Yosemite Lodge - ok with no A/C?
 

My wife and I will be in Yosemite 7/1/02 - 7/4/02. We had reservations in Currey Village in a canvas tent but I just found an opening at Yosemite Lodge for a standard room and jumped on it. My only concern is the lack of A/C at Yosemite Lodge... I know nights in the park are cool but even cool nights might be uncomfortable if the ventilation is bad. Does anyone have experience with staying in those rooms in July?<BR>Thanks in advance... John R.

John, July nights in the park are coolER, but not necessarily comfortable. You will probably be warm, no doubt about it. Ask the front desk to reserve a room fan for you, the numbers are limited so try to ask for one in advance. <BR><BR>

Just checked the weather report... it calls for highs in the low 70's and lows in the upper 40's. I guess we won't have to worry about the lack of A/C :-)

Wow--we're booked there for August and somehow we missed the fact of no A/C. Glad you posted the question--I'm going to call to reserve a room fan!

No A/C and no televisions in the room either, just FYI. It's a national park after all. If you want to see a giant power plant in the middle of Yosemite Valley to power all of our modern conveniences, then you might as well stay home because you don't know what a park experience is supposed to be.

John...I also am glad you posted this question about A/C. We will be there in the middle of July,so let's hope the high 70's holds till then.<BR><BR>We are making the trip on Amtrak from our home state and back. We are hoping that Amtrak gets the help it needs.<BR><BR>We have the trip insured, so we shouldn't have a problem getting our money back if Amtrak shuts down.<BR><BR>Sheila<BR><BR>

I've been doing some reading and it seems as if some rooms at the Lodge might actually have A/C. I guess you can check with the reservations folks for sure. In any case, even with a hot day the night temps are going to get into the 60s or lower so a fan should be fine. Yesterday's weather report showed the humidity in Yosemite at 16%... that should mitigate the effects of any heat you find. It sure is a far cry from the 94% humidity we had in the DC area yesterday :-)

Weather.com is screwed up... everyone else is predicting 80s and 90s. Looks like I'll need that fan after all.

John,<BR>The lodge is surrounded by trees and mountains, and you tend to get decent ventilation, even when the sun is beating down. I doubt you will need a fan. If you feel warm, they have a great swimming pool that will cool you off. But you shouldn't be concerned about it, especially at that time of the year. Have a great time!

OK Everybody - IF you are the type of traveler who needs A/C etc. you should go to LA or Las Vegas and leave Yosemite to the people who can appreciate it.<BR><BR>My God, most Yosemite visitors sleep in tent cabins or in tents in camp grounds. A nice room in Yosemite Lodge will be 100x more comfortable than that. <BR><BR>Relax. It is NOT HOT at night in Yosemite Valley which is the only time you will be in the room. The floor of the valley is right around 4000 feet elev. and it cools way down after dark.

Tom - You started off really obnoxiously and then you got some good info in there. Look, I've never been to Yosemite and I don't know what conditions are like there at night. For my money a hotel type room with poor ventilation and no A/C would be much worse than a tent with decent ventilation would be... hence my question. Is it so unreasonable to inquire about something like this? Why the negative attitude? Your last paragraph was very helpful info however so thanks after all.<BR><BR>Sounds like the consensus is the lack of A/C at Yosemite Lodge should not be a problem. That is probably why they haven't bothered to put any in, I guess. Thanks for everyone's advice.

The lack of AC at the lodge shouldn't be a problem at all. If you need extra ventilation, just open a window. <BR><BR>As for Curry Villiage tent cabins, you are fortunate to get another reservation. On the web site Curry Village looks great, but in reality, the cabins are very small and close together. There is literally 2-3 feet between cabins, and the storage lockers for food and toiletries are quite a distance from man of the cabins. Curry Village looks like an Army base camp. Not exactly my idea of a relaxing vacation experience. The housekeeping cabins are much better for the tent cabin experience.

John: A better question might be what kind of accomodations you want, rather than the A/C. As some have mentioned, Curry Village tent cabins are close together, small and you will share a community bath - I spent many summers there and in the camp ground. Great when you're 8 years old, but I'd probably vote for the Yosemite Lodge - basically looks like a Motel. Great thing about the Lodge, is it's by Yosemite Falls and if the water is still decent you can hear the falls at night. Re: the weather, can be warm to hot in the day, but should cool down in the evening. Wherever you stay, Yosemite is an amazing place.

I just returned from a 3 night stay at Yosemite Lodge. High Temps were in the upper 80's and the lack of AC was not a problem because of the ceiling fan, window ventiliation and the tree coverage. Next to the Awahnee(too expensive for me) it was the best place to stay and I was thrilled to snag a room. But, what I found to be a problem was people who were outside until midnight that kept me awake. The Lodge was good about sending security down as they have a 10:00pm noise limit. But it amazed me that I could spend 3 days in San Francisco and not hear a pin drop at night and then have to put up with noise and the smell of smoke from a cigarette floating into my room. Go figure?

I'm interested in staying at Yosemite Lodge at end of Aug. Can someone give me the website for it or is there an 800 number. It seems I would have to try many times to get an opening. Thanks.

Linda: Do you mean the end of August THIS YEAR? If so you will be out of luck. June thru Labor Day Yosemite Lodge, the Ahwahnee, Camp Curry and everything else gets booked up months in advance.

Actually xxx Linda can find some availability for her nights. I've been able to do this as well. Both the Ahwahnee and tent cabins in the valley have rooms and lodges in El Portal, Wawona and Tenaya Lodge have rooms available. The Yosemite lodge does not but they are a bit harder to get.

Just to let everyone know... our stay at Yosemite Lodge was fine. The first night we were there was July 1st and it was 97 degrees that day. The room was very hot so I sent out for a fan. They brought one up within 10 min and then we immediatly found two more in the closet. We made it through the night with three fans but it was still hot. The next two nights were much cooler so it wasn't really an issue. <BR>I posted a trip report about a week ago if anyone is interested in the details.<BR>-John R.

I was able to get last minute reservations inside the park in June. There were lots of options available when I checked within one week of my travel dates (the cancellation policy for in park accomodations is 72 hours) - everything from tent cabins to the Ahwahnee. So keep checking the yosemitepark.com site for cancellations.