Wawona, CA

Wawona is a census-designated place in Mariposa County, entirely within Yosemite National Park. The 2020 census counted 111 residents, though rental cabins make the population shift sharply with the seasons. The community sits in a mid-elevation basin along the South Fork of the Merced River, about twenty miles north of Oakhurst and twenty-six miles south of Yosemite Valley. Wawona Road, the park continuation of Highway 41, makes it the southern route into Yosemite, and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias lies nearby.

ATTRGuywelch2000 / CC BY 4.0

Wawona predates the park and grew as a travel settlement. Galen Clark's Clark's Station became the Wawona Hotel, while the Wawona Covered Bridge and the Yosemite History Center preserve the era of stages, blacksmiths, ranchers, and early park administration. The History Center's buildings were moved from other parts of Yosemite in the 1950s and 1960s, creating a concentrated record of how the park was built and reached. Wawona combines a small residential community with park lodging, road crews, seasonal visitor work, and a historic gateway to the grove and the southern Yosemite wilderness.