited due to heat inversion creating smog from campfires.

Enjoy