Yosemite Nation Park

As we make our way north through California, one of our expected highlights was our stop at Yosemite National Park. The sights and activities did not leave us disappointed. The number of people and the traffic, however, were the downside to visiting this park at the beginning of the high tourist season. We started off our stay in Yosemite by doing our biggest single hike of the week to the top of Yosemite Falls. This hike has 3200 feet of elevation change over ~4 miles with two long switchback sections. Doing these hikes is always a good reminder that I need to spend more time at the gym. The views from the top of the Yosemite Valley, the rock formation highlights of the valley like half dome, el capitan and sentinel dome were amazing. Our recovery day consisted of several of the smaller hikes and sightseeing around the valley. We walked to lower Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil falls before driving out to Glacier Point to see the valley from the opposite side. The falls are all amazing right now due to the amount of snow this area received over the winter. Our final day in the park was spent doing a couple of the mid range hikes that I had on my list. We hiked through some significant snow to get to the top of Sentinel Dome and then drenched ourselves going to the top of Vernal Falls along what they call the Mist Trail. I imagine it being a nice mist during the summer and fall, but it is a shower this spring. Our rain jackets were put to good use. After doing some errands around the town of Ahwahnee, we are ready to move on to Lake Tahoe.