Background

If you can only visit one park in California, make it Yosemite. It has a lot to offer during all seasons: cross-country and downhill skiing in winter, hiking and rock climbing in summer, and much more. Yosemite is especially beautiful in winter, which also happens to be the "low season". The park is very family friendly---in many sports classes are offered for kids as well as adults.

What We Do

Summer and winter offer different opportunities for recreation. During all seasons, however, Yosemite Valley is the focus of activities, or at least their starting point. In fall, usually in October, you can see some nice foliage---most prominently around the east entrance to the park.

In summer, we lodge (or camp) in Yosemite Valley. Camping reservations are extremely tough to get: you may need to make a reservation on the first day when your arrival date becomes available, which is about three months in advance. From Yosemite Valley we hike up the Vernal and Nevada Falls "Misty Trail", and we try not to forget taking our ponchos with us in the first half of the summer, because the trail is much more than "misty" at that time of the year. We also like hiking to the top of Yosemite Falls, and basking in the sun after taking a dip in the cool water. The view is awesome.

There are some more serious things to do---like hike up to Half Dome and back down in one long day, or do some rock climbing. We make our plans in advance, especially when they involve taking classes, or reserving accomodations.

In winter things are slightly different. While we still stay in Yosemite Valley for the night, all of the skiing happens around the Badger Pass area. A free shuttle is available to take us there in the morning and back in the afternoon. In the ski area we have taken ski lessons on the spot, and we have noticed that on week-days, there are very few people on the trails. Another great thing to do in winter is sign up for the overnight cross-country trip to Glacier Point. We had to learn to use cross-country ski, so we signed up for the four day package, where we learned to ski the first two days, then on the third day we took the trip to the Glacier Point hut, and then returned on the fourth day. It is a really great experience!

When we have trouble finding a place to stay, we lodge outside Yosemite. The town of Mariposa is about one hour by car from Yosemite Valley, and Mariposa Lodge seems to always have some room available (and the rooms are quite clean!). Another option, about fifteen minutes closer to Yosemite is Yosemite Bug Motel. It is, in fact, a rather clean place too.

How We Get There

Highway 140 is the best way to get to Yosemite Valley. It is maintained year-round and we rarely need to use tire chains on it, although everyone is required to carry them during the winter. We try to be extra careful when driving in the mountains because even in spring, when there is no trace of snow, there is plenty of sand at some places on the road and sand can be just as slippery as snow if you hit it at the right speed.