Yosemite Part 1
This post comes a few weeks after the fact but oh well, better late than never. And also I couldn’t wait until my next trip for my first post.
My new 4th of July tradition has become traveling to different National Parks. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate America than exploring our beautiful land! This was my 3rd year of adventure. 2014 I went to Key West & then the Everglades, 2015 was Sequoia and this year was YOSEMITE!
Our first day consisted of waking up really early to beat the LA holiday traffic (or LA traffic in general). It’s about a 5 hour drive but when you factor in all the pit-stops we had to take along the way it was really about 6 hours. Upon arriving we checked into our tent/cabin which was essentially a cabin made of like teepee canvas with no A/C. We did, however, have electricity so we had an overhead fan and were able to charge our phones. We shared a bathroom, sink and shower with the real campers though so in a way, we sort of camped. When we first opened the door to our cabin we were immediately greeted with the stuffy heat. Opening the windows helped a bit but ultimately we took that as a sign to head straight for the park. By this point it was evening and so we drove to Tunnel View and saw just how breathtaking Yosemite was.
That’s all we had time for that day so we headed back. The next morning we woke up really early and were in the park by 8am. Our first stop was Bridalveil Falls which is a very short 1 mile stroll to view. After taking a ton of photos, it was off to Crystal Lake for a real hike.
Crystal Lake was no easy feat to get to, though. It was about a 50 mile drive inside the park just to get to the start of the trailhead. Then we had to hike 3.5 miles to get there (& another 3.5 back). The first 2 miles are a steady incline that we were not prepared for so we had to stop quite frequently. On top of that we were running out of water. But the scenery along the way was awesome so that sort of helped. Along the way, we past a boulder that still had snow on it which was pretty amazing considering it was July 3rd.
As we were nearing the lake, we had to go though a meadow/marsh like thing with a ton of mosquitoes. They immediately swarmed us so we ran as fast as we could but still got a lot bites as we each discovered the next day.
After the mosquito invasion & a really tough hike, we finally made it! Behold, beautiful Crystal Lake!
(Me being all zen)
(I love taking panoramas so get ready for many more)
We relaxed there for a bit and then had to start the 3.5 miles back to the car with NO WATER. After we made it back to the car, we were mentally & physically done. And we still had to drive the 50+ miles back. So after making it back to our cabin, we called it a day and decided to test out the community showers. It was actually a pretty cool experience because there are about 5 individual showers that are outdoors. So if you shower at night, you can look up and see the stars. After a day full of adventure, it was time for bed.
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