“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” – John Muir
After San Francisco, we stayed midway in a town called Lodi close to Stockton. I was actually nervous because the weather said it was going to be the mid 90s-100s while we were there. Last time it was that hot was in Cloverdale and we were… miserable. Luckily, this place had a pool which we frequented a few times a day for a dip. It’s the small things in life right? Anyway, it wasn’t that bad. I even went into town and got a much-needed haircut.
Yosemite Lake RV Park
The road to the RV park was drivable but nerve-wracking as we drove up the switchbacks. Luckily, its only 5 miles away from the entrance to Yosemite! Of course, we spent the first few days settling in and catching up on work. The weather gets a high of 85, and low into the 50s at night. It’s great 🙂
The only complaint we have is a few days in our first week the internet was extremely spotty. Our year of doing this, only a few parks have had terrible Wifi. I know that’s a super “millenial” thing to complain about, but since we make our living online, it’s a necessity.
Let’s Go To The Park!
On Friday we headed to Yosemite National Park and were really taken back by the huge solid granite cliffs on each side of the valley. Growing up in SLC, I am familiar with huge mountains but these are solid granite! Nature be crazy.
We did a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls which were the only falls in Yosemite valley that had water. It really would have been amazing to see all the snow runoff on the other falls but still a great trip!
Next, we headed to the visitor center, and the parking was packed! We learned about how the mountains were formed and the people that inhabited the area for centuries. After talking with a ranger, we learned that taking the shuttle was the best way to get around so off we went!
Mirror Lake Hike
Again, there wasn’t much water so Mirror Lake was more of a Mirror puddle. It was still a great few mile hikes to see some amazing granite mountain faces! Ben and I really enjoy being outdoors and spending so much time together.
This is actually the bottom of Half Dome. You can’t really tell at this angle but people climb all the way to the top!
After that little hike, we hopped back on the shuttle and made our way to the upper and lower falls of Yosemite. You can see the path of the waterfall but even the marble coloring of the granite is so beautiful.
It’s really hard to portray what it was really like there, but hopefully, these pictures will help!
After hiking all day, we went into the city of Groveland which is just a small town 30 minutes outside of the park entrance. It was super small but they did have some good burgers!
The next week was mainly work, hiking around the RV park, and I actually ordered a “paint by numbers”. It has satisfied the craft itch so far.
Let’s Go To The Park Again!
The next Friday we decided to go exploring again. This time we went to Glacier’s point which was an hour’s drive from the park. Totally worth it! We drove out to the main point and was surprised by how many people were out. We were not aware that it was “Yosemite Face Lift” day and hundreds of volunteers were helping clean up the park. So cool!
This is Half Dome! There are other smaller domes around the valley but this is by far the largest. It broke in half and the granite was crushed and moved down the valley by the glaciers that carved the deep canyons here.
Next, we headed to Sentenial Dome which is another lookout point of the whole valley. We are definitely not in shape enough to do the half dome hike and this was just a few miles. Still fairly difficult though!
The Beck family all grew up doing gymnastics and now they have handstand contests of doing them in crazy places. This is one of my favorites.
Again, I can’t quite get over how cool these mountains are… Also, how do these trees grow out of pure granite?!!?!?
Thanks, Yosemite, we really enjoyed being here! Next time we will see you in the Spring!
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