Park #5: Yosemite National Park
Our National Parks visits have slowed down now that summer has come and gone, but we are still at it! For our fifth park, we visited Yosemite National Park. In 2016, during their centennial year, the National Parks Service ran a, "Find your Park," campaign. While I have never met a National Park I did not like, Yosemite is the place where I feel most at home. Only a three hour drive from the Bay Area, we used to visit once each summer and winter while I was growing up. We have explored all over the Valley Floor and my Dad and I slowly checked off the day hikes marked "strenuous," in his Yosemite guide book. In fact, we did Half Dome 1.9 times (we could not ascend the cables during our first try due to an approaching storm).
Looking back, Yosemite is the place that fostered my love of the outdoors. One glimpse of waterfalls plummeting thousands of feet to the cedar and pine studded valley floor, accented by a meandering river and wandering wildlife, and it is easy to see why Yosemite has found a special place in so many hearts. If you have not visited the park, put it on your to-do list. Try and visit in the spring and you will be treated to blooming wildflowers, plentiful animal sightings, and waterfalls flowing at full force.
Given the cold November weather, we did not camp on this trip and, instead, opted for a cabin at Half Dome Village. Side note, the concessionaire for the park changed in March 2016 (NPR article here). Due to trademark issues, all of the iconic names most of us grew up with were changed. Half Dome Village will forever be referred to as Curry Village in our family, but, for sake of clarity, I will refer to everything by their new names in this post (insert defeated sigh here).
The cabins are "rustic," at best. If you would like more traditional lodging, opt for the Yosemite Valley Lodge or get super swanky at the Majestic Yosemite (a.k.a. The Ahwahnee--sorry, couldn't stop myself). Which ever option you choose, make reservations early. Yosemite is the type of park where you will need to adhere to the "one year and a day," advance reservation rule to find lodging during peak travel times (camping reservation link/lodging reservation link).
For our first full day in the park, we took the shuttle bus over to the Yosemite Valley Lodge and hiked up the Lower Yosemite Falls trail. This trail is relatively flat and all paved. Our twins walked the whole thing as one-year olds and the lower loop is entirely handicap accessible. It is a great walk for families with little ones. In additon to offering spectacular views like this:
The trail also offers plenty of stops along the way for bouldering and exploring. You can walk the whole thing in under 30 minutes but we usually spend 1-2 hours as the kids love to climb up rocks and explore crevices along the trail. In fact, the pictures below are from several outings to Lower Yosemite Falls over the years, not just our most recent.
Given that we were visiting in November, the flows were very low. While this does not provide for as impressive of a view, it makes bouldering up to the base of the falls possible--which is amazing and absolutely a must do if you are visiting at a time of low water. Of course, if there is any type of active flow through the boulders, don't attempt to climb up. That type of exploring is only for crazy people and those with a death wish--for real, people die, don't do it.
Following our waterfall hike, Henry took an epic nap and that pretty much took us through until dinner. So we saved up the rest of our exploring for the following day. On day two, we hiked to an entirely new place. By happen chance, I was sitting by a couple of outdoor photographers while waiting for breakfast and they were chatting about hikes with great photo opportunities. During their conversation they mentioned Turtleback Dome (full disclosure, I was for sure eavesdropping). A quick Google search showed that Turtleback Dome was a short (albeit straight uphill) hike to a beautiful vantage point that showcased El Capitan and Half Dome. A link to trail details can be found here. The turn off looks like a big nothing so keep your eyes peeled. There are only a couple of spots for cars. If you see a yellow gate across an access road, you are in the right spot!
The hike is steep but beautiful and the views at the top are gorgeous. Outside of a number of transformers and antennae, there was nothing else up there, including people!
There are also a lot of rocks to climb and, if you dare, you can hike down the dome. Although the walk is safe, to anyone watching, it will look like you are about to walk off the edge and fall to your doom. As a result, I refused to let our four year old partake and had to look away while our twins hiked down with their Dad. #momfears
We decided to make it a day of amazing views and drove out to Glacier Point next. If you don't have a car, you can take a bus up to Glacier Point (you have to buy a ticket for this, it is not the free shuttle). Acutally, even if you do have a car, the bus is not a bad option as the parking lot is small the the area is popular. As a kid, we often rode up and hiked down. When I was older, my Dad and I hiked up, met the rest of the fam, and hiked back down. My grandmother once broke her leg on the trail and took a horse the rest of the way down... but I wouldn't recommend this option. Make sure Glacier Point makes it on your list. The views are epic.
What's that? Oh, it's just me and the twins, sitting on a rock... on top of the freaking world. Like bosses.
Henry took another nap, as preschoolers are apt to do, after this and we called it a day. The next day we headed out after breakfast and bid Yosemite goodbye... for now. For me, Yosemite is always a place a know I will come back to, so each departure feels like a "see you later," versus a "goodbye," which doesn't feel quite so sad.
Before I sign off on this post, however, I will recommend one more thing. Although we didn't hike it on this trip, I highly recommend the hike to Mirror Lake. The trail is a 2 mile, relatively flat loop that is great for young kids. Much of the hike is along the river and all of it is beautiful. I'll leave you with these stunning shots from our last hike out to Mirror Lake (photo credit: Gabrielle and Ryan Nichols-Roy).
