We were lucky enough to spend Memorial Day Weekend and Colin's 29th birthday camping in the valley of one of the most iconic National Parks in the world. Let me back track for a minute and bring you back to January of this year. We made the mistake in January 2010 of not waiting by the computer as soon as the booking window opened (5 months in advance) to reserve a campsite for Memorial Day weekend for Yosemite National Park. That year, we ended up booking a trip to Havasupai (4 month advanced booking), so it wasn't a total loss, but this time around we were definitely prepared. It really is chance that you'll get a site in the valley for any popular weekend in the summer. Just be prepared!
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| Colin, Me, and Cole after going through Tunnel View on our way to the valley floor |
Our three nights at Yosemite National Park in Review (food and activities):
Friday, Day 1
Colin, Cole, and I left San Diego bright and early Friday morning and took the long way up to Yosemite so we would avoid LA traffic. If you can get up to Yosemite during the day, I definitely would recommend it. You end up driving through a tunnel if you're coming from the west side, and this is your view as you come out!
After we got to North Pines Campground and set up camp, we just relaxed by the fire, cooked dinner, drank some beers, and waited for two of our other friends, Mike and Shea, to arrive.
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| Colin getting ready to set up his cooking station |
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| Our little home for the Weekend |
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| Me having a beer down by the river at North Pines Campground |
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| Just a deer strolling by our car on our way to Camp Curry for some supplies |
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| Camp Curry is a small little village with a store and restaurants within walking distance of our camp |
For dinner this night we had pre-made pasta (just heat it up there!) and garlic bread. Colin pre-made the butter/garlic mix for the bread, then we just wrapped it in tinfoil and cooked it over the fire. It was delicious!
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| Garlic Bread cooking on the fire! |
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| mmmm beer and camp fire baby! |
When our friends arrived, we got to sing Happy Birthday to Colin over lit cupcakes:)
Happy 29th Col!
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| Happy Birthday with cupcakes and a cyclops |
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| The beautiful night sky |
After we all ate dinner, we packed our bags with beer and walked down to a nearby meadow for some star viewing. This was so gorgeous and fun. A few other groups of people were there and everyone was having a great time looking up at the stars.
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| Meadow laying - Colin are you sleeping? |
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| Peace!! Or an Up arrow?? |
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| Our Galaxy<3 |
Saturday Day 2
For breakfast we made coffee, egg beaters with cheese, hashbrowns, and bacon. We all hopped in the car for our first adventure in Yosemite and parked over at this meadow where we could hike to Upper Yosemite Falls. We had issues reading the map and couldn't find the trail head so we couldn't hike all the way to summit, but our final destination didn't leave us disappointed at all:)
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| Final View Point |
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| Beautiful Hike even if you don't make it to the top! |
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| Me and my homeboy |
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| The boys trying to read the map.... o_o |
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| Stay Hydrated! |
We stopped at a really great view point on our hike to eat lunch (tomato, mozzarella, and chicken sandwiches and I brought along my garbanzo bean salad as a side), people passing were jealous of our location!
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| The whole crew at our prime real estate lunch location |
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| Girls Rule! |
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| Me and the stud |
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| The boys were faster than us.... |
When we got back to the car, our plan was to drive up to Glacier Point to watch the sunset. This did not go as planned. My car ended up over heating as we had to wait in line to drive up to the parking lot there. We decided just to head back down and cut our loses which resulted in us sitting in massive amounts of traffic. Fortunately, we had some road sodas (don't worry not too many...) and we finally got to de-stress when we got to our site at night fall. We made dinner (taco night! pre-cook ground beef, heat it up and mix with taco seasoning, cooked peppers/onions, a can of refried beans, and as a side we had salsa, guacamole, and tortilla chips), and it was delicious! When hung out by the river until the sun went down to do some more star gazing and had a ton of fun with long exposure. Another great evening at Yosemite.
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| Poor baby! |
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| at least it was traffic with a view? |
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| Taco Night!! |
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| I'm in my long exposure glory! |
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| Beers and Stars down by the river |
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| The whole gang:) My favorite photo |
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| This one reminded me of a movie set |
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| The boys are ghosts that haunt the valley |
Sunday, Day 3
After our little mishap on Saturday, Sunday had to be the best day there. We decided to eat another hearty breakfast (banana pancakes, breakfast sausage, and coffee), and made the great decision to leave the car behind today! We walked to Mist Trail and Nevada Falls trail right from our campsite. This hike was absolutely stunning. I didn't even mind waiting in a line of people as we stood there taking in this powerful waterfall.
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| Did this sign spell Nevada Falls wrong? |
Once we got to the top of Nevada falls, we kicked off our boots, found a SAFE location where there was no current in the river, and iced our sore feet as we eat lunch. Lunch today were PB&J's on whole wheat, yummy bag of chips, and the usual homemade trail mix that Shea made that we were eating all weekend. Once we were rested and ready to hit the trail again, we decided to go the John Muir trail down. This was such a great decision. Not only did we get a different view on the way down, there were way less people on this side. It was really enjoyable.
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| Toes in the ice cold water |
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| John Muir Trail |
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| The view from John Muir Trail |
When we got back to the site, we again, made the decision to leave the car in the spot. We walked over to a meadow to watch the sunset hit Half Dome. Our bags were packed with beers and blankets and we all had a sense of calm as we walked to relax in the grass. When we arrived at a spot we deemed worthy, there was no one else around as we watched the last bit of light hit Half Dome. We all sat a little proud of what we had accomplished, a little tired from all the weekend trials, and all with smiles on our faces as we were trying to process all the wonders we had seen and were in straight view of. This had to be the most relaxing and enjoyable sunsets that I have had in a long time.
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| The crew once again (I was the only one that knew this photo was being taken) |
We cooked up dinner again at the site, hot dogs, veggie sausages, with a side of potato salad tonight. The remainder of our last night was spent making a great
iMovie, sitting by the fire (past curfew), laughing, and drinking beers (and whiskey)! It was a wonderful end to our great camping weekend. I have to say that I think I stepped up my night photography a bit on this trip!
Monday, Day 4
We had coffee, muffins, and pastries, packed up our site, and hit the road back down to San Diego. Until we meet again Yosemite!
I know a lot of people would tell you to never bother going to Yosemite on Memorial Day Weekend as it is crowded. Honestly, if you can get a spot in the valley it doesn't make a difference. Maybe one tip from me would to leave the car parked while down there! You always have little mishaps when you're camping, but I assure you, if you have a beer and a campfire at the end of the day (and maybe even a couple of great friends), there is nothing that can't make your day outdoors not an absolute journey that you'll remember.
Peace & Love,
Jenn
