Yosemite - The Awesome Park Visit that Almost Wasn't

July 1st - 5th, 2021

Our time spent in Yosemite felt like a gift before we even passed by the ranger station for the first time. You see, due to increased numbers of visitors during COVID, the park has implemented a ticketing system, and we found ourselves without tickets. What’s more, we intended to visit the park over the July 4^th holiday weekend, and we didn’t have RV Park reservations with June rapidly coming to an end.  We needed to be creative, persistent, and lucky. I must tip my hat to Kristin here, she noticed the recreation.gov website was releasing limited 3 day passes to Yosemite regularly, one week in advance. We waited until seven days prior to our anticipated arrival, and were able to scoop one up. Then she found a local RV park with a glitch in their online reservation system which had resulted in them not renting one of their sites over the holiday weekend, inadvertently. One well timed phone call later and we had all we needed: 3 day park pass & a site for Destiny!

Since every day must be an adventure, like it or not, our arrival to Yosemite Pines RV Resort didn’t let us down. The approach on California Route 120 is very steep, very windy, and gains thousands of feet of elevation. Phoenix didn’t like it. The temperature gauge climbed slowly. Then we cut the A/C. The needle continued to push towards yellow and red stripes. We’d stop 4 different times in the designated pull offs for slow vehicles and turn off the truck. Only to start, gain another mile or so, and need to repeat the process. We did manage to avoid overheating, but I made a mental note to check the coolant and oil once she was cold again. The former would need topping off, the latter, 1 quart to tide us over until a full oil change was possible.

Next, after setting up camp for the four-night period, I sat in a camp chair, dirty and sweaty, only to notice that Phoenix’s muffler was hanging. I climbed under the chassis to discover the pipe from the catalytic converter to the muffler had completely snapped. I pulled the muffler off. We’d be going straight pipe for the 4^th, in a 6.8L V10 American made Ford F250. It felt appropriate. Fireworks were a hard NO, fully banned throughout California. I guess Phoenix decided to make some noise on her own account. Yosemite park goers would hear us coming well before they could see us.

The following day was our first trip into Yosemite, and both Kristin and my first time seeing the spectacular valley and surroundings. We had planned a relatively short 7 mile hike up and down Yosemite Falls, on the north side of the valley. We had a leisurely morning, and arrived at the ranger station on Friday the 2^nd at roughly 10:30AM. 

The internet had warned of very long lines to get into the park, and we noted Disney Land-esque signage along the road, informing would be waiters-on-line that they had a “1 Hour Wait From This Point”. We waited about 20 minutes, and 10 of those were due to the car just in front of us chatting with the ranger for 10 minutes! Rude!

Another 30 minutes of driving into the central valley, through a tunnel in the granite, and out onto the valley floor we rolled. We’d caught fleeting glimpses of El Capitan and the Half Dome during the descent, but now we were under their shadows. 3000’ cliffs of shear granite. Simply stunning. The ticketing process served to minimize crowds, however, this was by far the most hectic park we’d been in to date. Soon we found our parking area, geared up, and began the 3.5 mile, 3500’ climb to the top of Yosemite Falls. To be honest, it was far more difficult than we anticipated. It certainly didn’t help that we were climbing in the hottest part of the day, in searing 90+ degree temps. Nor did we appreciate the constant flow of foot traffic behind, in front, and against our route. Oh, we’d come across another rattle snake in the trail too. But no bears. Which was nice.

After roughly 80 switchbacks, we made it to the top of Yosemite Falls. They are the tallest falls in North America, and the 5^th tallest in the world. Why not walk straight up them? We did have some very nice views of the falls along the way up, and some nice views down the valley to Half Dome from the top. I don’t much care for heights, so I didn’t get too close to the viewing area on the cliff. Rather, we walked back towards a series of refreshing pools in Yosemite Creek. Here we’d eat lunch, I’d take a dip, and we’d relax for an hour or so before making the hike back down. By no means were we alone, this is a popular place. We got down without issue, but decided we’d focus on a less trafficked area the next day.

Our second day in Yosemite, Saturday, July 3^rd, started out similar to the day before: leisurely, arriving at the ranger station close to 11AM. Well, arriving at the “1 Hour Wait from This Point” sign around 11AM, behind a long line of cars. Unfortunately, the sign was quite accurate. The hike we chose was a solid hour from the ranger station too. Three hours after leaving home, we arrived at the trailhead. We selected a relatively flat 8 mile hike out to the south rim of the Yosemite Valley to Dewey Point. Oddly, three people from Manchester, NH were in the car directly behind us, with the same trail planned. It was fun to talk about hiking “back home” with fellow enthusiasts. This hike was completely different from the day before, it featured wild flowers, alpine meadows, and relatively few people, rather than steep switchbacks, granite walls, and a busy trail. The terminus, Dewey Point, is a brilliant cliffside, directly across the valley from El Capitan.

Half Dome is also prominent, and seems to stare directly across the valley to North Dome. According to the Yosemite map the ranger gave us, Native American myth states that Half Dome and North Dome were a quarrelsome married couple whom the Great Spirit cast into stone so that they may face off for all eternity! At the far east end of the valley, up over Half Dome, sits Clouds Rest. A distinct granite outcropping, and one of the high points of the park. We’d been considering the hike out to this point for the past couple of days. Here we decided we’d go for it. Our fellow Granite Staters were spending the night on Dewey Point, so we bid them farewell, and headed back to Phoenix, and eventually, Destiny.

Clouds Rest is a 13 mile, 3100’ endeavor. Also, sitting in line for an hour just to get into the park is a bummer. As such, we prepped our things before bed, and on the morning of July 4th, our final day on our three-day pass, we got up at 6, were in the park by 7, and were “boots on trail” by 8am. Additionally, it was forecasted to be yet another 90+ degree day, and we wanted to do all the climbing in the morning. This trail was a true delight. I suspect it will remain in our top 5 or 10 favorite hikes of the entire trip. By now, we’re well conditioned to walk a half marathon, with 15lbs on our backs, starting just shy of 7,000’ and ending just shy of 10,000’ in elevation. We finished in 7 hours counting breaks, 5.5 of them moving.

The final stretch out to the Clouds Rest plateau features a disturbingly narrow pass, perhaps 6’ wide, with deadly drops on both sides. On the north side, the drop is well over 2,000’. We witnessed a few people break down and cry, then crawl, to get over it. Such sights are not good for my fear of heights, so I just put my head down and went for it as soon as the way was clear. Like any irrational fear, it wasn’t so bad. And the rewards were well worth it. We were looking down on the Half Dome, and west through the whole valley. To the south are a series of high Sierra Nevada peaks, jagged, with snow still clinging to protected recesses in the mountain sides. Back to the east we could see the crystal blue Tenaya Lake in the distance. This is where we were parked, and I wished it looked closer!

After a nice long lunch, and a number of photos, we headed back to the truck. It was just before 1PM by now, temps were rising, and we were pleased to be walking down. The knowledge that we had snacks, cold water, and a couple of cold beers in the truck kept my feet churning. We’d also brought camp chairs, and swimsuits. After pulling dusty boots off our weary feet, we drove down the lake, and put all these resources to good use. This lakeside picnic and plunge was a wonderful way to say goodbye to Yosemite, or perhaps more accurately, see you later.

The road beckons, and we’ve got to make it to Tahoe in time to pick up a good friend who will be joining for a stretch on the Great American Summer Road Trip. We’ve also got to get a muffler somewhere along the way. Don’t get me wrong, the truck sounds AWESOME, but I value my ability to hear in the long term, and there are a good 6,000 miles of road still in front of us still! 

For more photos of our time at Yosemite, click here.