30/07/13 to 04/08/13 - Yosemite, to pronounce this in American : Yo-sem-it-dee
We arrived at our first national park of our trip in the US. Because it was the weekend, all the campsites of the park were full. We asked a ranger where we could pitch our tent nearby and showed us in the map some quiet and close by spots to pitch our tent for free. The ranger also gave us a “fire certificate” for us to be able to use our stove outside of campground. This free certificate is a way for them to talk us through common sense do’s and don’ts when using a stove or making open fires if there weren't any restrictions.
We found a nice spot, very quiet (only 3 cars went passed in 10 hours) close to a road. During the night we heard lots of different noises. We think it could have been squirrels, raccoons, deer or…. who knows, maybe a bear (Yosemite is in bear territory).
The next morning we went to the information centre of the park to get some maps, trail routes and see if there was some space available in any of the campsites in the park. We found one for 5 dollars per person right in the centre and did some small walks in the afternoon.
We arrived at our first national park of our trip in the US. Because it was the weekend, all the campsites of the park were full. We asked a ranger where we could pitch our tent nearby and showed us in the map some quiet and close by spots to pitch our tent for free. The ranger also gave us a “fire certificate” for us to be able to use our stove outside of campground. This free certificate is a way for them to talk us through common sense do’s and don’ts when using a stove or making open fires if there weren't any restrictions.
We found a nice spot, very quiet (only 3 cars went passed in 10 hours) close to a road. During the night we heard lots of different noises. We think it could have been squirrels, raccoons, deer or…. who knows, maybe a bear (Yosemite is in bear territory).
The next morning we went to the information centre of the park to get some maps, trail routes and see if there was some space available in any of the campsites in the park. We found one for 5 dollars per person right in the centre and did some small walks in the afternoon.
On day 2, we were ready for a big trek that one of the lady rangers suggested to us. So we started at 7.30am… and finished at 6pm. The trek was beautiful and covered half of the park almost, passing through viewpoints, waterfalls and forest. But during our walk we realised this ranger probably thought that we were really into hardcore trekking (or maybe she just wanted us to die). Our itinerary for the day started in our campsite (camp 4), crossed the river to join the steep “four mile trail”. Then from the Glacier point, we walked another 5 miles along the panorama trail where we had a very nice view of the valley and a mountain named Half Dome. We returned to the valley by the mist trail via the Nevada and Vernal falls (plus 4 miles). A total of 14 miles up and down (22,4 kilometres – half a marathon)… back to our campsite using the free shuttle bus, then we had a quick and simple dinner and were off to bed.
Day 3 and we hit the road again via the north of the park and the Route 120, which is supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in the west of the US and we weren’t disappointed. We stopped at Tenaya Lake to cool off with a swim (and a wash, as our 5 dollars campsite didn’t have any shower*) .
(*And remember, the day before we did a 10 hours trek)
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