Yosemite HouseKeeping Camp Tips

Booking and Tent Information
You can book Yosemite housekeeping camp via the below website.

https://www.travelyosemite.com/lodging/housekeeping-camp/
You may have to book months in advance or try every day for someone else to cancel it.

They provide only a simple bed(check video), and hence you need to bring your own bedsheet
and pillow(or rent it for 10$ from them).
You have to bring your own blanket or sleeping bag(no rental).

The food has to be put insider the storage provided for it, in front of each cabin.
There is enough space in bear-proof storage to bring 2  coolers.
There are lots of restroom near each cabin and tap water to wash your hands/utensil near each cabin.

At housekeeping camp, you can check-in at 4 pm (or arrive late night anytime), with the checkout
at 11 am.
You typically park your car in front of the cabin. Next day if you are going to curry village etc then
you can park at the front(or curry village) - and take the free bus across the street,  to your destination.

At the camp, you can do laundry and shower(with coupon) at certain times.

Each camp has a table outside, 2 electric slots and 1 light inside the room and 1 campfire.

You are allowed to bring your own barbecue and most folks attach their own Christmas type decoration
lights around their tent. There may be restrictions on using the only electric barbecue in morning/lunch.

Folks prefer to travel by bicycle in the camp, as the road is narrow and they tend to use headlight
with their bike.

Camp Fire

You should buy firewood in advance. For nonreusable firewood, the camp guys will ask you to shut it
down at 10 pm. For others, they may allow you to continue your fire, till it burns out. The officials try to
personally come to each tent around 10 pm and again around 11 pm.

Tubing

If you are not comfortable with swimming, bring a life jacket to do tubing, even though the water in
Merced river is low and cold.
If you have your own tube start near the pedestrian bridge in housekeeping camp near J50 cabin
and stop near the beach near D210 cabin and walk/bicycle back to do it again.
(or go to the end, near sentinel beach and arrange for
a pickup by bus/hike or your friend's car)

Alternatively, you can rent a tube at curry village where they have a schedule for tubing
like 10 am, 2 pm, etc. This tends to always get full unless you booked in advance.
They charge around 28$ per person and they start near the stone bridge at curry village
and they end near Sentinel beach for roughly 2-hour journey.

Bicycling

You can also bicycle near curry(half dome village) and go to mirror lake.
You can not bike all the way on the rental bike to mirror lake destination(ie you have to get down
and walk for 5 to 10 mins), but probably you can bike all the way with your own personal bike.

Hiking

 The mist trail to go to Vernal and Nevada falls is nice. It takes roughly 1 hour to hike to vernal and
another 1 hour for Nevada falls. You may take a bus from curry village to start of the trail to save time.

You can use the below useful map of Yosemite park and housekeeping camp.

MAPS

PACKING LIST for HouseKeeping Camp
(Courtesy Trip Advisor etc)

□ Food & Drinks 
□ Hammock (but get wooden cardboard to protect the trees from the ropes)
□ Snacks
(You can buy groceries at the general store which is, however expensive)
□ Ice Box(es) (Ice is sold at the general store for $4.50/bag)
□ Pots, Pans, Kitchen Knives & (BBQ) Utensils
□ Plates, Cups & Cutleries
□ Long Sticks for s'mores
□ Aluminum Foil
□ Plastic Wrap
□ Zip Locks/Sandwich Bags□ Paper Towels
□ Wet Towels/Baby Wipes
□ Lots of Drinking Water□ A container for a gallon of water
(to wash off your hands and feet at your tent without going back and forth to the bathroom.)
□ Trash bags
□ Electric Grills (if you'd like to cook for breakfast/lunch -- fire is allowed only between 5-10pm)□ Table Cloth
□ Sheet, Tarp, Large Clips 
(...if you'd like to make your tent more private -- there are 2 fence openings)
□ Fire Logs (You can purchase them at the general store for about $9 a box) or Charcoal□ Long reach lighter/Matches & Fire starter
□ Chairs
□ Padlocks (for two bear boxes)
□ Flashlights (to go to the bathroom at night)□ Pocket Knives
□ Christmas/Patio lights, lanterns or candles for extra lightings 
(There are only two lights at the property -- one in the tent, one in the patio.)
□ Extension Cords (There are three outlets available)□ Chargers for your cell phones/iPads (There is a Wi-Fi service available at Curry Village)
□ Sleeping Bags (Sheets & pillow rental available .)
□ Pillows (Pillow rental available )
□ Towels (to wipe your feet/body at the river-- there are no towels in the tent)
□ Laundry Detergent (Laundromat located next to the shower house)
□ Broom (to sweep the concrete floor)
□ Umbrella/Parasol/Easy-up (for the beach)
□ Bicycles
□ Rafts/Tubes (rental available at Curry Village)
 lifejacket
□ Swimsuits
□ Flip Flops (for beach & taking shower)
□ Personal items 
(clothes, under wears, pjs, light jackets, tooth brushes, facial cleanser, razor etc.)
□ Hair Dryer
□ Sun Screen
□ Camera
□ Hats & Sun Glasses
Toothbrush and paste
night pants
head hoodie/muffler(if cold)
Camping chair
Games
Insect Repellant