Camping at Yosemite National Park

Going to Yosemite National Park has been on our bucket list for quite some time now. So when our friend Nikki said she was going and extended the invitation, we didn’t hesitate and jumped right at the opportunity.  We were already looking at going away somewhere for our anniversary so this worked out perfectly!

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STAY

Campground reservations in Yosemite are very difficult to get, but luckily Pablo managed to grab a spot in Upper Pines Campground *literally* a few days before our trip.

Because it was last minute, we were not able to get the same campsite for all nights.  We got site 55 the first night and then had to switch to 113 for the last 2. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of a hassle to have to undo and set up everything, but I’m not complaining.  We considered ourselves pretty fortunate to have snagged a spot inside the park in such a short time so switching sites was not going to be a dealbreaker.

The campsites were pretty nice and decent size too!  They had their own picnic tables, fire pits with grills and bear boxes.  As for the bathroom situation, it was surprisingly not bad. They had potable water for dish washing and flush toilets stalls spread out all over the campground. No showers in sight though, just a river right next to the campground. 🙂

HIKES & VIEWS

WAWONA TUNNEL

The first thing on our Yosemite checklist: the Wawona Tunnel.  Driving through it was our first taste at experiencing  Yosemite Valley.  As soon as you drive out the tunnel, the view you see is simply breathtaking. One thing is to see it on videos and pictures, and another is to see it in person.  We parked our car on the side of the road and got off to soak in the view, which included a direct view of Half Dome and El Capitan.

TAFT POINT

On our second day, we drove 1hr away from our campsite to hike Taft Point and Sentinel Dome.  Both of them are located off the same trailhead on Glacier Point Rd. We decided to start with Taft Point  (the easy one of the two) and see how we all felt as this was our first hike with Lucas in any type of elevation.

 

I thought the hike was an easygoing one. Taft Point was a 2+ mile round trip hike from the parking lot.  We went along a downhill open path with a few loose rocks, then a walk through the forest and right to the viewpoint.  The walk through the forest itself was worth it. So beautiful!

 

Once we reached the viewpoint, we were rewarded with an amazing view of El Capitan and the valley below.

Beware if you are afraid of heights though! There’s only a small section with a railing, everything else was wide open.  (My knees were like jello when standing by the cliff and looking out over the edge.)

On our way back, Lucas had a little incident with a tree branch and scraped his face.  It was a scary moment but thankfully the wounds were superficial.  We stopped for a few minutes to rest and treat his wounds (so glad we all had a first aid kit!) and he was all smiles after! 🙂 Such a trooper!

SENTINEL DOME

Despite our little mishap with Lucas, we were doing good on timing and feeling pretty good.  We decided to continue our little adventure and head to Sentinel Dome for another 2+ miles hike.

I’m not sure if it was because I was already tired, the elevation, or my mind was off from what happened to Lucas, but this hike was not as easy going as Taft Point. While Taft Point mainly started as a downhill, Sentinel Dome was the complete opposite.

However, the view was well worth the uphill sweat.  Once we reached the top, we were rewarded with the most amazing 360 degree view of the whole valley.

Sadly, the sky was a bit hazy from the nearby wildfires.  Nevertheless, the view was still stunning!  I mean, if that was how it looked with hazy skies, imagine how it would look like when it is all clear?! Yup, definitely will be repeating this hike next time we are back.

WASHBURN POINT

After our two hikes, we wanted to wrap up the day with a sunset view at Glacier Point.  However, there were already a lot of people there.  Instead we turned around and parked at Washburn Point, which was up the road and just as beautiful and less crowded.

VERNAL FALL BRIDGE

We had planned to do our big hike to Glacier Point the next day, but we got back so late from hiking up Taft Point and Sentinel Dome that we opted to explore the smaller hikes around our campsite instead.  What started as a morning stroll, ended up in a 1.6 miles roundtrip hike to the Vernal Fall Bridge.

Don’t underestimate this one. Although it was a short hike, it was a very steep one! I was carrying Lucas in the Ergobaby carrier and it felt like I was climbing a mountain with a 20+ pound weighted vest. LOL Yet, it was all worth it. I wished we could’ve done Mist Trail or gone to the Vernal Falls, but it was closed.

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LAKE

After the visit to Vernal Falls Bridge, we headed back to our site and got ready for the lake. We spent the rest of our day here and it was the perfect way to end this amazing trip.

To be honest, I didn’t realized how lucky we were to be going to Yosemite until we were there.  On our way out we stopped at the Tunnel View again. We took in our final view of the valley and made our long drive back home.

Until next time Yosemite!

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