2nd Annual Camping Trip (Yosemite National Park) 2008
From June 1st to June 6th, I went camping for the second time in a row to Yosemite National Park with my 2 cuz's and their family. On May 31st, while I was at UC Davis for a 4-H event, my one cuz Amanda drove down to meet up with me in Sacramento. The next day we took the 3 hour drive to get to Yosemite. We arrived into the park at 10:00 and got into Yosemite Valley at 10:24. We camped at the exact same campsite as last year, and same spot. We stayed at the North Pines Camp Grounds spot 134, right next to a river that flows from Mirror Lake.
When my cuz Amanda and I got to the spot, the other people using the site did check out yet. We waited for about an hour for them to clear the place before we could settle in. Once we got the tent set up, we walked down the river alittle ways while we where waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, driving up from Yuciapia. They arrived in the early afternoon, and we helped them get all settled in.
Yosemite Valley was as beautiful as always, with tons of green meadows, pine trees, and thousands of gallons of fresh snow melt water flowing in the waterfalls. There didn't seem to be as much wildlife to be seen as last year, but there where still deer, bears, and many birds around. Our first night, I wanted to take a photo of a star trail with the half dome. While we where walking we heard some dude yell there was a bear in the area. Before we know it, we shined our flash lights in front of us, and we saw the eye shine of a bear cub. It was about 20 feet infront of us. Naturally the dogs begin to go crazy. Right after we notice how close we where to the bears, a park ranger walks up telling us we need to step back cuz they have live rounds. The rest of the night, the rangers where searching all along the river for the bear.
There where a few other highlights to the camping trip in Yosemite. First would have to be Glacier Point. We drove an hour to the top of the valley at a rock formation called Glacier Point. From their you can see the entire yosemite valley from below, and see half dome, and vernal and nevada falls. Last year, it was extremely cold and cloudy here. This year, it was nice and sunny.
In the middle of the trip, my cuz amanda, my aunt maria, and I drove though Tioga Pass to go down to June Lake and Mammoth for a day. When we where little we used to go camping all the time to June Lake, so we wanted to go back for awesome memories. Since we where close, we decided to also stop in Mammoth. It was cold and covered with snow in Mammoth. It was beautiful, but cold. We had lunch at Gull Lake, which is right next to June Lake. We also went to the June Lake campground to take a shower, since it was cheeper...Cost me 2 bucks with quaters. In yosmite, they are charging $6.00 for a shower....that was just rediculous. It has always been free, but they started charging a week before we arrived.
I set a goal to hike to the base of Vernal Falls on Thrusday. My cuz said she will go with me. She said she knows the easier way to get there. On Thrusday, i began to realize that she is making me hike to the top of Nevada Falls via the John Muir Trail, then go down the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls. It took us 7 hours to complete the hike, due to lots of stoping for photos, talking to people, and breaks. It was a very enjoyable hike. It was extremely beautiful with lots of water running off from melted snow higher up. The entire hike was about 7.2 miles round trip.
On Friday, we blew up both river rafts, and went rafting down the Merced River. It was an awesome thing. The first run down, i was in a raft with amanda. The second time around I was in a raft with my aunt maria. It took about an hour from the location we launched to where the river was closed to rafters. You got to see awesome views of half dome and Yosemite Falls in ways most people wont. I so would of jumped into the river, but it was too damn cold. We did see lots of fish in the river, from trout to bottom feeders.
This trip was in some ways better then last year's trip. I really enjoyed this trip, and it is too hard to go back home. I went up to Oregon with my cuz afterwards, and I fly home tomorrow. Which I really don't want to do.
When my cuz Amanda and I got to the spot, the other people using the site did check out yet. We waited for about an hour for them to clear the place before we could settle in. Once we got the tent set up, we walked down the river alittle ways while we where waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, driving up from Yuciapia. They arrived in the early afternoon, and we helped them get all settled in.
Yosemite Valley was as beautiful as always, with tons of green meadows, pine trees, and thousands of gallons of fresh snow melt water flowing in the waterfalls. There didn't seem to be as much wildlife to be seen as last year, but there where still deer, bears, and many birds around. Our first night, I wanted to take a photo of a star trail with the half dome. While we where walking we heard some dude yell there was a bear in the area. Before we know it, we shined our flash lights in front of us, and we saw the eye shine of a bear cub. It was about 20 feet infront of us. Naturally the dogs begin to go crazy. Right after we notice how close we where to the bears, a park ranger walks up telling us we need to step back cuz they have live rounds. The rest of the night, the rangers where searching all along the river for the bear.
There where a few other highlights to the camping trip in Yosemite. First would have to be Glacier Point. We drove an hour to the top of the valley at a rock formation called Glacier Point. From their you can see the entire yosemite valley from below, and see half dome, and vernal and nevada falls. Last year, it was extremely cold and cloudy here. This year, it was nice and sunny.
In the middle of the trip, my cuz amanda, my aunt maria, and I drove though Tioga Pass to go down to June Lake and Mammoth for a day. When we where little we used to go camping all the time to June Lake, so we wanted to go back for awesome memories. Since we where close, we decided to also stop in Mammoth. It was cold and covered with snow in Mammoth. It was beautiful, but cold. We had lunch at Gull Lake, which is right next to June Lake. We also went to the June Lake campground to take a shower, since it was cheeper...Cost me 2 bucks with quaters. In yosmite, they are charging $6.00 for a shower....that was just rediculous. It has always been free, but they started charging a week before we arrived.
I set a goal to hike to the base of Vernal Falls on Thrusday. My cuz said she will go with me. She said she knows the easier way to get there. On Thrusday, i began to realize that she is making me hike to the top of Nevada Falls via the John Muir Trail, then go down the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls. It took us 7 hours to complete the hike, due to lots of stoping for photos, talking to people, and breaks. It was a very enjoyable hike. It was extremely beautiful with lots of water running off from melted snow higher up. The entire hike was about 7.2 miles round trip.
On Friday, we blew up both river rafts, and went rafting down the Merced River. It was an awesome thing. The first run down, i was in a raft with amanda. The second time around I was in a raft with my aunt maria. It took about an hour from the location we launched to where the river was closed to rafters. You got to see awesome views of half dome and Yosemite Falls in ways most people wont. I so would of jumped into the river, but it was too damn cold. We did see lots of fish in the river, from trout to bottom feeders.
This trip was in some ways better then last year's trip. I really enjoyed this trip, and it is too hard to go back home. I went up to Oregon with my cuz afterwards, and I fly home tomorrow. Which I really don't want to do.
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