Blogs from Yosemite National Park, California, United States, North America - page 8

Geo: 37.7467, -119.584Yosemite National Park may be the most beautiful park in the US. We drove about 20 miles from Lee Vining into the park. We stayed at the Tuolumne Meadows Campground (elevation 8000 feet).We spent most of the day hiking various trails, including the Lembert Dome that was over 9000 feet high. Yosemite has a great shuttle service that runs a loop all day, but it does not go as far as Yosemite Valley. That is 16 miles as the crow flys, but 56 miles to drive......lots of winding roads.... read more

Another month, another adventure! This time, a little more local- I stayed within the same state! But California is a large state, so it was still a solid 8-hour drive from Carlsbad up to Yosemite National Park. On Friday afternoon, my friend Grant and I loaded up his car with food and gear and set out on a road trip. We made the long haul through all the LA traffic and cruised north until we hit mountains and endless stars. We arrived very late (I guess technically very early the next day), so we parked on the side of the road and created a make shift sleeping space in the trunk. We were up with the sun the next morning, despite only a few hours rest. We cruised into Yosemite National Park and wound our way ... read more

Before I start my tale of the day, I want to ensure you know that this blog service doesn’t necessarily show all my images in the body of the blog. Often some of the images are further down, below the advertising, at the end of the writing. I don’t like this and will probably not use this service again in the future, but will keep using it on this trip for convenience. —————————————————————— Yosemite Valley is a marvellous sight. Every direction you look there is a view that is unique, not only in the valley, but, to my knowledge, unique to anywhere else in the world. If you haven’t been to Yosemite and walked some of the valley trails, I think you should put it on your bucket list. You won’t be sorry. After two false ... read more

Most peoples' main association with Yosemite National Park seems to be that that's where Yogi the Bear came from. Not true: he came from Yellowstone National Park or to be more precise: "Jellystone". On the other hand what Yosemite does have is actual bears. When I think of Yosemite I think of the magnificent photos of Ansel Adams the famous American photographer of the mid-20th century whose black and white pictures taken around the park are hyper-real, textural and intense - of skies, forests and most especially giant granite cliffs, waterfalls, lakes and mountains. Maria Chiara and I had one evening, one day and one morning in the park and we had a wonderful experience. After a long drive coming from the south (where we had inevitably lingered slightly too long at a vineyard tasting) we ... read more

Yes, we did manage to get a glimpse of Yosemite. After hearing conflicting reports of road closures around the park, we decided to drive the 90 miles to find out for ourselves. Apparently, the government cannot close state roads, and there are a couple of state highways that go into the park. We were met at the entrance and were told that the road was for “thru” traffic only, no stopping, etc. Of course, people pulled off and took pictures, and some even left their cars to walk along paths. What we saw was magnificent. After a short drive we were met by another ranger in a car with flashing lights and were instructed to turn back. So although we couldn’t have lunch on the patio of the famous Ahwahnee Lodge and we didn’t get to ... read more