Blogs from Yosemite National Park, California, United States, North America

Spent half the day trying to find parking spots so we could get out and see the beautiful landscape. Many tourists just hung out their car windows taking photos without stopping. ... read more

The morning dawned clear & bright, Glacier Point road was still closed when we drove past se we decided to walk there instead. We drove into Yosemite Valley & parked up at Four-Mile Trailhead. This was down as one of the more strenuous day hikes in the Yosemite, but the other one we were looking at, up Yosemite falls, was described as a "Stairmaster workout" so we opted for this one instead! It turned out to be less bad than we feared, most of the trail isn't too steep, despite going up a very steep mountain side, as it zip-zags so much. Plus we stopped loads to admire the stunning views that greeted us with every turn. We took so many photos of the vally, of Yosemite Falls, and of Half Dome all fromslightly different angles ... read more

Up to grab a quick tea/coffee from the lobby then back to the room to make sandwiches (peanut butter as we had no fridge) before setting off into Yosemite Valley to hike the Mist Train up to the Vernal and Nevada Falls. We got there early enough that there was plent of parking at the trailhead then headed off, out plan to hike up the Mist Trail and back down the John Muir Trail, making it a loop walk, was scuppered as the upper portion of the John Muir Trail was closed still! The perils of holidaying in the mountians at the start of the season... Lots of tourists on the lower part of the trail, some only going as far as the Vernal Falls Footbridge (first views of the falls), many going up the Mist ... read more

Finally we reached our must see bucket list item for this trip, Yosemite National Park. The 6-hour drive up from Monterey was uneventful, but a little nerve racking during some of the journey; like driving the RV on CA-120's steep switch-back turns up the mountain to Groveland, our 3-day RV home. The RV park sits upon a former gold rush mining encampment aptly named Second Garrote after making a habit of hanging its law breaking residents. The hangman's tree sort of remains in front of the park along with a state historic marker detailing its proud history. I can sure pick'em... Anyway history aside, the park is really nice, quiet, and remote enough to receive wildlife visitors like deer and wild turkeys. The former mining town of Groveland proudly houses California's longest continuously run tavern, The ... read more