Yosemite and Other National Parks of California: Five Days of Hiking, Camping, Rafting, and Lagom Adventuring!

Since visiting Yosemite National Park and writing my original blog post, wildfires have consumed thousands (and I mean many thousands) of acres in and around the park. Men and women have risked their lives for the people, animals, and natural wonders of that area and unfortunately some gave the ultimate sacrifice.

When I originally started writing this post after coming home from our visit to Yosemite, I wanted to share all the magnificent wonders and experiences we had, but now this post means so much more. Many of the areas we were in are now scorched earth. The smoke reached all the to the east coast!

So this is dedicated to all the men and women who fight to protect our country’s natural landscapes and those that reside in and around them. Whether it be from wildfires, erosion, global warming, or the many other environmental and man-made factors that have an effect on the natural wonders that we should hold most dear, these people put their life on the line so that people like us can experience these precious places and have the adventures of our lives. And never forget those that fought the fight but are no longer with us.

So here it goes…Lagom Adventures goes to Yosemite!!

Growing up in the “Show-Me” state, I’ve learned you “Go big or go home.”  So when this small town, Missouri girl gets permits to hike Half Dome, she does just that!  As nervous as I was to go up that mountain, I was even more excited to visit a place that some say is pure magic:  Yosemite National Park!

I was granted the max number of permits to hike Half Dome on Monday, June 18th, so naturally one of those was for my best friend and adventure partner, Caroline.  Two more permits went to my two other favorite travel buddies, my mom and sister, Lindsey.  Finally, one of our fellow Lagom Adventurers, Crystal, was brave enough to attempt the once in a lifetime hike and decided she would meet us out there as well.  With our team in place, it was time to make other preparations for the grand trip!

First, we needed to decide exactly how we were going to get there.  Caroline’s son, Hunter, graduated in May, so they decided that they were going to make a family road trip out of it.  I’m sure my family would have been welcomed to tag along with Caroline and her family on the drive out there, but we didn’t want to intrude.  So Caroline planned on meeting us Monday morning, the day of the hike.  Crystal’s daughter had her first dance recital the weekend we were going to be gone, so she decided to catch a flight and meet us out there on Sunday and crash with us the next two nights.  So now what did we want to do???

My mom automatically assumed that we would drive out there.  I mean we’ve driven all over this country (47 of the continental 48 states to be exact for me) and had already made one road trip to Joshua Tree National Park in December, so no big deal right?  However, Lindsey and I had one big concern:  altitude sickness.

We’ve been in higher elevations than Yosemite’s Half Dome, but we’ve never attempted this kind of hike.  This was going to be the highest, longest day hike we’ve ever made, so we didn’t want to take any chances.  It is suggested that to combat altitude sickness, one must stay hydrated and spend several days “at altitude” doing smaller hikes before attempting an extensive hike like Half Dome.  Well, with our time constraints, the only way to accomplish that was to fly.  After Lindsey and I did quite a bit of research and got some pretty decent prices on tickets, it actually wasn’t as hard to convince Mom as I thought it would be.  So we booked our flights!  We would be flying into Fresno on Thursday and renting a car to drive around the park, hiking Half Dome on Monday, and then flying back home on Tuesday.

Next, we needed to plan sleeping arrangements.  The majority of people would probably try to book a hotel room since they would be flying out, but that’s just not how we roll.  I knew that backpackers who travel the world take their gear with them and didn’t stay in hotels.  And we had legit backpacking tents, sleeping bags, and other equipment meant to pack up really small, so I talked Lindsey and Mom into just camping while we were out there.  (It would be considerably cheaper too!)

I gave a weak attempt at looking for an open campsite inside of the park, but I figured all reservable sites were booked (true) and I just am not a fan of the “first come, first serve” sites (too risky).  So I went to my new favorite website, Hipcamp.  We had a good experience when we used it when we went to Joshua Tree, so I felt comfortable giving it another go.  And gratefully we found a private campground about 40 minutes outside of Yosemite in Mariposa:  Sanctuary of the Oaks.

Now that our flights and campsite had been booked, the last thing I needed to do was pack.  We each took our daypacks as our “personal item” and Mom and Lindsey had small luggage bags as their “carry on.”  I ended up taking my larger backpack with all my clothes.  We checked our “gear bag,” which was a large luggage bag that my mom had that had been used one time when I took a trip to Chicago in high school.  With some engineering skills, I was able to get 3 sets of trekking poles, 3 sleeping bags, 3 air pads, 3 harnesses with carabiners and tie offs, 2 tents with foot prints, 2 pairs of garden gloves, 1 down pillow and jacket, hiking boots, trail runners, chacos, and an Atlas!!  And it came in right under the 50 pound weight limit!!

DAY 1

We left for the airport in St. Louis about 2:30 in the morning.  As always, moments of panic consumed me on whether I brought everything I needed or not.  We parked in the parking lot and got on the shuttle.  For once, I was thankful that Mom was lingering behind us…because I forgot to turn the car off!!  Her Yukon has a push start and I just grabbed the key and never pushed it to turn it off!  I wonder if it would’ve had enough gas to still be running when we got back from California?

After we got through security, used the restroom, and sat down to wait to board, I realized that I didn’t have my cellphone!  I instantly remembered setting it down on the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom.  I ran back across the airport, knowing that by that time someone had to have taken it.  To my relief, I was wrong.  Whew!!  I had already dodged two bullets that morning.  We were hopeful that this wasn’t a premonition of how the rest of our week was going to go.

We boarded one tin can that smelled like pee, only to board another one in Denver where we had a short layover.  (Oh, and I left my $4.50 water on the first plane of course.). But other than the tight quarters and the questionable smells, the views from the sky were amazing!  You could pretty easily make out what state you were in by the terrain below.  From the plains, Rocky Mountains, desert, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and finally the orchard fields outside of Fresno, it was gorgeous!

Once we off boarded the plane, we stopped and picked up our rental car. Note: Be sure you let your bank know you’re going to be out of state. Lindsey and I both had holds on our debit cards that we had to call and get fixed. We figured this out when getting our car, which led to a lengthy delay.

Our rental was a Jeep, appropriately. A red Jeep, even more appropriately! However, we hadn’t even got pass the first stop sign, when we almost took it back! As Lindsey came to a stop it made a little noise kind of like a gurgle and acted like it was going to die! Very reminiscent of my old car in high school…. It didn’t die that time because we didn’t come to a complete stop so we kept going, but we soon figured out every time we came to a complete stop, it did die!! However, as soon as you lifted your foot off the brake, it came back to life!! Also to our surprise, as she was driving, she thought something was wrong because the steering wheel kept jerking around, against what she was wanting it to do!

Come to find out these were both features of the car. The car dying, was making it “eco-friendly” and the other was driver’s assist. The car somehow knew when you would get too close to the centerline or side of the road and would automatically pull you back where it wanted you. You could imagine it did that a lot to Lindsey and I on all those mountainous, curvy roads in the area. The car got cussed at more than once during the week!

Next we headed to camp!

Sanctuary of the Oaks was the name of the private campground outside of Mariposa, CA. It was a nice, clean campground that the owners put a lot of thought into. They had showers, a clean toilet (of the pit variety, but still clean), and a large, covered communal cooking area. As long as you can handle a donkey being your alarm in the morning, it met all our expectations. Side note: We had a horse who liked to pee uphill from our tent for a neighbor in Joshua Tree. There’s just something about us and animals of the equine variety!

While setting up camp, the camp hosts came down and introductions were made. After a little bit of small talk we told them what our plans were and they gave us some good advice that I’m going to share with you…

When you enter the park for the first time from the West Entrance it’s only natural for people to follow the road straight into Yosemite Valley where one gets views of the wonders from the bottom, looking up. And it is absolutely gorgeous! But upon the advice of our camp hosts, our first view was just a little different.  Instead of going straight into the Valley, we hung a right beforehand and went on up the mountain to Tunnel View.

Tunnel View is the perfect place to see several of Yosemite’s most iconic landmarks:  Bridalveil Falls, El Capitan, and Half Dome!  You can aim your camera straight down the valley and capture all three in the same picture.  This was the first place that I saw Half Dome in person, and my first wave of anxiety quickly swept through my body.  My head was saying, “You’re going to climb that?!”  This is a must stop in the park and it’s accessible to anybody.  No hiking involved.

After spending some time gawking at Tunnel View, we decided to head back down the mountain towards the Valley.  Along the way is the turn off for Bridalveil Fall Trail.  Bridalveil Falls is one of the first prominent waterfalls you encounter when entering the park from the West Entrance.  The trail itself is just a short quarter of a mile, one way.  The water flows year round, but in the spring when the waters are flowing the strongest, it may be almost impossible to get to the end of the trail.  You will get wet on this trail.

As the day was coming to a close, instead of going on into the Valley we turned back around towards Tunnel View and decided to keep going up the mountain to hang out at Glacier Point to watch sunset.

I know I said Tunnel View is where you can get one of the most iconic pictures at Yosemite, but probably the most picturesque place in the park is Glacier Point. The views just smack you in the face! Especially Half Dome!

From Glacier Point you can see Vernal, Nevada, and Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, Yosemite Valley…and Half Dome became even more intimidating! It’s absolutely breathtaking up there. I almost had to pinch myself because I just couldn’t believe where I was and what I was seeing. All the pictures from the internet just don’t do the magnificence of Yosemite justice!

 

We stayed up there for quite awhile, trying to patiently wait for the sunset. But it had been such a long day that we ended up going on down the mountain before the sun set completely. Plus my anxiety was reaching a breaking point from watching people stand too close to the edge in certain areas or dangling their feet over the cliff’s edge!

It took quite a bit of time to get back down to the bottom of Yosemite Valley and as the sky darkened we could see the lanterns of the mountain climbers on the face of El Capitan. I could not imagine hanging perilously off the side of a rock face, let alone “camping” on the side of one!!

It had been a long day one, and by the time we got back to the town of Mariposa, we were starved. It was already after 10:00 at night and we were concerned we wouldn’t find anything still open. Hallelujah for the Burger King though! Just like Caroline and mine’s trip to Indiana, Burger King became our saving grace. Even health conscience Lindsey scarfed down those burgers and fries! We ate on the road and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my mat at camp. Tomorrow was going to be another tiring day, but I didn’t know how tiring….

Day 2

The only plan we had for day 2 was to hike our first trail in Yosemite. Since we only had the one trail planned, we took the time to get some good breakfast.

For breakfast, we stopped at the Sugar Pine Cafe in Mariposa. It was a quaint little diner that was obviously the place to go by the crowd inside. We decided to save time and eat at the bar and watch the chef in action.

They had a typical breakfast menu, but a few choices were items that you don’t find in the typical breakfast joint at home. So, of course, I went with the special of the day….sweet potato “toast” with bacon and eggs on top! Basically, they thinly cut a sweet potato lengthwise and throw it on the griddle to cook. It was delicioso!! Muah! Muah!

As I stated earlier, to combat altitude sickness, it’s suggested to attempt shorter, easier hikes at altitude before attempting something like Half Dome. I had several hikes on my list, and my original thought was that we’d have time to do at least a couple of them in a day.

One hike I knew for certain I wanted to do as a “warm-up” was the  Upper Yosemite Falls Trail.  (Don’t get it confused with the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail.)

I’d like to consider myself a pretty knowledgeable day hiker. I’m pretty comfortable researching trails and being able to predict the difficulty levels of these trails for myself and those that often hike with me. So when I was doing my research for our warm-up hike(s), I felt pretty comfortable with the “stats” for the  Upper Yosemite Falls Trail. On paper, it says it’s 3 miles to the top of Yosemite Falls and an elevation gain of roughly 3,000 feet.

A 7 mile hike didn’t seem like a big deal for us.  But what I really didn’t think about was what 3,000 feet in elevation gain would do to us, particularly “at elevation.”  Lesson learned…

As I stated earlier, we spent some time getting a good breakfast in the morning.  Then we also made a stop at the park store and messed around a little bit.  So we didn’t actually even get on the trail until around 11:00 a.m.  The trail immediately started zig-zagging up the side of the mountain.  Lindsey powered on up them, but Mom and I took our time and stayed back.  We probably weren’t even 10 switchbacks in before we started “feeling it.”

A few switchbacks later I made the mistake of asking someone if we “are almost to the top?”  She looked at me a little quizzically, and said “yea, not too much farther.”  So that got me going a little bit.  However, I was asking if we were almost to the top of the falls (which were out of sight at this point), but that’s not what she meant…

It was also around this first leg of the hike that I started getting concerned about my Mom.  She was taking more and more breaks and was really moving slow.  Prior to coming she had come down with a severe cold and I knew she hadn’t been feeling well, so I figured that was what was going on.  When I asked her, she said her throat was killing her and she just wasn’t able to take very good breaths.  But when she told me her one leg felt a little numb, I really started to worry.  After asking her several times if we needed to turn back and she giving me “the look,” we kept on.

When one finally makes it to the top of the first set of switchbacks, there’s a nice outcropping with a great view of the valley.  This is actually called Columbia Rock.  We found out that day, that most people just hike to that point and stop.  We weren’t even close to getting to the top of the falls!  That just wasn’t going to do it for me.  I was determined to get to the top of the falls.  And where I went, my mom was determined to stick with me.

So we zigged…and we zagged some more up the mountainside….then we went DOWN!!!  At this point, I was getting frustrated.  It’s hard to get to the top of a waterfall while walking downhill!  But we continued.  As we circled around the side of the mountain, we came face to face with Yosemite Falls.  It was magnificent!!  But we were probably only a third of the way to the top.

With a little ziggity here…and a little zaggity there, we continued our trek up the towards the top of Yosemite Falls.  Once you get above the treeline, you are gifted with nonstop amazing views of Yosemite Valley and sheer mountainsides.  The disheartening part of this section of the trail, is that every time you look up, you don’t look like you’ve made any progress towards the top!  And mom and I were exhausted!!  We found ourselves stopping and sitting down at the end of each switchback.  Then we started tag-teaming them!  Mom would sit as I went to the end of a switchback.  Then I would sit down and wait for Mom to come to me.  We continued in that fashion through most of the upper section of the trail.  It was like we were marking our territory at the end of each switchback.

In all honesty, this was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do!  We were just “wasted.”  But by God, I kept telling Mom that at that point we couldn’t stop.  It probably was extremely stupid of us, because I’m sure we were feeling the effects of the elevation, but I was determined.  So we kept going.  Slowly but surely, we finally made it to the top of Yosemite Falls!!

When we made it to this point, there were so many people that we met along the trail, (who passed us along the way) that just started cheering for us.  (Actually, many people passed us going up and coming back down.)  One young couple of friends even told Mom, “I can’t believe you made it, you are a like legend!  True badass!”  So we obviously left an impression on the way up.  LOL.  If I were to guess, most people thought that we weren’t going to make it.  And to be honest, I’m almost shocked we did.

At the top of the falls is a gorgeous wooden bridge that expands across the waters

approaching the drop off of the falls.  It was here that Lindsey met us after having already climbed even further to Yosemite Point.  I guess I had a little bit of an adrenaline rush because when Lindsey asked me if I wanted to walk the extra mile up higher to Yosemite Point, I agreed.  Mom was pooped and decided to make her home on the bridge.

So up I climbed to Yosemite Point.  About halfway up, the adrenaline wore off and I kept asking myself….”why did you do this?”  But once again, I kept going.  Lindsey wasn’t lying.  If you ever make it to the top of Yosemite Falls, go ahead and torture yourself some more and go to Yosemite Point.  The views of Yosemite Valley are jaw-dropping!  From that point I had climbed 3,700 feet above the Valley floor (over 6,000 feet above sea level).

Sidenote:  There is an overlook that you can go on that takes you to a ledge just above the falls, so that you can look straight down the falls.  Due to my exhaustion and fear of heights, I just wasn’t brave enough to tackle that.  Semi disappointed that I didn’t try to go out there.

Second Sidenote:  Right before you get to the top of Yosemite Falls, you will see a trail take off in another direction towards El Capitan, according to the sign.  After later research I found out that the brave men and women who tackle the climb up the face of El Capitan use the Upper Yosemite Falls trail to hike back down afterwards.  I would also like to hike to the top of El Capitan and greet a mountain climber at the top.  (Bucketlist Item)

It was getting late in the day, and I realized….I had to find the energy to get back down!  As hard as climbing “up” can be, going “down” can be just downright PAINFUL!  And this was SUPER PAINFUL!  This was the point of the hike that my crappy knees had decided they’d had enough!  One knee in particular had been giving me trouble, and quite honestly had me in tears more than once on the descent.

Once again, Mom and I slowly worked our way down the THOUSAND switchbacks!!  (Okay, there aren’t a thousand switchback, but it sure felt like it.  I believe 270 switchbacks to be exact!!  Loooooonnnng switchbacks).  Once again, Lindsey went ahead of us.

Mom and I kept trekking, but slowly the light began to fade.  Before we knew it, we were in total darkness coming down from Columbia Rock.  We had our head lamps, but navigating that strenuous, rocky trail in the dark was not easy.  My mother was especially displeased with our current situation.  I have a feeling thoughts of bears jumping out and getting us was running through our head.  Lindsey said she could see all the little flashlights heading down the mountain.  She only hoped we were ones near the bottom.

FINALLY, Mom and I made it to the bottom!!  After getting a little turned around in the campground at the bottom of the trail, we finally found Lindsey in our Jeep.  I’m pretty sure I moaned the rest of the way to camp.

According to my Mom’s watch:  245 flights of stairs, 3,962 calories, 24,400 steps, 10.1 miles….in 10 hours!!!  Over 3,700 feet gained in 5 miles.  By far the toughest hike I have ever done (including the 18 miles or so hiking to Half Dome)!  The views were amazing!!  Was it worth it?  Yes!  Will I do it again?  Ummmmmm……

Once again, Burger King was our savior that night heading back to camp.  Nom nom nom!!!

Day 3

The following day we decided to take a break from Yosemite and hiking.  We were just beat!  So we headed the little over 3 hours south to Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Park!  It was time to escape the big mountains and experience the largest redwood trees in the world!!

We entered the park at it’s southern edge in Sequoia NP and worked our way North towards King’s Canyon and back towards Yosemite.  Being a weekend, traffic was pretty heavy, so we found a parking spot at one of the first visitors center’s and decided to take the shuttle provided by the park to the attractions we wanted to see.  The two biggest attractions for us were:

• General Sherman:  The General Sherman is the largest tree (by volume) in the world.  It stands at 275 feet tall and measures 36 feet around.  By far one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.  I’ve seen the Redwoods in North California, but the Giant Sequoia is in a league of it’s own!  After waiting in line with the tourists (we aren’t tourists, we are adventurers!) to get the famous picture, we hopped on the shuttle and headed to a few more stops.  Take note:  Do not cut in line to get a picture with General Sherman!  Or photobomb others!!  The tourists don’t take kindly to that!!  (We were just witnesses, not culprits!)
  

  
• General Grant:  After getting back in our car and heading North through the park, we ended up in King’s Canyon NP.  The parks are basically two parks in one.  King’s Canyon is most famous for it’s canyon that you can drive through.  (We did not because it would take us several more hours in the wrong direction from camp.)  But it is also the home to the General Grant tree.  General Grant is the second largest tree in the world and just as breathtaking as General Sherman.

  

We saw many other giant trees and some of the prettiest forests I’ve ever seen.  I would love to spend more time actually hiking in Sequoia and drive through King’s Canyon, but we just didn’t have time this trip.  (Another Bucketlist Item).

Day 4

On the way home from Sequoia, we decided to explore take on Yosemite via raft!  From the majestic views in the park looking down on Yosemite Valley, you can see the winding Merced River and several rafters.  However, the river conditions in Yosemite Valley seemed to be more of a “float.”  The kind of rafting trips we go on here in Missouri to basically just lounge and have a drink or two on.

For this trip, we wanted to step out of our comfort zone a bit and go Whitewater Rafting!!  We’d passed several advertisements going in to the park, so after a few phone calls, we chose Zephyr Whitewater Expeditions.  Their office was right outside of the main entrance to Yosemite near the town of El Portal.  We chose the 1/2 day trip since Crystal was arriving in the park that afternoon.

After getting assigned to a raft and guide, our adventure began!  It was already starting to get late in the year for whitewater rafting, but we still got to experience class 2, 3, and 4 rapids!  Our guide, Tim, was very knowledgeable and did a great job of leading us down the river.  We really got to work those arms and abs!

They had all the rapids named names like “Shark Fin” (the class 4).  I won’t lie, I was a little nervous after our first rapid.  And it was just a class 2!!  I thought it was pretty sketchy, and my anxiety spiked a bit.  However, after a few more rapids with Tim at the helm, I got pretty comfortable.  You could tell he had the raft well under control and knew what the heck he was doing.

Tim also provided us with a lot of both useful and very interesting useless information throughout the trip.  There was plenty of “float” time in between rapids to get to know one another, as well as the other passengers in our raft.  One thing I learned about our guide was that this was a career for him.  He’d been all over the world rafting.  Basically he followed the seasons.  In winter he told me you would find him guiding overnight whitewater excursions on the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park.  (Yet another Bucketlist Item!)

I’m sure it’s not always an easy life, but how cool would it be to do something like whitewater raft for a living?

After getting back to Zephyr headquarters, it was time to head back in the park to meet Crystal.  We settled on the pizza place and just chilled and waited.  Once Crystal finally got to us from the airport, which seemed like quite an adventure in of itself for her, we took her around and showed her a few of the sites:  Lower Yosemite Falls, pointed out Upper Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, Tunnel View, and finally up to Glacier Point for her to take it all in.

Afterwards it was time to head to camp….tomorrow was going to be a big day!

Day 5

Half Dome Day!!!  I’m not going to say much here other than….WOW!!  We felt like Half Dome deserved it’s own post, so if you would like more details go here!  But here’s a few pics:

After our hike we headed back to Caroline’s hotel and soaked our feet in the pool, scarfed down some food, and drank a few adult beverages.  It was a memorable day for sure.

Day 6

It was time for our trip to Yosemite to come to an end.  Since Crystal was flying out from San Francisco and Caroline’s family road trip was taking her that way as well, we met them in Mariposa for another delicious breakfast at the Sugar Pine Cafe.

Afterwards, we headed to Fresno to catch our flight that would take us to Phoenix and then back to “The Lou.”  The Grand Canyon from above…..well you can only imagine…

When we finally made it back to the parking lot at the airport we only had one more obstacle to overcome….getting out of it!!  I picked up right where I left off.  I left the parking ticket in the dash, which had to be scanned to exit.  Well, who would have thought about the sun fading  the ticket to the point it was no longer readable!!!!  After an extended delay, we finally got help from a parking manager who let us out.  Farmington, watch out!  We were on our way back home!

PSA: If you’re ever given the opportunity to travel to these special places and check that bucket list item off….do it!!! Don’t wait!!! Life is unpredictable and you may never get the opportunity to go again. Or, something like these wildfires could destroy what you wanted to see before you ever got to truly experience it. We were lucky. It wasn’t even a few weeks, when the places we’d gotten  to take in we’re dealing with the effects of these devastating fires.