Guests of the mountain lodge are greeted by an impressive lobby with a soaring wood-beam ceiling that's in tune with the Native-American motif and chalet-style vibe. A towering stone fireplace looks out onto clusters of sofas, leather chairs and wood-accent furniture, with views of forest pines through a peaked-glass facade. The AAA-rated Four Diamond all-season resort sits near the south entrance to Yosemite National Park at an elevation north of 5,000 feet.
DINING at Tenaya's five restaurants is done under the guiding hand of Executive Chef Frederick Clabaugh, who specializes in “Sierra-Alpine” cuisine. Fine dining is found at Embers Restaurant, a candle-lit eatery with plush, high-backed chairs that's centered by a crackling, double-sided fireplace. A menu that's largely locally sourced includes starters like lobster bisque with a black truffle crust, sustainable-seafood entrees like the house specialty of cedar-planked salmon, and grass-fed beef from the Double R Ranch. Flames are likely for the finish. Table-side desserts are prepared with a corkscrew-spiraled orange peel getting set alight, causing the peel's embedded cloves to gleam like demonic eyes. Jackalope's Bar and Grill offers more casual dining with a menu that's big on salads, sandwiches and burgers – plus Tenaya's own brand of beer on tap. Chef Clabaugh teamed with local brewers to create South Gate Brewing Tenaya Red IPA. The lodge's Sierra Restaurant hosts a breakfast buffet and casual dinners.
ROOMS are open and modern, with mixes of fall colors and natural woods that steer somewhat to the Southwest in style – and windows that open to let in that mountain air you came to breathe! Lodge rooms and suites range from a Deluxe, with a pull-out sofa bed and a balcony or patio, a Junior Room with a generous seating area, Spa Suites with balconies and Jacuzzi tubs, and Deluxe Suites with separate bedrooms. Designated pet-friendly accommodations are available, with staff pet-sitters on duty. A short walk from the main lodge, a collection of cottages sits in relative seclusion among tall Incense Cedar and Sugar Pines. Rooms and suites at the cottages have living rooms, fireplaces and outdoor seating on balconies or patios. A pizzeria that fires brick-oven pies, as well as a small indoor pool, are tucked into the cottage community.
UNWINDING is done at the Ascent Spa, a modern 10,000-square-foot Zen-infused facility with steam rooms, dry saunas, a fitness center and 12 treatment rooms for aroma therapies and a full menu of massages. On the way to the main indoor pool, kids (and inner kids) are likely to notice an arcade with video games, pinball machines, a pool table and air hockey. An archery range with seasoned instructors is also found on the grounds, as well an an outdoor ice rink that sees skating and s'mores around a formidable fire pit during the winter months, when horse-drawn sleigh rides and guided snowshoe hikes depart from the lodge.
NEARBY lies the Badger Pass Ski Area, an old-school, family-friendly winter-sports spot that has slopes, a ski shop and a wide sundeck with Sierra views in an uncrowded atmosphere. 15 minutes from Tenaya, the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias boasts stands of the area's famed giants, surrounded by trails for hiking and biking. But of course a big draw is Yosemite and its iconic vistas like Half Dome's crest, which rises nearly 5,000 feet above the valley floor, the sheer granite face of El Capitan, and Yosemite Falls, North America's highest waterfall, plunging 2,425 feet, and immortalized through the lens of photographer Ansel Adams and the words of naturalist John Muir.
GETTING THERE. The lodge lies about three miles from Yosemite's southern Big Stump entrance, about 250 miles from San Francisco and 225 miles from Los Angeles.
Article written in conjunction with a sponsored media tour.
