Yosemite National Park Part Two

Hey Guys! Yosemite Part Two! We spent a day and a half in Yosemite Valley and well…I was kind of disappointed. The views were stellar. The hikes were available. But, it was so incredibly crowded that it really felt more like a day at an amusement park. We couldn’t get away from the crowd no matter what time we got to the park or where in the valley we went.

If you look at a map of Yosemite National Park, you’ll see it’s actually separated into different regions. You’ve got Yosemite Valley where most people go…but then you’ve also got Wawona, Glacier Road, Hetch Hetchy, and Tioga Road areas. We tried to go to Mariposa Grove in the Wawona area but it was closed for restoration. Hetch Hetchy was a three hour drive from where we were staying which means six hours of just travel time…that’s half the day gone. We had already planned on driving Tioga Road…but we met a great family at Park Sierra (where we were staying) and they gave us tips on not only Tioga Road but also Glacier Road.

We drove a lot during all of our Yosemite NP explorations. One of my biggest tips for you if you’re heading to Yosemite is to get gas before heading into the park. Check out those gas prices. We saw two different gas stations that were close-ish to the park and both of them were super pricey.

The first time we tried to explore Glacier Road was during a weekend. It was a Sunday afternoon and we thought maybe the weekend crowds would’ve started thinning out. We were wrong. So very wrong. We got there and there was an hour wait just to go up the road. So, we skipped it for later. We were able to take an afternoon mid-week to explore Glacier Road and it was so much better. Not nearly the amount of people and no waiting. There are several pull outs for trails but we passed them to head to the very end of the road and Glacier Point.

Glacier Point is an overlook that sits 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. You get unobstructed views of Yosemite Valley, upper and lower Yosemite Falls, Vernal and Nevada Falls, Half Dome, and some High Sierra snow capped peaks in the distance. Talk about eye candy. It was my favorite view of the entire valley. We were told that sunset from Glacier Point is phenomenal. We didn’t get to stay for it, but I would love to go back one day and see it.

One of my favorite hikes in Yosemite National Park is on Glacier Road. The Taft Point trial is only one mile (one way). You start out in a lovely forest setting and the trail meanders through a meadow before dropping down and spitting you out on this canyon rim. Now, one of the interesting things about this steep sided canyon is that it has these really cool fissures! Guys! Check out this fissure! There are several of them all along Taft Point. These fissures plunge 2,000 feet straight down. Some are wide and some of the fissures are narrow.

Taft Point gives you an amazing view of El Capitan. We spent some time out on the point wandering around. We pretty much had the place to ourselves. A couple of groups of people were getting there right about the time we were heading back. I have four books on National Parks and what to see and do in each park. The Taft Point hike was only in one of them and it was by far my favorite hike we did in the park. It was only two miles round trip, the hike was easy enough for any physical level, and the views were pretty darn amazing. Plus, we had the place to ourselves. We didn’t have to wait in line to get a glimpse.

It took us an entire day to explore Tioga Road. It might only be a 39 mile scenic drive, but there is so much to see and do. Tioga Road is closed during the winter months. We lucked out and it opened a couple of weeks before we got there. At Olmstead Point you can see granite exposed by years of weathering and erosion. Olmstead Point is also a great place to get a birds-eye-view of Tenaya Lake. At 8,149 feet, Tenaya Lake is one of Yosemite’s biggest natural lakes. The Native Americans called it Py-we-ack which means shining rocks. Thousands of years ago the rocks around the lake were polished smooth by glacier movement and they still reflect and “shine” in the golden glow of the setting sun.

Toulumne Meadows started out millions of years ago under a sea of ice that was more than 2,000 feet deep. This is the view…right here in this spot back in 1889, where John Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson sat around a campfire discussing ways to protect this area of the Sierra Nevadas. One year later, in 1890, Yosemite National Park was born.

Toulumne Meadows has panoramic vistas of snow capped mountains and domes. It’s one of the largest sub-alpine meadows in the Sierra Nevadas…and it’s where you’ll find Soda Springs. The biggest part of the spring is protected within the enclosure in the pic above. Soda Springs has carbonated water bubbling and percolating up right out of the ground. The minerals in the soda water has turned the area around it a rusty red color. It was fun to stand there and watch it. It would bubble for a bit and then stop…then start back up. We found fresh tracks around it so we’re pretty sure the animals in the area are drinking it. People used to drink it too, but the Park Service now discourages people from drinking it due to possible ground contamination.

Tioga Road is Yosemite’s only road through the High Sierra country. From 6,200 feet all the way up to almost 10,000 feet at Tioga Pass is California’s highest automobile pass. Once you cross Tioga Pass, you exit Yosemite NP and start to descend down to the small town of Lee Vining.

We got a tip about a place to eat in Lee Vining. Whoa Nellie Deli shares its space with a gas station and a gift store. You might expect their food to be “fast food”, but it’s not even close to fast food. I had the lobster and crab Tioga Taquitos and they were the bomb!! Is that saying even still used? We have to thank our new friends, the Buoy family, for letting us know about this place.

Right down the road from Whoa Nellie Deli is Mono Lake Tufa State National Reserve. We didn’t have much time, but we drove down and took a quick peak at the lake. What the heck is tuffa? See those structures out in the water? That, is tuffa. Basically, it’s a limestone tower that forms over a freshwater spring within the lake. If we could figure out a way that didn’t require taking our home-on-wheels over huge scary mountain passes we could totally spend some time in the Lee Vining area. Between the lake and a few state parks…I was bummed our RV park was so far away from the area.

We ended up enjoying Yosemite National Park way more than we thought we would after our first experience in Yosemite Valley. There are places that still feel wild and while you might have to work a little harder to get to them, your efforts are completely worth it.

I wish we’d had this book from the start of our Yosemite National Park exploring. All of the park roads have little numbered signs at different points along the roads. This book tells you what all of those signs and areas are. Plus there’s a ton on Yosemite history and geology. We bought ours at the Toulumne Meadows Visitor Center but, it’s also available on Amazon and would be a great planning tool.

There were a few pretties in the area. I love these bright pink ones! These light lilac colored blooms were sprinkled throughout the park. I’m a sucker for purple…

We enjoyed our time in Yosemite. It’s easy to see why it has inspired so many people throughout it’s history. Between the sheer size of the park and the number of people who visit, planning is essential to seeing everything you want to see in this park.

“It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.” ~John Muir

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop2018