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| Glacier Point Panorama |
Yosemite
is arguably the most famous national park on the planet, and with
such a reputation come high expectations...and crowds!
If
you are looking to stay in the valley, and are thinking of checking
out Yosemite in summer, book early. And I mean really early!
As
you may have guessed it, we didn't! But we did score a decent camp at
Bridalveil Creek which enabled us to watch the sunset over the valley
from up at Glacier Point. I would say that Glacier Point would have
the best view in the park. For starters it's the only pace you can
take in Upper & Lower Yosemite Falls, Half Dome and Vernal &
Nevada Falls from the same place. And if hiking for miles on end
isn't your thing, this highlight reel is just a short stroll from the
carpark.
Glacier Point at sunset
Often
at dusk, the setting sun lights up Half Dome and the surrounding
granite monoliths in a deep red crimson, or different shades of pinks
and oranges. We got a slight pinkish overtone but nothing as
spectacular as some of the photos I have seen.
One
of the other major highlights of Yosemite is hiking Upper & Lower
Yosemite Falls. I would highly suggest checking out Lower as early as
possible, as once the tour buses roll in, there is a fair chance
every photo you have will contain a 'peace sign' in it somewhere.
One
of the best things about the lower falls is that you can climb over
the rocks and pools to the base of the falls, where 6 years ago in
the midst of winter a few of thought it would be a great idea to have
a quick dip! Unfortunately for me, my jeans feel in the water as
well, along with my passport, and given we jumped in in our jocks, I
had to free ball it in Nicko's footy shorts which was pretty risky
for all involved.
Lower Yosemite Falls
I
restrained from jumping in this time round, but one upped myself by
getting in at the top of Upper Falls. The hike to Upper Falls is
pretty strenuous and surprising given the variety of hikers
attempting it. But the views you get of the valley are pretty special
from this vantage point which may be why so many cadets are on the
trail.
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| Yosemite Valley |
Getting
to the top and being able to swim about in the deep pool reminds me a
little of Devils Pool at Victoria Falls (not that we did it) in that
you are swimming near the edge of a waterfall, but in complete
safety.
Upper Yosemite Falls
If
you have it in you, hike a little further around to Yosemite Point
which grants you better views of Half Dome than anywhere else on the
trail, but as I mentioned earlier, Glacier Point gives the best view
of it anyway.
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| Panoramic view from Yosemite Point |
The
other major hike everyone wants in on is Half Dome itself.
Unfortunately given half of America and the rest of the world want to
do this, you need a little luck on you side to get a permit. There
are something like 200 granted per day – 125 per-reserved which go
quicker than the cake at a fat kids birthday, 25 for over night
campers and 50 for day hikers.
To
get the 25 overnight permits you need to line up the day before and
at 11.00am they hand out what they have left. Not for us.
To
get the 50 day hike permits you apply two days prior and rather like
lotto, count your lucky stars if you win. During summer there are as
many as 1000 clowns trying to get these 50 permits, and given you pay
a non refundable $5, Yosemite must be raking it in!
If
you hadn't guessed it, we missed out on the permits. You can hike up
to the start of the dome (you need the permit to complete the last
700ft which you use cables to scale the back of the giant granite
monolith) and either risk it and head up there without a permit, or
try and piggy back onto another group. Given we are as straight as
you can get when it comes to National Parks, and its a pet peeve
seeing some many other knobs breaking these simple rules we didn't go
any further than Nevada Fall.
Again,
if you are planning on hiking any part of the Mist Trail to take in
both Vernal and Nevada Falls, do it early and avoid the masses. But
it's definitely a must do when you're in the park.
Vernal & Nevada Falls
Seeing
as though we missed out on the Half Dome hike we chatted to a few of
the rangers and got a few recommendations. The one they they all
recommended was Clouds Rest – just a casual 16 mile round trip,
which unlike many other hikes in the park, actually brings you up
behind Half Dome and a 1000 feet above it.
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| The incredible view from Clouds Rest |
If you miss out on Half Dome definitely stretch the legs on Clouds Rest, as like so many of the rangers commented, hiking Half Dome, although amazing in its own right, you don't actually get the view of Half Dome itself – probably the biggest attraction of the park.
Yet
another draw card of this magnificent park are the Giant Sequoia
Trees – apparently only found in three of America's parks. The best
of them are found down in Mariposa Grove with the Grizzly Giant
standing at over 65m high and a diameter of 7.8, making it the 25th largest giant sequoia living today.
As
luck would have it, Mariposa Grove was closed for rehabilitation but
we were told Tuolemne Grove was a decent runner up. But like I have
previously written about the Redwoods, yes these big trees are
incredible but after you've seen one you feel like you've seen them
all. And given this was at the end of a 27km day, we weren't as
enthusiastic as some of the others around us.
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| Tuolemne Grove |
I
truly believe Yosemite does live up to its reputation. Its a park,
where with a bit of luck you can do things that you will not be able
to do anywhere else in the world, and even without luck, the second
prize draw is a pretty decent consolation.
You
can spend your days in the park hiking till your legs fall off,
scaling the granite cliffs like some sort of crazy mountain goat (a
little experience might be necessary for this one), or simply lazying
around in the valley taking in the sheer magnificence of this place.
If
you didn't enjoy Yosemite, then you did it wrong!
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