Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite National Park - Vernal Falls

Throughout the years I have been to many of our National Parks. Here are pictures from my trip to Yosemite National Park. Yosemite ranks right up at the top with Glacier National Park as far as pure natural beauty but Yosemite is so much more crowded that it detracts a bit from the outdoors experience. The view in the picture at right is what awaits you as you pass through the first tunnel if you enter from the Big Oak Flat entrance coming from the west from the San Francisco bay area. It is like passing through a tunnel into another world.

We spent our first 2 nights in Crane Flats campground because all of the campgrounds in Yosemite Valley were already booked up months in advance. When our two nights were up there we were able to get a camp spot in a "walk-in" campground called Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley. That turned out to be an experience in itself. That campground is used by a lot of the rock climbers that are in the park to climb El Capitan, Half Dome, and all of the other climbing spots in the Park. Yosemite is know world wide for it's world class climbing. We ended up camping with climbers from Australia, Belgium, as well as North Carolina and California. The climbers are a unique and varied group of people. They are somewhat similar to the kayaking community but probably even more nomadic or gypsy in their lifestyles. It was an interesting experience.

The parking and traffice in Yosemite Valley was terrible and it was just the first week of June. It was compounded by the fact that many of the roads and campgrounds were torn up and under construction because of a flood that had gone through there in April. If you go there, and if you go to Yosemite, you must go into Yosemite Valley, find a parking spot and leave your car there for the day or your whole stay if you can and ride the free shuttle buses. Many of the most beautiful and photographed spots in Yosemite Park are in the valley or accessed from hiking trails that start in the valley. We hiked to Mirror Lake which is no longer a lake because it has filled in with silt, nevertheless it has great views of Half Dome. We also hiked to Vernal Falls, Bridalveil Falls, and of course the very short hike to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls. We also drove to Glacier Point where you have almost a 360 degree veiw of Yosemite Valley and the upper Merced River valley. The views from there are spectacular. There was also quite a bit of snow still along the drive to Glacier Point. The abundance of snow that fell in the Sierras the past winter was resulting in tremendous flows over the waterfalls but it also meant that the Tioga Road was still closed because it was still in the process of being plowed. We did get to go to see the giant sequoia trees in Mariposa Grove. They are huge and definitely a must see if you are going to go to Yosemite. Unlike Glacier National Park we did not see all that much wildlife. I guess they do have a lot of bears around but we only saw a couple as we were driving out of the park. There were also signs that warned that mountain lions had been seen around but we didn't see any of those either. Of course we saw plenty of deer, an abundance of blue jays, and of course a lot of squirrels and ground squirrels.
Well I am sure you are saying "enough already, lets see some pictures". So here are pictures from my trip. I hope you enjoy them and if you get a chance go to Yosemite National Park and experience it firsthand. Just be aware that it will not be a total wilderness experience if you only visit Yosemite Valley

Yosemite National Park Pictures

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