Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite National Park

After a week visiting some of the best National Parks in the world, Yosemite National Park was at the top of our list along with Arches National Park. We spent days on the road exploring the natural beauties of the US, but in our humble opinion this is one of the places that can´t be missed by visitors who want to be surrounded by nature. There are high waterfalls, rocks for climbing, forests, hiking trails and campsites with great facilities; there is no excuse!

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The bar had been set pretty high after going to Arches, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon and, the day before, the enchanting Sequoia National Park, but Yosemite National Park did not fail us. There were miles and miles of natural beauty that constantly held our attention.

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Family Travel Secret
As we read on an advert on one of the shuttles, about 95% of the park is not visited very much. Of course, the other 5% give a great idea of the enormity and grandiosity of the park.

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Our visit to Yosemite National Park

We spent the previous night in a town about 50 miles from the park, which would normally give us the advantage of being there really early in the morning. This time, though, we didn’t make the most of this, as we were a little bit tired from moving around from one place to another for more than a week and sleeping very little in that period. We therefore woke up a bit late and took our time organizing our belongings and having breakfast, so when we got there it was already almost 11:30.

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Family Travel Secret
I think we’ve mentioned this for other parks, but it doesn´t hurt to say it again, and especially for Yosemite National Park: arrive very early in the morning. Remember there are lots of people spending the night on the campsites inside the park and in the valley, so you will already have to fight them for a good spot, let alone the hundreds of visitors that go to the park every day.

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As soon as we arrived at the park and got a map, we decided to go to Glacier Point. This is a strategic place from where you have amazing views of the imposing Half Dome, the waterfalls and Yosemite Valley. As it was a very busy day in the park (a Sunday), they closed the road to normal vehicles because there’s a free shuttle service to Glacier Point from Ski & Snowboard Area (formerly Badger Pass Ski Area).

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Family Travel Secret
The free shuttle is a good way for the Yosemite National Park to reduce the number of vehicles driving around and it is also an ideal way for visitors to take pictures without being concerned about driving at the same time.

After about half an hour waiting in the long queue to take the bus (there is one every 20 minutes), we were informed that personal vehicles were allowed again. A lot of people left the queue and took their cars and because of that we were one of the first to get on the next bus. The bus takes about half an hour to get from Ski & Snowboard Area to Glacier Point, and drives right through the middle of the forest.

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Family Travel Secret
If you are in the forest with your car, follow the signs and drive carefully, as there are lots of animals around in the woods and they might suddenly cross the road. Remember this is their habitat and we are just their guests.

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As soon as we reached Glacier Point View after a few minutes walking from the shuttle bus stop, the views were instantly jaw-dropping. It is truly a natural wonder to see the Half Dome (literally half a rock in the shape of a dome), waterfalls on both sides of it and Yosemite Valley at the bottom. That was where we stopped for lunch. Noah was really excited about the squirrels and yellow-bellied marmots, while we were appreciating the scenery.

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After almost 2 hours up there, we took the shuttle bus back to the car park. From there our next destination was Yosemite Valley, with several stops at viewpoints along the way.

Just after Tunnel View we spotted El Capitan for the first time, as well as the Valley and the Cathedral Peaks.

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A little bit further on we stopped at Bridalveil Falls View and El Capitan Bridge. It didn’t take long for us to see the Half Dome also.

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At the entrance to the valley of Yosemite National Park we got a much closer look at El Capitan, a giant rock which is loved by climbers.

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Family Travel Secret
If you are interested in rock climbing or you just like watching documentaries and movies on the subject, you can´t miss the documentary about the free solo climber Alex Honold, who broke all kind of records climbing the difficult mountains of El Capitan, Half Dome and Mount Watkins in less than 19 hours. Just one incidental fact: he was climbing without a rope!!! Far from being crazy, the guy is a real legend and in fact takes a lot of precautions before doing anything on the rocks. The documentary is called The First Ascent.

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From that point onwards we really got stuck in traffic and our car was literally moving at a snail’s pace. That´s when we heard that that is common at summer weekends.

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Family Travel Secret
If you have the chance, visit Yosemite National Park during the week. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and especially in summer, are very busy there. You may well get stuck in traffic in the valley for a couple of hours.

Ruth walked a little bit to take some pictures while Noah was taking a nap.

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Once we started moving a bit more quickly, we took the chance to park the car and explore the Valley on foot. From there we walked through the heart of the valley, where a few campsites and visitor centers are located. Ruth also insisted that we go to Mirror Lake, which was a 2.5 mile walk away and, although I wasn’t too bothered by the distance, I wasn’t very fond of the idea of carrying Noah after he got tired. Of course I won the dispute … That´s a lie – I never win this kind of dispute 🙂

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As Noah had had a nice, long nap, he was in the mood to play in the woods and raced about on the trails. We had some trouble catching up with him! But it was a rewarding long walk. We got to see the Half Dome a bit more closely as well as several other big rocks, and finally the lake and its surroundings.

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Back to the car and leaving Yosemite National Park

On the way back we had two choices: walk straight to the car (about 2.5 miles) or take a longer route through the Half Dome Village (Ruth’s choice). Guess who won the dispute again … I have no say in my house. Luckily the woman was right again and there was a shuttle service from that point to the Yosemite Valley visitor center which was close to our car.

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We had to walk just a little bit further to get the car and drive to our next destination: San Francisco. What a great day we had. Each and every one of us enjoyed every minute and we left promising to come back to the amazing Yosemite National Park. Next time we will camp for a few days so we can explore as much of that natural beauty as possible.

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Next stop, San Francisco!

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