Exploring Yosemite National Park

If there’s one thing you should know about us; it’s that we LOVE National parks and we’re on a mission to see them all!

Give us all the National Parks

We’ve gotten to explore The Grand Canyon, Sequoia national park and kings canyon, Joshua tree and if you’ve been following along on the gram you know we just recently checked Yosemite off of the list!!

With its stunning glacier-sculpted geology, abundant wildlife and world-class recreational opportunities, it is easy to see why Yosemite is one of the crown jewels of America’s national park system but you have to see it to believe the actual splendor of this place.  Keep reading to find out all about our adventures in Yosemite National Park!

First of all, we can’t believe it took us so long to get here! It’s literally in our backyard and it was the first visit for both of us. To be fair, it’s been on the list for along time!

-You literally have to make the campsite reservation 6 months in advance-

We’ve been pretty busy and every time we’ve had the opportunity to go camping in Yosemite its been too late to get a camping spot. So when our best friends invited us we said absolutely and started to planning right away!

Adie (Callie’s best friend) picked out a campground in Upper Pines campground and booked it for the end of May. The next step was researching and picking out a couple hikes, planning our meals and deciding how much vodka to add to the gummy bears. Tough decisions, we know…

The original idea was to hike half dome, but it requires a permit. Permits are only distributed by lottery via Recreation.gov, with one preseason lottery in March and daily lotteries during the hiking season.

A maximum of 300 hikers are allowed (about 225 day hikers and 75 backpackers) each day on the Half Dome Trail beyond the base of the subdome.

To be completely honest, we all got so busy and forgot about the lottery day.  So we decided to just play it by ear and figure out the hikes when we got into the park;

That makes for the best kinds of adventures in our opinion anyways!

Yosemite Bound

We loaded up the car, kissed Chloe goodbye and hit the open road!

We love a good road trip, so this five hour drive from Los Angeles felt like nothing!

Before we knew it we were entering the park. We’ve obviously seen pictures of El Capitan and Half Dome but nothing can prepare you for these extraordinary, breathtaking and majestic views hidden in this valley!

A little History

Yosemite’s granite wonderland was carved by massive glaciers around three million years ago, when ice covered all but the highest peaks in the Sierra Nevada.

Yosemite is famed for its giant, ancient sequoia trees, Tunnel View, the iconic vista of towering Bridalveil Fall and the granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome.

We’re still in awe over just how perfect this place is!

In Yosemite Village there are shops, restaurants, lodging, the Yosemite Museum and the Ansel Adams Gallery. You can even board your dog all day for $9.00!

-We felt bad about leaving Miss Chloe after we found this out-

Day One

On the first day we really just set up camp, explored around our campsite and settled in. Our campsite was literally in the heart of the Valley and had a pretty epic view of Half Dome! We also got some visitors on our first day!

Hiking

We decided that we were going to start with something easy and hike around Mirror lake. It’s a 5 mile loop that’s wedged between the granite walls of Half Dome and North Dome on the east end of Yosemite Valley.

Imagine a stunning Yosemite landscape with granite cliffs rising over pine forests. Then double that vision by adding tranquil reflective water below the imagined landscape.

Being surrounded by all this grandeur really puts life into perspective and makes you realize how small you really are! That’s by far one of our favorite things about camping and exploring a new place!

Four Mile Trail

On our second day we decided to hike four mile trail.

Doesn’t that sound like a walk in the park? Well, don’t let the name fool you!

This trail begins near the base of Sentinel Rock and climbs to the top of Yosemite Valley at Glacier Point. The trail maintains a continuous steep grade.

*cough cough* switch backs the whole way up!

Following the path of an old toll trail that was completed in 1872. The trail has changed a bit over the years; it is now closer to five miles than four (and of course there is no more toll).

Spectacular views of Yosemite Valley, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, and, eventually, Half Dome await those willing to tackle this strenuous trail. 

It was a ridiculously hard hike but at the end we were so happy we set our minds to it! If you want to see these views but don’t want to hike up, There are buses that will take you to the top.

Explore More

The rest of the trip consisted of us just exploring the Valley floor! There is so much to see and we didnt want to miss one second of it!

 We found ourselves playing in the meadowsAnd kissing under waterfalls!Yosemite is by far the most enchanted park we have ever been in!

We had the absolute best time and would recommend Yosemite National Park to EVERYONE!

Thank you for following along with our adventures and we hope you have enjoyed all our pictures!

Let us know in the comments below if you have ever been to Yosemite or if its still on your bucket list!

XO

Callie & Leo