Yosemite!
I had heard so many good things about Yosemite and they were all right. I loved Yosemite! I will be returning to climb Half Dome sometime in the future. This place had everything I love: water, waterfalls, mountains, and beautiful scenery. We even left Callie for a day so we could do a more intense hike.
Our campsite
October 17: Dad dropped mom off at the shuttle in Petaluma while I prepared the trailer to pack up again. We were back down to two people so fitting things in the trailer was easier. We thankfully only had a 4 hour drive so we got to our campsite, Yosemite Lakes RV Resort, and got set up quickly. This RV park was seriously in the middle of nowhere. Wifi was limited to the office and even then it was limited. But we had a great view of the hills around us and some beautiful trees. I even saw deer that night while driving to the laundry. It was a bare bones campsite, but the closest one to the park which is what we needed.
Once we set up camp, we had a quick lunch and set off for Yosemite. We were only 5 miles away, but still about 40 minutes away from Yosemite Valley. We had planned for the first day to be the easy day since Callie was with us which restricted our hiking. We drove through incredible scenery to the valley and took in the views of El Capitan. Sadly we didn't notice any rock climbers that day, but I can't imagine climbing it. It was beautiful.
We were determined to get to the visitor center to find out the best thing to do for one day and to see if any hikes were dog-friendly. There is a lot of construction work on the roads in Yosemite so it took us awhile to find it. We basically drove all over the valley but we finally made it. We even found the gift store first to buy a few things (including my incredible new mug). I can't say enough good about the National Park visitor centers. We waited in a short line but the park ranger told us about two places to take Callie (both walking distance from there) and gave great recommendations for the following day. I think if I had grown up around the national parks, I might have wanted to become a park ranger. We ran back to the parking lot to grab Callie and went to view lower Yosemite Falls with her. We found a small pack of deer hanging out in the nearby woods but Callie didn't see them. She was taking in all of the smells on the trail and avoiding other dogs. The lower falls were beautiful and we enjoyed talking some photos. It had been warm when we arrived at the campsite so we had both changed into shorts and were now starting to feel the cold (others were in winter coats and scarves and we had on tshirts and shorts). We hit the second viewing point to be able to see the upper and lower falls. It was funny that a tree was mostly in the way of the best shots, but at least it wasn't something we put there. Then we walked across the street to the river which the ranger told us had some amazing views and was also dog-friendly. As we were walking toward the bridge, we saw a deer standing right on the trail. Callie has never seen a deer up close so it was interesting to see her response. She stood and stared for a bit (like she does with squirrels). When the deer finally looked up and decided to go join her family in the meadow, Callie wanted to run after her. She sniffed the spot the deer had been and tried to pull me again across the field. It was really cute. We did enjoy the amazing views from the bridge and then decided it was time to head back since the sun was starting to go down and we were cold!
October 18: I really wanted to enjoy one hike in Yosemite which meant leaving Callie in the trailer for the day. She doesn't seem to like being in it alone, but I was hoping she would just sleep and enjoy the quiet campsite. Dad and I took off to go hike to Vernal Falls. We again saw a little more of the Valley than we expected while figuring out where to go with the construction, but we made it and could easily find parking. This was my dad's first hike and I hoped it wasn't too horrible. It immediately started uphill and we tried to push it a little to get in front of the different school groups there (what an amazing field trip). We quickly realized that pushing it wasn't a good idea since neither of us were in great shape so we enjoyed a lot of "photo" breaks. We reached the Vernal Falls Footbridge and enjoyed the view. Then quickly noticed the path up from there were steep rock stairs. Again there were a lot of "photo" breaks and the view from every angle was incredible. We were close enough to the waterfall to feel the mist and could hear the power it was hitting with. I loved it! It was a nice climb but fun and doable. At the top of the falls is a huge sitting area on the rock where most people were eating their lunch. Dad and I enjoyed a snack and decided to take the "easier, less crowded" way down. This route actually took us up a bit further, which allowed us to see the Nevada Falls and then continued up for a bit more. This route had less steep steps but was still challenging. We finally hit the top of that path and started down the many hatchbacks back to the start. This might have been my favorite day of the trip so far. The scenery was incredible, the weather was perfect, and the hike was just challenging enough. And even better, dad survived and enjoyed it! I was hoping he would but wasn't sure when we started the day. He also enjoyed taking pictures as much as I did.
We enjoyed our PB&J sandwiches while enjoying the view of El Capitan and then drove to Glacier Point to see the views from there. Glacier Point is quite a drive from the valley and the turnoff road is full of switchbacks. We just kept going up and I couldn't wait to see the view. We stopped at the other viewpoint up there first and couldn't believe the panoramic view. Half Dome looked huge from up here (yes, I wondered why I would want to climb it). The valley looked so much lower and we just stood there and took in the sites. Then it was off to Glacier Point (just a little further down the road) and again, just took it all in. This is the must view point in Yosemite. Everything is perfectly laid out below you and you can see for miles. We again, just stood there awhile and took it in. Amazing how nature can be so incredible. I will definitely be back here sometime in the near future.
But now it was time to head back to the trailer to see Callie. It was a little over an hour back to the trailer (and we were at the closest campground off Yosemite ground). Callie was a little too happy to see us and I don't think she slept at all that day. We were hoping to go to the community center and watch the Cubs game after dinner. Sadly the community center didn't get Fox Sports so we would occasionally get in the car to listen to the radio and catch the score. It wasn't a good game for us, so we were ok with missing it. We mostly just enjoyed the night by reading and resting. We had to get up nice and early the next morning to head to Vegas (where dad was flying back to Chicago).
Had to keep the trend going with the Yosemite sign
She really doesn't love these pictures
I loved this sign for some reason. I didn't speed in any National Parks, which is impressive for me
Our first view of Yosemite with El Capitan and Half Dome
Beautiful
Down along the river
Dad testing his photographer skills
And poor Callie watched from the car
View of Bridalveil Falls from the valley
El Capitan!
My car looks so nice in front of El Capitan
Upper Yosemite Falls (which was dry 2 days before. Thank goodness for the rain while we were in Napa)
Lower Yosemite Falls
So powerful and beautiful
And of course the shot with Callie
View on the walk
Upper and lower Yosemite Falls
The trail to lower Yosemite Falls
Half Dome!
The deer hanging out near the trail
Callie really wanted to play
What a view
On the drive back to the trailer, we stopped at our viewpoint and saw the sun setting over Yosemite Valley. I would have loved to stay a little longer, but we were too cold. We enjoyed the rest of the pasta from the night before and I had to do laundry. We then spent some time at the community room to get a little access to wifi. We even enjoyed a little of The Voice since it was on the tv. Sadly the wifi was pretty slow, so we went back to the trailer and got a good night sleep
Sunset views on the way back to the trailer
October 18: I really wanted to enjoy one hike in Yosemite which meant leaving Callie in the trailer for the day. She doesn't seem to like being in it alone, but I was hoping she would just sleep and enjoy the quiet campsite. Dad and I took off to go hike to Vernal Falls. We again saw a little more of the Valley than we expected while figuring out where to go with the construction, but we made it and could easily find parking. This was my dad's first hike and I hoped it wasn't too horrible. It immediately started uphill and we tried to push it a little to get in front of the different school groups there (what an amazing field trip). We quickly realized that pushing it wasn't a good idea since neither of us were in great shape so we enjoyed a lot of "photo" breaks. We reached the Vernal Falls Footbridge and enjoyed the view. Then quickly noticed the path up from there were steep rock stairs. Again there were a lot of "photo" breaks and the view from every angle was incredible. We were close enough to the waterfall to feel the mist and could hear the power it was hitting with. I loved it! It was a nice climb but fun and doable. At the top of the falls is a huge sitting area on the rock where most people were eating their lunch. Dad and I enjoyed a snack and decided to take the "easier, less crowded" way down. This route actually took us up a bit further, which allowed us to see the Nevada Falls and then continued up for a bit more. This route had less steep steps but was still challenging. We finally hit the top of that path and started down the many hatchbacks back to the start. This might have been my favorite day of the trip so far. The scenery was incredible, the weather was perfect, and the hike was just challenging enough. And even better, dad survived and enjoyed it! I was hoping he would but wasn't sure when we started the day. He also enjoyed taking pictures as much as I did.
The rocks just hanging on the side of the cliffs were impressive
The Vernal Falls are in there somewhere
Lovely river running over the rocks
600 stairs like this to the top
View from the top
Vernal Falls!
Perfection
The top of the waterfall looked almost like a waterside
On our way back down (yet still had to go up to get down)
Nevada Falls in the background
One of the best views of Vernal Falls
Another happy spot for me
Our path down was beautiful with all the changing colors.
View from Glacier Point
We had just hiked to Vernal Falls. It looked so small from up here
Half Dome!
You can see both sets of waterfalls. It felt like we climbed so high on that hike until we saw this.
