Yosemite National Park: Staying in Curry Village

While visiting the Yosemite National Park, we stayed in a heated tent cabin in Curry Village. We chose to stay in Curry Village because of its excellent location—right in the Yosemite Valley, with beautiful views and close to many trailheads.

A “heated tent cabin” is a tarp draped over a plywood room, built on an elevated wooden platform. Our cabin had electricity and came with two windows and an opening in the door, open to the outside but covered by a tarp. Being a “heated” tent cabin, the room also had a forced air heater.

Staying in this “heated tent cabin” in Curry Village felt similar to camping, but nicer. We had beds, pillows, sheets, blankets, and clean towels every day. Unfortunately, I am just not into camping all that much. So I found it somewhat difficult to climb from under my two blankets and a sleeping bag in the middle of the night, and then put on socks, pants, fleece, coat, hat, gloves and a head lamp—all for a trip to the communal bathroom.

Black bears live in Yosemite National Park. Their proximity and their excellent sense of smell require all tent cabin guests to store their food and toiletries in the “bear locker”, and one was stationed by every tent cabin. A “bear locker” is a metal box with a deeply set, covered latch that would be impossible for a bear to reach.

After spending the night inside the bear locker in the winter, some toiletries changed their consistency. Toothpaste, for example, became a bit difficult "to chew", and applying deodorant and lotion had a rather cooling effect on the body.

At first, we did not take the food storage rules all that seriously. While we locked up our peanut butter and jam, a granola bars and a bag of cookies remained in our packs overnight. Bad idea! Next day, we discovered that bear lockers do not only protect us from bears. A little mouse went through our backpacks and enjoyed a bit of granola and cookies. Certainly we never forgot to extract all edible items from our backpacks again.