Visiting Yosemite - what could possibly go wrong?
Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at 12:31PM
Yosemite sunrise, Day One
Visitors are facing unprecedented traffic gridlock while attempting to enter Yosemite National Park this holiday weekend. Outdoor enthusiasts reported long wait times before making it through the world-famous park’s gates. One visitor said traffic ground to a halt 80 miles outside of Yosemite Valley, and continued crawling at a snail’s pace for three hours, before they finally reached a parking space. KRON 4, July 3, 2023
Highway 120 west entrance to Yosemite on July 11, 2023 at 5:50am. Crickets.
Canceled and delayed flights. Crowded venues. Extremely hot temperatures. Over-priced lodging and meals. Changed hiking plans. While it seemed that anything that could go wrong on our trip to Yosemite National Park last week did go wrong.
Our Minnesota hiking group
Had we known a year ago when planning this trip that:
- Extreme snowfall damage in the Sierra Nevadas would lead to park road closures and inaccessibility of many hiking trailheads.
- Pent up demand for travel would lead to record-breaking numbers of visitors to Yosemite’s limited areas that are open.
- A global heatwave would shoot temperatures up to near 100 degrees - even in the mountains
- Sun Country’s labor shortage would cause flight cancellations and delays
we might have gone somewhere else. Still we managed to have a good time.
Typical view, Ho, hum.
Given the publicity around the excessive wait times for park entry (see above), we entered the park early - the first day before 6am - before the rangers manned the entry booths. I have the senior pass for National Parks (best $10 I ever spent), so payment was not an issue. It would waiting for others to pay and ask 300 questions of the ranger that I was worried about.
We found an early parking spot at Curry Village and left the car parked there for the day, taking a shuttle to see the iconic wonders of the park. The upside to large snow falls over the winter was is that the waterfalls were in full roar. Besides the shuttle, we walked a lot including a hike to Mirror Lake and did most of our sightseeing by early afternoon. We did all the “must-sees” on the first day in the park.
Our campsite in the park
The extremely hot weather and closed planned hiking trail led Heidi and me to decide to do day hikes instead of the backpacking trip we had planned. Our day hikes were in less popular areas of Yosemite - Wawoma’s Swinging Bridge Trail along the Merced River and the Grizzly Giant Loop in the Mariposa Sequoia area. Again, we finished by early afternoon and spent the hottest parts of the afternoon napping and reading in air conditioned comfort.
Merced River on hike to Mirror Lake
Besides the hiking and good company of Heidi’s daughter, son-in-law, and a couple friends, I especially enjoyed driving the constantly looping roads through the mountains around the park. I had not realized just how big a park Yosemite actually is in square miles and driving time! With the exception of a motorcyclist who passed us doing about 100 mph on a blind, sharp curve, most drivers were pretty good.
Along the Grizzley Giant Loop through a sequoia grove.
The canceled flight that delayed our arrival in San Francisco by a day meant that we did not get to see the city as we had planned at the beginning of the trip. We did, however, get to spent most of our last day before our evening flight home, driving through the town, viewing the Golden Gate Bridge, and touring the military remnants of The Presidio. I was hoping to see Dirty Harry or Steve McQueen barrelling up and down the city’s hills in fast cars, but no such luck.
A small forest fire within the park made for hazy skies but great photos
Trips (like most of life) don’t always go the way they’re planned. But we stoics manage to have a good time anyway. Good memories and on to the next adventure!
A visit to Golden Gate Bridge and the The Presidio before the flight home.
More photos can be found here.
Reader Comments (1)
Wow, great pictures. Thanks for sharing.