Yosemite Pt.1

Yosemite has always been a dream of mine, and now I can cross it off my bucket list.

I finally got to go during my week long spring break at the end of March. My boyfriend, Connor, joined for the adventure. We were there from March 30 to April 1.

What an adventure.

While we were driving from San Diego to Yosemite, we went through a tunnel leading into the park. It is a popular spot to park and get out because after the tunnel is a perfect view of El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls and other parts of the park. The parking lot was full every time we saw it.

We continued driving through the park to get to our walk-in campsite. We thought we would get there early enough, but they didn't have any spaces when we arrived. Yup, no campsites anywhere. Every campsite was full and we don't have a ton of money to blow on over-priced hotels.

We decide to enjoy the park while we can for the day before we start stressing about our camping situation. Our first hike was a fun little walk to the bottom of Yosemite Falls.

We scrambled up the rocks to the bottom of the falls where we quickly got soaked. It was stunning! The falls were really wide and powerful. I won't describe too much, but even the picture doesn't do it justice. It was so beautiful, and loud.

We returned to the car, damp, and started hatching a plan on how to survive the night. Sleeping in a parked car overnight in the park is illegal, so we decided to drive back out towards to park entrance to a campsite we saw earlier.

Wawona was full, discouraging. We were desperate. We asked two different groups if we could share their campsites with them, but they both said they were already sharing with other people.

We were basically looking at staying in the car overnight, outside of the park. That was our last option. Until a man came over and said we could share his family's campsite. He was a life saver.

Gabe and his family were camping for his wife's birthday. The night before this, they stayed in their car and waited for the guy to leave the spot in the morning. His wife, Adriana, said it's impossible to make reservations, so they had to wing it.

We all sat around the fire for awhile and the family in the neighboring spot brought over ribs for all of us. They were bomb ribs. Connor and I crawled into our cozy tent a little while later and passed out. We had a big day ahead of us.

DAY 2

We woke up at 5 am, pitch black. We weren't going to risk the campsite filling up again before we got a spot, so we packed up and headed back into the park.

Thankfully, we were first in line. The ranger did not show up until an hour and a half later. We made two really good friends while we were waiting though.

The two men were planning on stopping at multiple state parks along their trip.

We saw them quite a lot over the next few days. We hiked similar trails and would bump into them everywhere. It was fun.

We decided to take on the biggest hike this day because the trail head started right next to our camping area. The hike was magnificent the whole way up and down except for a few snags.

First snag was when a kid went off the trail and dislodged a large rock. This rock continued to fall down the hill and crash into my knee – I already have a knee condition. I'm embarrassed to say I cried, but it hurt bad.

I wasn't going to let a swollen knee ruin our whole hike though. The hike was challenging, but very rewarding. We got to see the top of Yosemite Falls and its ice cone! The waterfall literally freezes on the way down and collects below as an "ice cone." It was an incredible sight. We also saw a rainbow too.

The hike went to the top of the falls, but the trail became covered in snow. We stopped a mile short because I wasn't confident hiking on snow with my hurt knee. It was frustrating being so close, but it was better than taking the risk – always be safe.




We hiked down a lot faster because we were starving. Once back at camp, we roasted hot dogs and went to bed early. We were exhausted.

CHECK OUT PART TWO TO HEAR THE REST OF THE ADVENTURE!
You thought possibly having no place to sleep and an injury on the first hike of the trip was crazy? Wait till you read the rest...