Yosemite House 6 min to entrance Ultimate Privacy-14 Acres On route from SF

We had a great time in Yosemite by using this cabin. Note to future users, get up early and go in the summer. Be at the gate by 8am and you will have smooth sailing. This was a nice location for exploring Hetch-Hetchy, Tioga Pass area, and Yosemite Valley. The kitchen was well stocked, beds were clean, and the deck a great place to hang out in the evenings.

This property was a nice getaway. Very private location without being too far off the main road to get in. It was a nice drive into the Yosemite Valley from the property location, even with the roadwork they were performing it didn't take too long to get there. We expected more traffic during June when everyone's on vacation. The nearby resort rush creek excepts day use guests which we enjoyed an evening barbecue poolside and game room amenities for the evening. It was nice to drive back to our private home location without being there in a resort setting for the overnight accommodations. It was beautiful waking up in the morning with views of the meadow - very private. Our entire family enjoyed the experience of our stay!

Location:

Definitely a nice location if your main purpose there is to visit the Yosemite valley area, which is only about one hour away from this house (if you leave early).

Environment:

The ambience is quiet but not as pretty as I imagined, partly because it hasn't rained much and the grass are turning yellow. The road to the house is filled with large deep holes, which means a normal sedan is probably going to suffer a little when you drive up there, so be very careful and slow.

House:

The inside is really cozy with two beds in the attic and one bed in the bedroom. The sofa is not a sofa bed but can sleep a person, so it can accommodate at most 7 people but I highly recommend not going above 6 because the sofa is too soft and could give you a back pain.

Soundproofing is good if you sleep inside the bedroom (you can hardly hear a thing) but not so good if you are sleeping outside because the fridge sometimes makes noises, so please bring your earplug if you are a light sleeper.

Host:

Dan was very helpful throughout our entire stay. We had many questions to ask and he answered all of them. It is my first time using HomeAway so I'm not sure if it is the norm but usually I don't need to sign another contract after payment. Dan sent us the contract after noon on the day of our arrival, at which point we are already deep in the Yosemite area and not having internet connection. We managed to find the hotel Rush creek and used its wifi but it was overall an annoying experience. Hopefully, Dan can figure out a way to simplify this process but as the hostee, please ask him to send you the contract earlier so you can have sufficient time to prepare.

Conclusion:

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay but there were definitely places that can be improved.

While the location is the best feature of this property, the amenities were less than wonderful.

The images in the advertisement do not show the property as it is.

About 2/3 of the trees are dead or damaged. There are piles of dead wood on the property with one of them entangled in a blue tarp (not beautiful). I was a bit nervous to brave the deadwood over concern about wood ticks. "Dont be alarmed" was included in the final instructions to the site; this should have been in the advertisement as well as current photos showing the actual condition of the property.

The propane bbq was non functional but was not new information for the owner (allegedly the last tenants broke it) but because no fires were allowed anywhere on the property I was warned against bringing a briquet bbq. Only after I complained about the propane bbq and was cooking inside, did the owner offer a briquet bbq to use.

The television worked the first night there, but it looked like it was stopped due to non payment (not a big deal since we adapted but just an annoyance.) When I dialed the number on the instruction sheet I was sent, the operator said it was out of service.

I think that it is overpriced for the view and odd outages. The heat exchanger is actually a swamp cooler and provided just enough cooling in the mid 70 degree weather.

The owner did call the first night and i gave a positive response since I was just there and didn't experience the full features of this Secret Meadow.

Unfortunately I won't return to this site.

I have to say we were taken back to the 60s, and 70s... The cabin was interesting at best and location is the only reason they can get such a high rate. Outdated, dusty and sticky floors. We had high hopes for this cabin after reading the reviews but it wasn't at all what we expected. The property had a couple of fun outdoor amenities but they weren't useable, volley ball/ bat mitten areas the grass was knee deep & no equipment. The hot tub, 2 side panels were off and motor/ wiring were exposed so it looked like it was being worked on and the bottom was green- scretchy & dangerous. The lighting was very odd and dark- random switches all over the house and you have no clue what they go to and the lights that did work weren't very bright. ALL windows have to stay open- NO AC, common for the area. While we love sleeping with the windows open we weren't comfortable leaving them open while we were gone. So every night when we returned it was a pocess to get the house cool enough to sleep especially upstairs which was a hot box till 10-11. The frigerator door and front door don't shut properly. The frig door pops open constantly and isn't very cool. The basement wash room was flat out scary and gross. Burn holes in living room carpet and dead bugs on tables (didn't even look like it was cleaned from people before). We are totally fine with retro/ mismatched decor but bottom line the place wasn't kept up, cluttered and felt super over charged for what we got. Experienced world travelers and traveling with 6, 7 and 10 year old children hiked yosemiti daily.