Whether this is your first or your fiftieth visit to Yosemite, we hope you have a fantastic time! We also hope you enjoy your time at our home. Here is some information that we hope will be helpful during your stay (as well as some emergency information, which we hope will not be needed).
Internet
- Network: alpine7193
- Password: 2093724918 (that’s also the phone number of your phone in the rental)
This is slow, mountain internet. See below for info.
Contents
- Check-In
- Check-Out
- Important Phone Numbers
- Quiet Hours
- Phone – Long Distance Calling
- Television and DVDs
- Heating and Cooling and Solar Electric
- Solar Electric
- About the Internet
- Bear Safety – Help Save Our Bears
- Trash and Recycling
- Recycle Smart
- Appliances with Personality
- Dishwasher
- Garbage Disposal
- Gas Grill
- Water Conservation
- Neighborhood (and beyond) Walks and Runs
Check-In
Relax, unwind and make yourself at home. But before you get too comfy, we ask two simple things
- Remove all food from your car. This is the best way to keep our bears safe.
- If you have questions and we are not there to greet you when you arrive, please call us at (209) 379-4127 (that’s just 379.4127 if using the house phone) and let us know you’ve arrived safely so we won’t worry.
- If everything is fine and you would rather just settle in without being disturbed (or it’s late and you’re afraid to disturb us), please call 379-5242. That number goes straight to voicemail.
- If you have an issue and need help, please see the “Important Phone Numbers” page for emergency contact for us and our property manager.
Check-Out
You’re on vacation. We don’t expect you to clean the house, but we do have a few requests that will make it a lot easier for us to get the house clean for the next guest.
We do ask that you try to leave things basically neat. Don’t worry about wiping down counters or stripping bedding, but please do not leave pots and pans with leftover food or anything like that. Otherwise:
- We must wash everything, whether used or not. You can optionally throw a load of towels in the wash, but please do not remove them from the dryer. If you fold them and put them on the shelf, we simply have to wash them over again.
- If you have a full or mostly full load, please run the dishwasher before you go. This is a bit finicky. With the door open, push “Normal” (lights up), then push “Start” (no light) and close the door. If it doesn’t start, don’t worry about it. Use only the powdered soap under the sink in the dishwasher. The liquid soap is for hand washing dishes.
- Leave us a note (either on paper or send us an email) if anything is broken or needs special attention or if you have suggestions.
Have a fun last day in Yosemite and a safe trip to your next destination!
Important Phone Numbers
Major Emergency – Dial 911
In event of a true emergency where you need paramedics, firefighters or police, dial 911 to be connected with emergency services.
Minor Emergency or Other Problem
If it’s not serious or life-threatening, call us at the following numbers in this order (all in the 209 area code)
(209) 379-4127 — this is our main number and the best bet. \ (209) 262-8425 — Theresa’s cell phone \ (559) 580-4198 – If you can’t reach us, Josh at Wild West Property Management is available to help out.
Your Number In Yosemite
(209) 372-4918 — Although there is spotty Verizon service, your cell phone is unlikely to work well in our neighborhood, so if you need someone to contact you here, please feel free to use the house phone number.
Roads and Weather
(209) 372-0200 — NPS provides recorded information about the Park. If you press 1, you can access current road and weather condition information. We use this number all the time.
Dining, activities, hotels
(209) 372-1001 — The switchboard for the Yosemite concessioner, Yosemite Hospitality, can help you call any of the hotels, dining areas, or activities centers inside the Park.
Quiet Hours
Neighborhood quiet hours are from 10pm until 8am. This is typically not a problem with our guests, but if the people around us are keeping you up, here are a few numbers you can try.
The log house to the bedroom-side of the house is managed by Scenic Wonders. If you have any issues, you can call the management there at +1 (209) 372-4945 (just 379-4945 on the house phone) and ask for help with the Tioga Logs house.
If the home on the living-room side is causing a problem, call Yosemite Vacation Homes at 1-559-683-2444 and ask them for help with the Brookside house.
If WE are disturbing you, call us and tell us to simmer down!
Phone – Long Distance Calling
Remember, your number here is (209) 372-4918. You are welcome to give out this number, but please let people know your departure date. Also, since there is no voicemail, it is best to give our number out as a backup emergency number so we can get messages to you if need be. Our best number is (209) 379-4127.
Wifi Calling
Most people these days prefer to just enable wifi calling on their phones.
Calling Out
- Local Calls: If you’re calling any Yosemite number or any number with a 209 area code, just dial the last seven digits. There is no charge for local calls.
- Long Distance Calls: To dial long distance within the US or Canada, simply dial 1 + the full ten-digit number. To call internationally, dial 011 + country code + number.
We have no blocks on our phone. If you need to make a call, just make the call. If the charges are substantial, we’ll follow up with you with a bill. In general, there are no charges for the continental US, but there are charges for Alaska, Hawaii and international calling. If you want to know before you call, you can look up international rates.
Television and DVDs
The television is only connected to the DVD player. It also has an extra HDMI connection on the side toward the kitchen (there is a small door in the side), so you can hook up your computer. We do not have any broadcast signal at the house.
Power Outages and Electrical Problems
We have relatively frequent power outages in the mountains, especially during winter storms. There is a box in the entryway closet that has flashlights and LED lanterns. Please do NOT remove these from the house under any circumstances. If you do so, the next person to experience a power outage will be stuck in the dark, which could endanger their safety.
We use an old-fashioned corded phone so that it works in power outages. You can call PG&E for a status update at 1-800-743-5000.
If just one circuit is out or you otherwise need to access the circuit breakers, the breaker panel is next to the laundry.
Heating and Cooling and Solar Electric
Heating
There are two heat sources:
- The main forced-air heater (thermostat on the interior wall on the left)
- The gas fireplace (thermostat on the right).
The gas fireplace is intended to provide pleasant ambiance on movie night and a backup heat source. It will not heat the bathroom or the bedroom effectively. It is also significantly less fuel-efficient than the main heater.
Please don’t waste fuel – run the fireplace only when you are there to enjoy it – and close the door behind you even while loading and unloading the car.
Cooling
Most of the year, the best way to cool the house is to open the windows in the evening, perhaps with assistance from a fan (in entryway closet). No, the bears will not eat you. On hot nights or if the neighbors are making noise, the A/C should keep the house cool and let you shut the windows.
However, we prefer that our guests keep the windows closed while they are away so bears don’t come in (yes, it happens). That also helps keep the house cooler. Please turn the A/C down (warmer) or off while you are out.
The thermostat controller for the mini-split AC is between the entry door and the kitchen counter. It is line-of-sight, so you must remove it from the cradle and point it at the A/C unit. It will beep and flash if it has received the signal for your new setting. Please turn the A/C down when you leave for the day to save energy.
Solar Electric
As stewards of this national park and World Heritage Site, we feel it is our duty to do what we can to protect it. Therefore, we have signed up for a program where we pay an extra 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour in order to have 100% utility-sourced solar electric. Of course, the actual electricity at any given moment is not necessarily from a solar facility. In essence we’re paying for a solar capacity equivalent to our usage and during the day the extra goes to fossil-fuel customers and at night, we buy their extra. By participating in Solar Choice, we effectively require PG&E to exceed mandated levels for renewables. If you are a PG&E customer, please look into the Solar Choice program. Signup only takes about 10 minutes and adds only $15-$20/month to our bill.
About the Internet
We have the best internet that you can get in this area. It’s shockingly expensive ($363/month) and still terribly slow – for those of you who know numbers, 1.5 Mbps. For those of you that don’t know numbers, this is significantly slower than the slowest plan offered by an urban provider.
It’s perfectly adequate for checking email and has no quota. If you want to stream video, upload or download something big (pictures) it might take a lot longer than you’re used to, but we can’t do anything about that until Elon Musk launches Starlink to the public. The one thing that almost certainly will not work is streaming a live broadcast sporting event (but you can try).
Bear Safety – Help Save Our Bears
Bears are active in and around our neighborhood. These beautiful and intelligent animals are normally shy and rarely pose any threat to us directly. However, if they become habituated to getting human food from us, they can do a lot of damage. When that happens, authorities have no choice but to come out and kill the bears, and that makes us really sad. So please help us protect the bears and other wildlife.
Take All Food & Scented Items Out of Your Car
Bears who learn to get food rewards out of cars quickly learn how to stage car break-ins by folding down the top of the car door like opening a can of sardines. This is thousands of dollars of damage to the car, a fine of illegal food storage and in the long run the death of the bear.
Keep House and Car Doors Closed Even When Loading/Unloading The Car
If you leave the house doors or car doors open while running loads back and forth, bears don’t even have to break in to get food. Bears can be very stealthy and quick to dart in and grab an unguarded bag of groceries. Imagine unloading a car full of electronics on a busy city street. You might not need to lock the door between loads because most bears haven’t learned how to open car doors yet (though some have), but it’s the same idea. Close the doors/trunk between loads unless you’re sure there is no food in the car (and close the house door in all cases).
Clean the Grill After Use
To keep from attracting bears who will destroy our grill and probably get into more trouble later, when done cooking, turn the grill on high and let it run for 5-10 minutes to burn off the grease. If there’s grease in the grease pot, please scrape that off into the garbage (not garbage disposal).
Trash and Recycling
Garbage — Please Help, & Save another Bear
There is no community garbage collection in our area, so trash is hard and relatively expensive to dispose of. Please help us out with the following:
- Crush large items – boxes, containers or anything bulky that can’t be recycled.
- Rinse out items that can be recycled (see below) and leave them in the recycle bin.
- Do not leave trash outside, even briefly. You’d be surprised at how fast animals find it and spread it everywhere.
- If you fill a garbage bag and need to dispose of it mid-stay, we actually prefer to handle your trash for you. Just give us a call or an email and either we or the person who watches our place in our absence will take your trash for you. But if you want to get it out of the house, please put it in the blue lockbox in the backyard. Make sure to return both carabiner clips.
Recycle Smart
If you follow the news, you know that China quit accepting our garbage (aka recycling) and now there is basically no market for any clamshell plastic. Mostly there is no market for plastic other than #1 and #2 plastic bottles. That does not include #1 clamshells — almost nowhere in the United States recycles those (only 316 out 367 recycling facilities process plastic clamshells, while the rest send them to the landfill). Much of the plastic we’ve been “recycling” all these years is now part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it was actually dumped near rivers that carried it to the sea.
Please avoid “wishcycling” here and at home. Non-recyclables in a load can contaminate the whole load. Yes, it feels wonderful and virtuous to put something in the recycle bin rather than the trash, but in the case of most plastics, the result is the same. If you are not sure something is recyclable, it is better to put it in the garbage (not just here, but at home too).
- Plastic – clean, #1 and #2 plastic bottles and #5 tubs
- #1 and #2 plastic bottles are the only plastics regularly recycled in America. There is a growing market for #5 tubs though, so it’s worth putting those in recycling. #1 and #2 in non-bottle forms (clamshells, cups, etc) and almost all plastics numbered 3, 4, 6 and 7 are probably landfilled, though they are accepted. Even #1 bottles will be landfilled in most places if they have a “full-body wrap” label (i.e. a sleeve of some sort).
- No food-contaminated plastics.
- No plastic bags or plastic wrap
- Cardboard and Paper – No waxed drink cartons, paper drinking cups, Tetra packs, greasy pizza boxes.
- Glass food and drink jars/bottles only. Drinking glasses or window glass will render the load non-recyclable.
- No batteries or “sharps” in recycling or trash. California state law prohibits discarding batteries or “sharps” in the trash or regular recycling. Please just leave them on the counter and we will see them to their proper destination.
Appliances with Personality
Dishwasher
Our dishwasher works well, but is a bit finicky to get started. With the door open, press “Normal” (light comes on), then press “Start” (no light), then close the door and it should start.
Use only the powdered soap or tablet. Using liquid soap in the dishwasher will at best damage the dishwasher, but at worst lead to an overflow and destroy our floors (it has happened, but the guest fortunately called us right away and we saved the floors).
Garbage Disposal
Over the years we’ve found all kinds of crazy things clogging and overwhelming our garbage disposal – from pine cones, to corn husks to huge amounts of pasta. Please generally put things in the trash and use the garbage disposal for that waste that escapes your vigilance. And please, please, no corn husks or pine cones.
Gas Grill
The gas grill is pretty simple and should not need matches. You may need to turn the valve on the tank. Otherwise, just turn the knobs to the “light” position and push the button in the middle. It should make a loud ding and light automatically. Failing that, there should be a long lighter in the kitchen drawer.
After you’re done grilling, please let it run for a couple of minutes to burn off the extra grease so it doesn’t attract bears. Our nice big grill met an untimely end when a bear came sniffing around.
Water Conservation
If you’re here in the spring when the falls are rushing, the available water might seem limitless. It is not. Water is a precious resource here. More importantly, wastewater disposal (i.e. sewage treatment) is a very precious resource. Our plant often runs at, and sometimes beyond, the capacity permitted by the state.
Please take sensible measures to help keep our water and sewer systems running in this challenging and fragile environment.
- Don’t let water run while brushing teeth, hand washing dishes, etc
- Only wash full loads in the laundry if at all possible.
Neighborhood (and beyond) Walks and Runs
If you’re looking for a good quick run in the morning, there are some excellent options in and around the neighborhood. These are also good walking trails. You can find more at http://YosemiteHikes.com
Fire Lookout – a nice local sunset spot.
As you head out of the neighborhood, when you get to the mailbox shed, instead of going left to the highway, take a right turn up Henness Circle. When you get to the T intersection, take a left and follow the circle around to Azalea Lane and park to one side. Follow the fire road to the right (uphill). Make a note of the intersection — one guest missed the turn in the dark and continued to follow the road downhill. If you miss that turn and stay to the right, you could be in for a 10-mile walk.
After a bit more than a half mile (roughly 1km), you’ll come to a three-story fire lookout. In the clearest of weather, you can actually see the mountains of the San Francisco area (very rare though) and because of the clearing, this is one of the best places around to look at the night sky. This is a good, kid-friendly evening walk.
Deer Camp Trail – one of the flattest trails in Yosemite for running.
As you leave the neighborhood, take a right on Hwy 41 and take an immediate left into a dirt pullout in about 100 feet. As a former logging railroad (this whole area was clear cut in the 1920s and 30s), this trail is one of the flattest trails in Yosemite. It has almost no elevation gain for the first seven miles, and provides a nice run for those who don’t want to run hills. The trail winds through the forest, and has a few nice views to the south. It is not a super-scenic trail by Yosemite standards, but we like it for the days when we just don’t feel like running hills.
Chinquapin to Badger – a favorite near-by run. Steeper than Deer Camp Trail.
Leave the neighborhood, turn left, and park at the white building (bathrooms) at the intersection with Glacier Point Road. Behind the power transformer next to the bathrooms, find a trail that climbs very steeply for about 200 feet. Turn right on the main trail. This trail climbs about 1200 feet in 2.5 miles and ends at the Badger Pass ski area. If you want to run further, you can follow the maintenance road to the top of Badger. This trail has no scenic vistas, but has some amazing wildflowers if you hit it right.
Beyond the Neighborhood
There are so many choices with 800 miles of trail in Yosemite, but a few classics are
- Sentinel Dome. About 12 miles up Glacier Point Road, park at the bathrooms and hike 1.1 miles to the summit of Sentinel Dome for the most accessible 360-degree view in the park. You can also combine this with Taft Point for a 4.7-mile loop.
- Mist Trail (Shuttle stop #16 in Yosemite Valley). Water here runs all year, even in a drought. It’s steep, but the waterfalls are close enough to get you wet during high flow (thus the name). A short section is closed in winter, but there is an alternate (longer) route. As a result of Coronavirus precautions, the trail is now one-way from 9am to 4pm, so that essentially means you take the summer route up and the longer winter route down.
- Dewey Point off Glacier Point Road. This is 7.8 miles of rolling terrain to a truly spectacular viewpoint.