Wawona

The Wawona Hotel is a historic hotel located within Yosemite National Park. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. Wawona Hotel is one of the oldest mountain resort hotels in California. The hotel was built in 1879 to serve tourists visiting the Mariposa Grove. As tourism increased, so did the number of trails and hotels. The Wawona Hotel is still in use today and continues to be one of the.

At Wawona, 5.5 miles from the southern park entrance, the forest opens out to the grasslands of Wawona Meadow, along a tributary of the South Fork of the Merced River. In 1918 the northern third was made into a nine hole golf course (par 35) for guests at nearby Wawona Hotel but the rest remains untouched, and is circled by a level, 3.5 mile trail. Next to the hotel is a gas station, post office, shop and a side road to the cabins of south Wawona. A little further is another side road, to the main village of North Wawona, including a ranger station, private campground, the Pioneer Yosemite History Center, dozens of houses and a trailhead for the route to 240 foot Chilnualna Falls. The NPS Wawona campsite is a mile north along CA 41, on the west side of the highway next to the river. Like all the main campgrounds in Yosemite, advance reservations are always required and the campsite is usually full even early and late in the year. The road northwards passes a few trailheads before nearing Yosemite Valley at Chinquapin Junction, where a left turn leads to Glacier Point.