Let’s catch up, shall we? I’m not quite as behind on my Centennial 12 Parks/12 Months Goal as it might appear. Back in May, a good friend was visiting from Norway, and I thought if anything could impress someone from the beautiful land of the fjords, with towering glacier-carved walls and waterfalls, it would be Yosemite! Since it was her first visit and we only had one full day, we opted to go into Yosemite Valley. Even though I know it will be crowded, I do still feel like people have to see Yosemite Valley. And it wasn’t just my friend’s first visit, but my baby’s first visit as well!
We headed out from theBay Area
late Sunday morning, stopping at Altamont Brewing in Livermore to further impress my Norwegian friend with the concept of a growler of beer. Lodging can be expensive and somewhat sparse near the park, but we found a nice cabin to share at the Spinning Wheel Yosemite, down a dirt road off of 120 outside the Big Oak Flat entrance. They had a handful of cabins varying in size, including some new since the property was affected by the Rim Fire, and the owners were super nice. Good bird watching by the pool as well.
Monday we headed into the park, battled the crowds for parking (even on a Monday before school was out), and started out for the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail. The plan was to hike the first mile or so of the trail to a nice lookout and call it a day. However, in my continuing theme of Lowered Expectations — with Baby!, we didn’t even make it to the trailhead when I decided to call it. We had gotten a later start than intended, and while we have a good soft carrier for the baby, I think we need a backpack-style carrier for more intensive hikes. So, we diverted ourselves to the accessible Lower Yosemite Falls Trail, a short walk up to the base of the tallest waterfall in North America! And there was actually water in it — on top of the drought the past few years, we tend to visit Yosemite in the late summer or fall when many of the falls have dried up. Little guy, of course, slept through the waterfall.
From Yosemite Falls, we weren’t quite ready to stop for lunch, so we walked back behind Yosemite Village tackling a little section of the Valley Loop Trail. It is actually pretty amazing how easily you can leave the crowds behind, even in Yosemite Valley. We weren’t the only people on the Valley Loop, but we definitely had some space to ourselves on the trail. It may not be climbing Half Dome, but the Valley Loop Trail is a pleasant wooded amble past some of the park’s most iconic sites – not bad!
After a picnic lunch, we had the dilemma whether to go deeper into the Valley to walk to the Vernal Falls footbridge (Mist Trail was definitely not in the cards!) or head to one of the groves of giant sequoias on the route out. We opted for the latter as the Sierras are the only place in the world one can see giant sequoias, and little guy seems to enjoy looking up at trees while we hike. I thought he might be impressed 
(and I could be projecting my own feelings, but I think he was!) We hiked down to the Tuolumne Grove, which has 2-3 dozen mature trees — not as many as the Mariposa Grove in the south part of the park, but not as many people either, and certainly enough to get a taste of these awesome trees. They are just so ridiculously massive compared to other trees around them! The hike itself was pretty easy on a wide trail, but you do have to do the uphill on the way back.
So, all in all, a successful first trip to Yosemite — my Norwegian friend is ready to return someday, and we got Little Guy out into the Park, where he saw some cool trees! I also got the NPS Centennial Stamp for Yosemite, and met a nice lady in Park HQ trying to get the 125th anniversary stamp I missed last year (but misremembered which one I needed and got a stamp of the 150th Anniversary of the Grant Act, which I already have – oops!)
