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Our trip was designed specifically for the final act, Yosemite. We left Carson City and came in through the east side of the huge national park, staying in a quaint inn west of the park. Navigating the park is not easy, but we had a game plan to see the most popular sights, and throw in some fun hikes at the same time. Coming in from the east, we stopped at Mono Lake and Mt. Dana before we entered from Tioga Road. Unfortunately we ran into some traffic issues on our trip in, due to construction and a high volume of people at the east gate, but we got into the park around 1pm. Over the course of the next day and a half, we hiked 5 different trails and saw a whole lot of beauty, both large and small.

Yosemite

Near Topaz Lake, we suddenly came to a standstill for a half hour on the highway, waiting for some construction to happen ahead.

07/20/17—07/29/17

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Mono Lake is a large, shallow, saline lake near Lee Vining. The islands in the middle were what captured our attention. We saw a California topo map in the visitor center, showing all the Sierra Nevada mountains along the east.

Wednesday

Continuing on Tioga Road (Hwy 120), we started to hit snowy mountains, including Mt. Dana (13,000’) behind me and Dana and Gaylor Peak (11,000’) below.

There were too many places to stop in Yosemite, so we picked the ones we really wanted, and then threw in a few more to allow us to stretch our legs. Our first stop was Olmsted Point.

We came to another near standstill, but realized it was because we were approaching the park entrance. Madeline got out of the car and walked a quarter mile to take a photo of the Yosemite sign. We were finally here!

Yosemite Falls is located in the valley and has a total drop of about 2,425’. We walked about a half mile to get to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Fall. El Capitan is the most famous granite rock in Yosemite, rising about 3,500’ above the valley floor.

Hotel Charlotte was our home for 2 nights. Located in Groveland, a half hour outside the park, it basically is just a 2-story building with a dozen or so house-like rooms on the 2nd floor. It was our first time having a room to ourselves, although we shared a bathroom with Dana.

Thursday

We had a fairly long drive up to our first stop of the day, which was Glacier Point. We hiked a mile round trip to get a glimpse down into the valley, which was about 3,200’ below our 7,200’ rock formation elevation. We had panoramic views west of Yosemite Fall, past Half Dome, and then all the way east to Nevada and Vernal Falls.

Down from Glacier Point was a parking lot that took us to two trails. The first we took was Sentinel Dome, which was about 2.2 miles roundtrip with a 400’ elevation rise towards the end to get to an over 8,100’ elevation. From here, we could see from El Capitan over to Half Dome.

We had packed a lunch, which we ate near the car before we took off to Taft Point. This was a very different 2.2 mile roundtrip hike, as it began through a dense pine forest until we actually could walk down 200’ to the point. Dana stayed back, but Madeline and I ventured on the path, which took us by some deep crevices and some sheer fissures down to the valley below. Yes, that’s Madeline out on the edge of that cliff! The railed area was at 7,503’, and was a straight down drop-off, but we got a good view of El Capitan and more.

Glacier PointSentinel DomeTaft PointBridalveil Fall

Our last hike of the day was only 1/2 mile roundtrip to Bridalveil Fall. This fall is 617’ high, but it was cool and refreshing after our long day of hiking.

Outside of the huge falls, cliffs, rock formations, and massive forests, Yosemite also had beauty in smaller things, like some mule deer eating in a meadow, and a lovely butterfly on a flower. Thus ended our trip to this beautiful national park. It was worth the wait.