I love visiting Yosemite. So many beautiful trees and waterfalls. There are also some historical buildings. One ancient building is the Post Office. Built in 1925 there is a historical feeling. I ventured inside and sent off a card to my pen pal in Germany Karen. It's the most interesting spot I sent a postmark from. Postal worker was very friendly and told me how old the building was. The first Post Office I ever visited was in downtown San Diego. I was amazed you could put envelopes in the slot and it would go to the address on the envelope. The E St Post Office was built in 1937 so it was a youngster compared to Yosemite's. read more

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Goodbye. It seemed like such a permanent, concrete word and for just a moment, it jumped off the linen stationery and into Daisy Degnan's mind. It rattled and echoed for only a moment before she let it form in her throat and roll off of her tongue. "Goodbye," she whispered. No one there at the Yosemite Post Office heard her say it, but saying it out loud made it real; the act of saying it out loud somehow made it less scary. She closed box number 321, and still clutching the letter, made her way outside. She turned too quickly in her plain, navy blue dress and looked down to watch the flour shake free from the pleats, dissipating into the breeze of Yosemite Valley. She watched as long as she could, until each little particle disappeared, floating upwards to El Capitan, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls -- standing outside the post office she could see them all towering around her. They were old friends. Protectors since birth. Why had she ever left this place? "Miss Daisy Degnan left Yosemite Valley Thursday for an indefinite visit in San Francisco," the newspaper had said. She had memorized it, not because she was particularly fond of the Mariposa Gazette, but because it was all she had ever wanted and it was the fulfillment of that dream; the black-and-white embodiment of her desire to get out of her mother's bakery, and out of the Valley, and go to the city where there were automobiles, dress shops, and even an honest-to-goodness French baker making real baguettes. So, against her mother's wishes she had packed her canvas backpack and taken a ride all the way down the bumping roads to the train station and purchased a ticket to San Francisco. A loud crack suddenly broke her gaze and she looked back towards the post office. It was just the door slamming into its frame; although the post office was still new, the door spring had already malfunctioned and there was no easing it back after it opened. Every time someone went in and out, the door would slam against its frame before slowly sliding back into place. It was 1925 and they could make automobiles that drove all the way from the city to her Valley, but they still couldn't make a door that didn't slam like that? Her mother would be needing her soon in the bakery. She had loathed those peasant loaves as a young woman, and had wanted so badly to try one of the city's proper loaves when she arrived. But when she finally found the Parisian baker and tried his baguette, her heart sank. She found herself longing for the family recipe; Yosemite imparted some kind of magic into each round boule, and she missed it. That was the first time she wondered if she had make a mistake. Before making her way back to her mother's side to help with the next batch of dough, she needed to go see The Old Man. She promised it would be a quick visit, but she also knew that with him, there was no such thing. She followed the road, crossed over the bridge, and headed back down underneath the stones to his shores. "Old man," she said to the river, "he said goodbye. I mean, I didn't want him to. I wanted him to come to me, and for us to live all those dreams we had..." she trailed off. The Old Man quietly took all this information in. This particular stretch of emerald pools was her favorite, because more than riffles, falls, or rapids, the pools of the Merced always listened, but today the muted gurgles urged her to say even more. "Please don't make me say it," she pleaded. She didn't want to say the thing. The true thing; that thing that neither time, nor distance, nor any goodbye letter would ever change. But already she knew she would have to say it. That urge to speak truth was strong; It was the same feeling she had when she finally admitted that leaving the valley had been a mistake. It was the kind of truth that flowed even stronger and swifter than the Old Man and had to be said out loud because keeping it in would eventually shake down the very walls of this valley. She sighed, drew in a breath, and spoke her truth: "I love him. I will always love him. And he didn't choose me." She unfolded the letter and looked one last time at the angle and curve of his initials, and then closed her eyes and released the letter, with its hopes, and dreams, but also with its burdens it to the river. It slowly circled the eddies, and once saturated the cool waters of the Merced carried it out from the grass, over the rocks, and out of her sight. "Goodbye," she whispered, and turned back to the trees of Yosemite Valley where the sun was shining once again. **Author's note: Daisy Degnan is a real person, as cited in the newspaper snippet. Her mother Bridget, ran the bakery in the early 1900s and there's even a cafe called Degnan's Kitchen in Yosemite still today. The rest is fiction, but The Post Office is my favorite place in Yosemite and this is the only way I know how to paint a picture of how I feel every time I go in there. read more

US Post Office - My favorite indoor place in the valley. Such a lovely old fashioned way to say, "Hello. I'm thinking of you." - Post Offices Near Me - Yosemite National Park, California

Gentleman who helped us was knowledgeable and friendly. I also appreciated that he was quiet and spoke in a low volume because it made the historic post office feel even more special like a library. The antique post office boxes are pretty cool. We bought National Park forever stamps here as a gift since the person we were buying for is not one to wear tee shirts or hats. She absolutely loved the stamps because they are photographs and paintings of multiple national parks and the print in the middle is of an old Yosemite stamp! She plans to use most of the stamps for greeting cards that she mails to friends and family and then save one sheet as a commemorative of our trip. We loved the recycle bin for junk mail. What a great idea! Wish we had one of these by the mailboxes where we live as our neighbors tend to fill the community dumpsters and this would help them do the right thing and make it easy and convenient to recycle. read more

US Post Office - Post Offices Near Me - Yosemite National Park, California

There are 3 post-offices in Yosemite National Park. One is next to the Ahwahnee Hotel and this one is in a cabin close to the Yosemite Lodge reservation. I still send postcards during my travels to a couple of friends and I have a collection of postcards I've received from them over the years, from all over the world. I thought it would be so hard to find a post office in a national park but after walking out of our room I spotted this tiny cabin post office. It was initially closed when I strolled over to look in the early evening hours. Inside, they have a glass enclosure with various sized postcards and stamp rates of what it would cost to mail continentally and internationally. There are PO boxes inside and it's quite small, has a claustrophobic feel to it. After making my postcard purchases, I returned the next day to send them off. The postal worker had a bad case of laryngitis but gave me my stamps, (28 cents to mail in the U.S. for a standard 3x5 postcard, by the way) and put his hand out to accept the card after I attached the stamp. What a nice guy. He's like a stamp in the box and was probably so happy to have a close encounter with a human being! read more

There's actually another post office in Yosemite the previous reviewer forgot, the one in Tuolumne Meadows. But this is the main one. It's where alot of the employees have their PO Boxes and stuff. The one bummer is this branch along with alot if not all I've been to recently took out their automated vending machines. Which sucks if your there on a weekend or holiday and need stamps since the stores don't carry stamps. Weird considering the amount of post cards for sale in Yosemite. read more

US Post Office - Hours - Post Offices Near Me - Yosemite National Park, California

As a park employee who works late Wed-Fri, I'm disappointed in the Yosemite Village Post Office, trying to strong arm employees into buying a PO Box by no longer checking General Delivery on Saturdays. The office was empty, and it would've taken the employee less time to check my mail than to explain to me that they didn't check General Delivery on Saturdays. I will no longer ship or choose USPS to receive packages when I have a choice. read more

I'm a John Muir Trail hiker and I had some questions about general delivery and the opening of the Tuolumne post office (opening late season because of road closure due to winter snow). So I called the Yosemite Valley post office and was greeted by John. He was very friendly and answered every question. Additionally, he gave me some tips to ensure that my resupply package will be waiting for me at Tuolumne. This gentlemen was courteous and highly informative. Our conversation has greatly reduced my anxiety about getting my supplies for the 230 mile trek. read more

John is very friendly, knowledgeable, and quite an asset to this post office. He knows what he's talking about and very service oriented. I don't write reviews very often, but this guy deserves kudos. read more