Yosemite Top Spots - Exploring Enthusiasts

As our time in California went on fast-forward, we found ourselves yearning for more beautiful hikes. We also had not yet met up with our PT friends from southern California, Josh and Jasmine. So, in trying to find a halfway point, it soon became obvious that we should go to Yosemite. Yosemite National Park must be a top choice for anybody to visit. This park therefore is almost always crazy busy. We were lucky enough to somehow come across two different open campsites in Upper Pines Campground right in the Yosemite Valley that pulled their reservations when we were looking in the few weeks ahead of this trip. We used a site called yesyoucamp.com which keeps an eye on last minute openings at booked campgrounds! Unfortunately, we didn’t get off work until 5:00 p.m. on the Friday we were heading to Yosemite, so with darkness surrounding us as we entered the park, we set up camp around 11:00 p.m. and immediately hit the hay.

During our first night here, we learned what it meant to camp at Yosemite near the end of October. The temperature dipped to the mid-20’s in the dead of night, and if you do not have proper sleeping gear and clothing (which we did not at the time), that means you do not sleep due to constant shivering. After using each other for body warmth to not die from hypothermia, our Saturday morning began quite early. Since we had gotten to our campsite in the dark, we had no idea what a treat we were in for waking up surrounding by the beastly rock faces that make up Yosemite Valley. Fortunately, we had firewood to first, build a fire for extra warmth, and second, to cook our breakfast meal! Thankfully, there was a metal grate partially over our fire, so our tin pan could be placed on top. We then filled our tin pan with Pillsbury biscuit dough and a frozen bag of mixed fruit for our very own fruit biscuit medley! It turns out alright if you have enough heat and constantly flip the biscuits every few minutes.

Morning fog in Yosemite Valley

Such a beautiful valley!

Morning fog in Yosemite Valley

Such a beautiful valley!

Upper Pines Campground

Breakfast over the fire!

Upper Pines Campground

Breakfast over the fire!

Once we were filled up, off we went to our day hike – The Mist Trail. The trail was closer to our campsite for the second night, so we drove over to the new site and the family that currently held it until noon was kind enough to let us drop our belongings off so that we could get going. This turned out to be fantastic for us, as the parking lots surrounding the trailhead were full by 9:00 a.m. The Mist Trail is an extremely popular hike for many reasons: you come across a few waterfalls (Nevada Fall being the best), a small alpine lake (where we had lunch), and a great lookout point overlooking part of the valley. And while it was somewhat annoying to have 50 people hiking in front of you and 50 people behind you, the magnificence surrounding you allowed for the peace of mind to forget anyone was there. The Mist Trail is roughly six miles out and back, and it took us around five hours to complete.

The creek we crossed walking from our campsite to Mist Trail.

On our way up the Mist Trail

Still on Mist Trail

The creek we crossed walking from our campsite to Mist Trail.

On our way up the Mist Trail

Still on the Mist Trail

Lake about halfway up Mist Trail

Vernal Fall

Vernal Falls from another angle

Lake about halfway up Mist Trail

Vernal Fall

Vernal Falls from another angle

At the top of Nevada Falls

Checking out the view at the end of Mist Trail!

At the top of Nevada Falls

Checking out the view at the end of Mist Trail!

After we were done, we decided to make a quick trip to the Yosemite Falls observation lot to see if the waterfall was running. Unfortunately, currently it was only a trickle. So back we went to our campsite for dinner which became a group effort to conjure up an assortment of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup around the fire! During the late evening, the beautiful stars began to come out, but the temperature decided to plummet below freezing again, so we soon climbed into our sleeping bags.

Half Dome in the evening!

Upon surviving another frigid night, our Sunday morning consisted of instant oatmeal to power our souls for further exploration. We decided on stopping by each popular observation point prior to our departure back to Clearlake. It started with a short half mile hike to Bridalveil Fall, which was flowing at a much greater rate than Yosemite Falls. We grabbed some pictures there, and then went on to make a pit stop at Tunnel View, which is a parking lot just before a very long tunnel that has one of the most iconic parks views we came across.

Tunnel View

From that spot, we headed up some thousands of feet to Glacier Point. There is very limited parking available here, but the turnover rate is high since the hike is less than a half mile. The incredible views from Glacier Point allow you to observe almost the whole park valley from one place, including the towering iconic symbol, Half Dome. If you look close enough, you can even make out the whole Mist Trail hike that we completed the day before. The park also has a nice little gift shop up at this peak, so feel free to poke around there for some good memorabilia. Our last desired viewpoint on Sunday was Taft Point, which turned out to be just as awesome as Glacier Point, but with much less people and a cooler hike to get to the lookout. The trail is located just before Glacier Point and is about two miles roundtrip. This point mainly looks out at El Capitan, the mesmerizing granite cliff that has been captured in countless types of media and is an iconic rock-climbing wall. There were also some brave climbers who began slack-lining between ridges while we hiked by to the lookout. Determining that this was the most outrageous and dangerous activity we could witness before we left, we drove out of the park feeling satisfied with our weekend travel.