Stamped! Yosemite National Park
We have arrived at our fourth national park and final park in California—Yosemite.
Our travels to Yosemite started off a little rocky when we realized that the KOA we had booked to stay at for three nights did not allow van camping. We would have known this if we had read the fine print and multiple negative reviews of this KOA calling out this specific concern, but alas, we did not until the last minute. With some quick Googling, we found another campsite that did allow vans to camp (even though the previous one was stating it was against some random CA law), and we booked our new nights. We unfortunately lost our deposit for the KOA and had to pay a steep price for the newly found campground. Thankfully the new campground had decent amenities and good vibes!
We arrived at our new campground early afternoon and spent the day relaxing and thinking about our plans for Yosemite in the morning. We knew we had wanted to do one of the longer moderate hikes in Yosemite and settled on Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. Side note: it was still an hour and a half drive to this trail from our campsite, and for kicks and giggles we checked what the old campsite drive would have been, and it was over three hours! So, with that information, we were very happy we did not stay at the KOA that did not allow van conversions.
The drive into Yosemite was mostly uphill and had a couple of nice long tunnels. We grabbed a picture with the Yosemite sign and filled up our water jugs at the welcome station.
Once you finally enter the main area of the park, you are greeted right away by a full view of Bridalveil Falls, which was quite majestic looking in the early morning. We continued on to Sentinel Dome and found parking relatively easily and started our hike. This was a 6-mile moderate hike that took you up on Sentinel Dome, then around and eventually out to Taft Point. The views on this hike were exceptional as they showed you a 360 view of Yosemite, including Half Dome and El Capitan. The hike itself was a bit challenging due to the elevation, but we made it through and were very pleased with the trail.
We finished our hike around noon and noticed the parking lot was FULL, with several cars waiting for spots. We quickly left and headed into the center of the park. Yosemite gets busy, really busy, by noon, y’all. Every parking lot we passed had a "full" sign, and even the roadside pull-offs were packed with cars. We eventually found a picnic area overlooking El Capitan and enjoyed, you guessed it, wraps! Our food stock was lacking by this point, so our wraps consisted of turkey, crushed Doritos, and hot sauce—gourmet.
After lunch, we decided to head back toward our campground and grab some groceries. Groceries for two days cost $70—those California prices will get you!!
The next day, we knew we had to lock in to see the main sites within Yosemite. We woke up at 5:45 am and were on the road by 6:30 am. We entered the park around 7:00 am and were at our first stop, Bridalveil Falls, by 7:45 am. This worked out perfectly, as the parking lot was not even a quarter full, and we were able to visit the falls with minimal people.
Next on our list was to drive to the center of the park and score a good parking spot where the van could stay for the day—check. After parking, we hopped on the free shuttle and headed to Yosemite Falls. We jumped on the Lower Yosemite Falls 1.2-mile paved path. This is a scenic, accessible path that should be on everyone’s list if you are visiting Yosemite.
We then jumped back on the shuttle and headed toward the Mirror Lake Trail. This is a 5-mile hike that takes you around Mirror Lake. This hike had incredible views and not many people on the trail. Plus, you can make the hike shorter if you want.
Jumping back on the shuttle, we headed back to the visitor center for a quick lunch in Reggie.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon bopping in and out of the different establishments (welcome center, restaurant, provisions store, museum, art gallery, post office, and movie theater). We wrapped up our day around 2:00 pm, grabbed gas and ice cream, and were ready to head back to our campsite.
There’s a reason Yosemite ranks high for national parks. The views are breathtaking, there are so many things to do (even outside of hiking), and you can spend as little or as long as you want here.
Next up on our travels, South Lake Tahoe to visit friends and then off to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.
Your friends in travel,
Erin and Andrew