Only a 2 hour drive from Modesto, is Yosemite National Park! When we went, we had to make reservations online which was simple and in the end, it limited how many people were in the park. There also were no shuttles running and from what I've read, it sounds like when the park does not require reservations, the shuttle is the easiest way to get around. Everyone warned us that there were going to be a lot of people, but we had no issues with that! We also went during the week which helped.
We wanted to camp, but we found out that camping in Yosemite is something you have to book almost a year in advance. Also... Yosemite is HUGE. We were thinking of camping near the Tioga Pass Entrance (the east side of the park) until we realized that we were entering at the Big Oak Flat Entrance (the west side of the park), making the campsites almost an hour drive from the hikes we planned to do. So, unfortunately we had to settle for a hotel near the Big Oak Flat Entrance. Once you enter the park, it is about a 20-30 minute drive to almost any hike. That is something you have to plan for if you are planning to do a long day hike.
We arrived to the park around 3pm and took our time driving up to Glacier Point.
A great place to stop is Tunnel View. You have amazing views of the valley and are able to see how big these mountains are.
On the way to Glacier Point there are a few places to pull off and look into the valley. The road is narrow and has lots of turns so be prepared. It also takes about 45 minutes to get to Glacier Point from the Big Oak Flat Entrance.
Once at Glacier Point, we were able to enjoy the views of the sunset. You can see Half Dome here, which is a great hike. The hike goes up the curved side and you have to get a permit to hike it. When we went, the ropes were down so the hike was not accessible. What is crazier is that people have rock climbed this on the flat side! Some without ropes or any gear! Well... I'll get to more of the rock climbing later. For now, here are the views!
The next day was our big day of hiking since we only had 1 full day in the park, we decided to do lots of small hikes so we could explore various things rather than do one long hike. We headed in and took our time heading to Lower Yosemite Falls.
Lower Yosemite Falls is about a 0.5 mile hike and very easy. While hiking we saw some deer relaxing near the trail. Just as a heads up, during the fall, the waterfalls are not as beautiful as we were imagining...but we still enjoyed it!
Yes... the pile of rocks is a roaring waterfall during the spring! It was completely dry when we went though! Here's a picture from Google of Lower Yosemite Falls when there is water.
Just a little different I'd say...
Following this, we headed to Vernal Falls. Once at Vernal Falls you can hike to Nevada falls, which would turn a 2 mile hike to 7 miles. Our plan was to only do Vernal falls, but Nevada falls was also closed when we went due to maintenance. The hike to Vernal Falls is all paved, but do not let that fool you. It does climb elevation pretty quickly! Where we had to end our hike, you could hardly see the falls, but it was fun!
We then headed over to Mirror Lake, but first we enjoyed this little creek (a river during the spring).
While hiking over to Mirror Lake, we encountered more deer!
Like I said earlier, things are much drier in the fall... So here is us hanging out in the bed of Mirror Lake.
Here is Mirror Lake with water, Google photo.
Isn't it crazy how different Yosemite is depending on the time of year?
The hike back was very pretty with all the trees and changing leaves. Next we headed to the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center to look at souvenirs and food. Then we took our food to a little picnic area in the valley.
Our plan was to head up to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point, but we stopped on the side of the road to look at the landscape around us...
About 10 people were staring at this...
Aaron said to me, "Do you think people climb that?". I said, "Probably, but that is crazy"...Then I shouted, "There is a person up there!!".
It is hard to see in the picture and even standing there it is very difficult to see the people climbing. We soon learned, this is El Capitan, one of the most popular rock formations to climb. It is 3,000 feet from base to summit, which is roughly 3 Empire State Buildings. When we were driving back after sunset the night prior, we saw lots of little lights on this rock face, which we learned were people sleeping. Yes. Sleeping. El Capitan is pretty unbelievable and pictures do not do a justice for what this really looks like. If you have time, check out Free Solo. It is about a man who climbed this free solo, meaning no gear...AT ALL. It is an eye opening, nauseating, calf clenching documentary of him doing this live on video and the history of this formation.
After watching people risk their lives on El Capitan, we pulled over to see this waterfall in the distance.
Sentinel Dome and Taft Point are just prior to Glacier Point. Again, it takes about 45 minutes to get up there so you have to manage your time wisely. Sentinel Dome is 2.2 miles round trip and some rate it as easy. It is not difficult, but the dome part of it is a rock face that you have to climb up and back down which is pretty steep. Once at the top you have a beautiful panoramic view of the valley with Half Dome too.
Aaron's knees really started to bother him by this point and thankfully Taft Point is a relatively flat easy hike. It is 2.2 miles as well, but much easier than Sentinel Dome I'd say.
I cannot imagine what Taft Point looks like when reservations are not mandatory... it was packed with people! We quickly learned that lots of people go here to get engagement or wedding photos. It was a little nerve wrecking watching them pose on the edge of these rocks with heels on. It also really took away the peaceful place it should be. Nonetheless, we enjoyed it!
By the end of the day, we did almost 20 miles of hiking! We went back to the hotel and ate our left over pizza from the night before.
The next day our plan was to check out Mariposa Grove. We stopped at Tunnel View for one last look at the valley.
To get to Mariposa Grove from the Big Oak Flat Entrance, you have to drive towards Glacier Point and instead of going left to Glacier Point you stay straight. Well, to our surprise they were working on the road that day and the road was closed! I wish we had known they were planning this construction since we would of planned our trip a little differently. We looked at the GPS and saw that the only other way was going to be another 2 hour drive. So unfortunately we did not get to see Mariposa Grove, but we are hopeful we will go back one day and see it!
We had such a fun time in Yosemite! Hopefully one day we can go back to camp in the park, see Mariposa Grove, hike Half Dome,...and climb El Capitan... Just kidding!
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