Neither Lana and I had been to Yosemite since we were teenagers, and it’s been on our list of places to visit for quite a while, so it was exciting that we could finally make that happen. Unfortunately it was only going to be for a day, and also without the kids. This just gives us all the more reason to come back soon.
Due to our brief window of exploration at the park, we decided to pick one of the flagship hikes, and then just take in the scenery while driving through the park to and from that hike, stopping if something looked interesting, and if we could find parking. For our hike Lana suggested Vernal Falls, and who was I to argue with such an attractive lady (also, she has large muscles now).
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, this country does not mess around with designating an area as a national park. It wasn’t long after we drove through the park’s west gate that we began to see the massive granite walls that make Yosemite famous. Things only got more impressive the deeper into the park we went.
We did have a couple of tunnel related scares on our way to Vernal Falls. The first tunnel we passed through was labeled with a 13’ clearance, which was not great because that’s just about our height. We made it. The second tunnel we approached was labeled with a 10’3” clearance which is way too short. Thankfully that proved to be a lie as we made it though that one too. In real time, the conversation went something like this: “That’s way too low for us”, “Well then go slow”, “Why, so we can slowly rip the top of the RV off, better to just get it over with”.
After making it through the Tunnels of Thankful Deceit, we decided to pull over along the banks of the Merced River to stretch our legs and enjoy the scenery from outside the RV. Afterwards we also made one more quick stop after that at a meadow with views of El Capitan. Apparently there was some history to that spot as there was a placard noting that this was where John Muir and Theodor Roosevelt shared a campfire where they discussed the idea of turning Yosemite Valley into a national park.
Yosemite turned out to be one of the toughest national parks for us to find parking for our RV, and this on a supposedly slower day. By the time we found a spot that could accommodate us, we were farther than we had planned to be from the trail to Vernal Falls so we ended up taking one of the many shuttles. Lucky for us we had a talkative shuttle driver who ended up giving us a tip about a side trail that almost no one uses that would get us about 90% of the way to Vernal Falls before merging with Mist Trail, which is the one most hikers take up to the falls.
At this point, I would like to offer up two tips: #1 Tip: always chat up your shuttle drivers at tourist destinations to get insider recommendations. #2 Tip: If you’re going to hike up to Vernal Falls, DO NOT skip leg day at the gym.
Two thirds of the hike up to Vernal Falls is a moderately steep trail through the forest – not a big deal, but the last 3rd is pretty much a never ending stair master machine, but carved out of granite and surrounded by such beauty that you begin to ask yourself questions regarding the meaning of life.
Eventually the never ending stair master machine did end, and we reached the top of the falls, where we found (yes, you guessed it) a disgustingly beautiful mountain lake, which is what fed the falls. Despite the cold plunge caliber water temperature, it would have been nice if we had thought to bring bathing suits so that we could have taken a quick dip. Oh well, next time.
After a quick snack, we decided to head back via that same little travelled trail, and then took the shuttle back to our RV. After some post hike recovery smoothies (macros were counted) we started our drive east through the park. Driving through the eastern part of the park reminded me a bit about driving through Yellowstone.
Speaking of which, I firmly believe that while Yellowstone has Yosemite firmly beat on the wildlife and amazing geothermal pools of death, Yosemite comes out on top for the sheer majesty of the landscape. Those granite walls that seemed to go all the way up the outer atmosphere were amazing.
After leaving through Yosemite’s east gate we briefly thought about camping at one of the small Forest Service campgrounds along the way. They looked nice from the road but between being unsure if they could handle our RV and the desire to put in some more miles towards our next destination (Zion National Park – which was going to be about a 10 hour drive for us), we decided to keep going and overnight at a Love’s gas station that we had picked out in Tenopah, Nevada.
Ugg, next time I’m voting for the campground on the shores of a peaceful mountain lake vs a high volume gas station. At least we got a head start the next morning though…
