If there’s one thing I’ve learned to be true of the popular National Parks, it’s that parking can be pretty tricky. Yosemite is definitely one of the bigger, if not biggest, named parks and it sure shows. We arrived at the visitor center (after our second attempt at entering the park-check out my last post for a fun time) in the morning and managed to find a parking spot in one of the furthest lots from the building, not that that was much of an issue. But let’s back up a little and start from where we woke up.

Waking up in Stanislaus National Forest, we tidied up the van and left the snowy woods. If you remember, they weren’t allowing anyone into the park due to the winter-like conditions the previous evening. This time around they had signs up cautioning to use chains (of which we had none.) Despite the fact, they let us in and the drive into the valley was incredible. Pines were covered with snow, the blue sky peaked through the scattered clouds passing over it, and as we drove further along we saw groups of people performing controlled burns. Once we got into the valley we hardly needed our winter attire anymore. We actually ended up only wearing our rain coats since they were more lightweight. Now we can pick up where we jumped into before – the visitor center. We spent more time wandering around here than normal since it was more of a built up / town esque area than any other national park we had visited so far. We ventured to the museum which included native peoples memorabilia as well as a slice of a sequoia tree with a timeline plaque outside the door.

Once we were done with that, we decided it was time to step into nature. I was weary of the shuttle systems when we were introduced to them in Zion, but I think the idea is pretty neat. They’re helpful to get around to the well trafficked areas without the headache of trying to find a parking spot. We hopped on the shuttle and made our way to lower Yosemite Falls. This short 1 mile loop lined with dogwood trees had us at the lower falls in no time. Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls combined make up North America’s tallest waterfall at 2,425 feet. This trail gives you a nice up close view of the lower falls and a decent look at the upper falls also.

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Since many of the trails were still closed due to the season, we decided on heading to Mirror Lake next. This hike was very mild but with exceptional views! Not only are you able to hangout around Mirror Lake, but you can see Half Dome and a clear view of Mount Watkins in the distance. We were a little surprised to see a bobcat walking right along side the path since it’s such a well hiked area but what an experience, right? After about a mile we arrived to the lake where Michael found a nice big rock on the water to sit and have lunch. Remember how I mentioned that snow storm/chains required thing? Well at this point we were basking in the sun with just our t-shirts on enjoying life.

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Heading into the evening as we got back to the van, we drove to the south end of the park where the infamous sequoias are. Before we got there however, we stopped at a vista point near Bridalveil Falls. This probably wasn’t the best idea we had on the trip but it led to a pretty fun memory. As we were walking up the trail, the rushing waterfall became more intense. By the time we reached the point, you couldn’t even look up because of the back splash of the falls onto the path. I tried staying a few seconds to get some photos (with my luckily waterproof camera) but that didn’t last too long. Within the literal minute that we were there, we were completely soaked.

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Finally reaching the southern point of the park, we parked and got on another shuttle – one of the last ones they had running by that time. As we drove further into Mariposa Grove we started to see more and more of the giants. I don’t think we realized how much there was to see out in the grove along the winding trails. We may have gotten caught up in the beginning areas when there was still some daylight peaking through the trees. Needless to say it was so worthwhile – definitely one of the best experiences of our time at Yosemite. We were able to see Grizzly Giant which is said to be the 25th largest living sequoia at 3,000 years old. We also walked through the California Tunnel tree (of course stopping for an impromptu photoshoot) and saw the Bachelor and Three Graces along the Grizzly Giant Loop Trail. This is a pretty moderate hike with only a few hundred feet of elevation gain and many different cutoff trails to wander around on.

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The shuttle got us back to the van as dusk was taking over. We ended up leaving Yosemite that night and finding yet another nice cozy spot in a Walmart parking lot in the nearby town of Merced to spend the night.