Yosemite National Park: Beautiful, Awe-Inspiring, and Exhausting
Written: Oct 01 '09 (Updated Oct 01 '09)
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Pros: It's a national park for a reason!
Cons: Boy, was it crowded and expensive.
The Bottom Line: Do go, but maybe not on a holiday weekend.
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| chelledun's Full Review: Yosemite National Park |
A week at Yosemite National Park is almost certainly insufficient to see the whole 1200 miles of it, and mr_chelledun and I had a measly two days. Still, we covered some ground in our short time there, and I feel qualified to tell you that you should be sure to visit this popular park at least once in your lifetime. Just be sure to bring your wallet!
Know Before You Go
Yosemite National Park is located approximately a three hour drive east of the San Francisco/Napa area. It probably took us closer to four, thanks to the crazy Memorial Day weekend traffic and the fact that we were heading to the park's south side. We kind of didn't think about the fact that we were visiting during this holiday when we planned our trip and, had we, probably would have flip-flopped our itinerary to avoid doing so.
Lodging at Yosemite is a bit of a challenge. Even the valley's most luxurious hotel, the Ahwahnee, gets hit and miss reviews despite its $400+ per night price tag ($600 during our visit!). Other valley options are a good bit more rustic, and include Yosemite Lodge and Curry Meadows campground. If you don't stay in the valley, you can do in-park lodging at the historic Wawona hotel near Mariposa Grove or stay slightly outside the park at one of many resorts to the north or south. Be warned: it will take at least one hour to get into the valley if you stay out side it, and parking can be very difficult on a busy weekend.
We decided to skip staying in-park in favor of a resort slightly to the south, Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite, which is very conveniently located to Mariposa Grove. I don't regret this decision for our two-day stay, as we would been making one hour long commute to see Mariposa Grove even had we stayed in the valley. For a longer trip, though, a daily trek back and forth would quickly have become tiresome.
Our Yosemite Experience
Although we were in a bit of a time crunch, we managed to see three of what our Yosemite ranger referred to as the "big four: " 1) Glacier Point; 2) Mariposa Grove; and 3) Yosemite Falls. We didn't make it to 4) Tolumne Meadows, which is on the north side of the park. The following is a quickie review of the things we did/saw during our two day visit.
After a four hour drive to the south side of Yosemite, we had little desire to travel another hour into the valley on our first day. This was no matter, as our hotel was just a few minutes away from Mariposa Grove, a perfect half-day destination. We loved wandering slowly among the majestic giant sequoias, with highlights including the giant Grizzly Giant Tree and the walk-through California Tunnel Tree. The Mariposa Grove trail is about 1.7 miles one way, and was a little more uphill than we expected. Due to our very early morning and long drive, we were kind of exhausted by the time we got to the Mariposa Grove "museum" (a small log cabin previously operated by Yosemite's first resident ranger. Fortunately, we happened upon a touring tram at the top and were given a free ride back to the bottom. I believe the round trip tram ride is normally around $20.00.
On our second day, we made the hour-long trek into Yosemite Valley to take an 8:00 a.m. tour. We opted for a "one-way" Glacier Point Tour, which involved scenic transportation up to the top of the point at which time we were left on our own to hike back down to the valley via the popular Four Mile Trail (which is closer to five miles). A round-trip tour is also available. Do book ahead, because I know for a fact our excursion was sold out. At $25.00 per person, this two hour bus ride was well worth the money. Our driver gave us a lot of information about the valley and its history, pointed out rock climbers, and led us up the nerve-wracking windy road with a minimum of effort. The view from the top of Glacier Point is amazing, and includes Yosemite Falls, Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, and Half Dome.
The hike down Four Mile Trail is well worth the effort, if a little hard on the knees. We took literally hundreds of photos with the best vantage points occurring on the top third of the trail. If you are going to hike up or down this trail or take any of the other more serious trails at Yosemite, do plan ahead and make sure you are physically up to the task. We encountered quite a few inappropriately dressed, exhausted-looking groups at about the halfway point, asking us if they were almost there. They weren't.
Eating, Drinking, and Shopping at Yosemite
The tourist village (and the whole valley) was literally a mob scene during our visit. For this reason, we were actually pretty relieved to be staying on the outskirts of things. We did need to eat a meal on site after our five mile hike and were disappointed to find few non-fast food restaurants.
We had envisioned pleasant, casual sit-down lunch, but found our only table service options were at the upscale Ahwahnee, which seemed like a poor choice in shorts and tennis shoes. Also, we would have had to hike a couple more miles there and back or risk losing our coveted parking spot. We (and the rest of the free world) opted instead for the Food Court at Yosemite Lodge. After about twenty minutes of fighting our way through the mob to get food and waiting in line to pay, we were able to get some mediocre cheese pizzas. We couldn't even contemplate going back through for ice cream. Food is not cheap at Yosemite, and even this fast food lunch sent us back about $25.00.
We had fine luck shopping at the top of Glacier Point, where we quickly picked up some trail friendly snacks, bug spray, and a souvenir magnet to aid us in our trek down. Down in the valley, we popped into a couple of different gift shops and found them about par for the course for a national park. Expect lots of T-shirts, framed prints, postcards, American Indian pottery, and sundries. I did not think the merchandise was as appealing from an artistic perspective from that we encountered when we visited Zion and the Grand Canyon.
Overall . . .
We found Yosemite National Park to be beautiful, awe-inspiring, and exhausting. The park's amazing natural sights definitely made our visit worthwhile. However, I can't help but feel like the park's infrastructure is woefully inadequate to handle the crowds it receives, which is probably the catalyst for the incredibly high prices at the lodging and dining options that are available. For a future visit, I think I'd forget all about the overpriced hotels and long treks in and out and simply pitch a tent in the valley. Or, visit during the dead of winter when no one else wants to!
Recommended:
Yes
Recommended for: Couples
Review Topic: Overview
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