First protected in 1864, Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoia trees, impressive cliffs and unusual rock formations. Yosemite Valley is home to massive cliff faces like El Capitan and Half Dome, plunging waterfalls including the tallest in North America. El Capitan is a massive granite monolith that stands 3,593 feet from base to summit. Climbers come from all over the globe to scale El Capitan. Half Dome dominates most views in Yosemite Valley. Forces of uplift, erosion from rivers and glaciers, and rockfall all shaped this famous feature, which rises to an elevation of 8,842 feet. Yosemite Falls
is 2,425 feet and Sentinel Falls in Yosemite is 2,000 feet.
We spent the day exploring Yosemite National Park, west entrance. The
boys slept at the dinette bed the night before instead of the
hide-a-bed, so we could pull the RV slide in and take off in the morning
while they were still sleeping. Thanks to Connor we got a 4th grade
pass which allowed us free entry into all the national parks!
We started off with the Vernal Falls 1.4 mile hike. The trail is paved, but steep and parallels a river with a waterfall at the top. Then we did the Mirror Lake Loop 2 mile hike, but missed the sign and continued hiking past the lake for a good mile. Afterwards we returned to the RV for lunch and to get Piper. We didn't know this when we started the trip, but dogs are not allowed in National parks, except in designated areas. So, unfortunately Piper had to spend a good portion of our trip trapped in the RV. Luckily I had bought a cooling mat for her kennel and I mixed up some dehydrated dog food that a friend of mine gave me from work, poured that into her bones or just a small cup and froze it. Every time we had to leave her she got one of her frozen treats to enjoy while we were gone. We also left the windows open, roof vents open and blinds/shades closed, which kept the RV a pretty comfortable temperature. Piper did great, but we felt horrible leaving her behind. I'm sure she was board. Anyway, after lunch we grabbed Piper and took her on the swinging bridge hike and lower Yosemite waterfall 1 mile hike, which was one of the only hikes that dogs were allowed on. We spent more time at Yosemite than we had originally planned, which meant that we had to drive into the night. We tried to stop at the Hot Creek geological site, but after venturing down the gravel wash board road we found out the entry was closed at sunset and we had arrived just after sunset and missed it. We drove until we got tired and stayed at a rest stop for the night.
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