Yosemite National Park sucks. Nah, I'm 100% joking. Yosemite was pretty amazing.
Our final National Park on our trip. Our final destination through the Sierras. Sierra Nevadas. Wait. Sierra. Sierra is actually plural. If you want to blend in to the California scene, don't out yourself as an outsider. You're not in the Sierras. You're not in the Sierra Nevadas, nor the high sierras. It's just Sierra. Or Sierra Nevada. Today I learned!
See, California, I'm learning, and so should you. When in Seattle, it's I5. Not the I5. Not the 99. Not the 405. Just say the number.
Either way, and all joking aside the Sierra were absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to return to explore more of the vast range. Lake Tahoe and Tahoe National Forest next? Yes, please!
Park sign! |
However, this was by-far the most popular and most visited National Park that I've visited in my life so far and with that you have to bring a certain mental state and attitude with you. If it's summer...unless you're backpacking in the backcountry wilderness, there's going to be people. Especially if you're in the Yosemite Valley, where most visitors tend to congregate. And people are indeed everywhere. There's traffic. There's backups on trails. There's a higher concentration of disrespectful visitors not respecting the environment and not respecting the Leave No Trace ethos. The amount of people I saw trampling meadows, walking off trail, being disruptive, etc., was way too high. There are signs of human erosion everywhere as well. It's sad and unfortunate. Fortunately, Yosemite has implemented a reservation rule to allow only limited amounts of cars in the park during peak season. It's a good start, but definitely not enough. Yosemite was like the Disney World of National Parks. And that's not a good thing.
Lower Chilnualna Falls -- Decided to take a quick stop while driving through Wawona. |
Speaking of Wawona, what a weird place, man. This was the first place we encountered on our entry to the park. As I understand now, Wawona as a town, or more specifically, census designated place, came before the park existed, essentially. However, Yosemite National Park now includes Wawona, so it's fascinating to see all of the living arrangements, housing, cottages, AirBNBs, etc within a national park. The Wawona Hotel was in full force, using a half dozen sprinklers to water their browning grass in the ever-so-dry Yosemite Valley.
What's the point? Why waste the water? On top of that, we saw there was a golf course in Wawona as well. A golf course is just about the antithesis of a National Park. While I understand the Wawona golf course makes an effort to be more "sustainable", golf course's are bad for the environment, period. Sorry, golfers, but this made me quite upset seeing in a national park. National Parks are for preservation, not your perfect putting greens and golf cart joyrides. If you want to work on your swing, maybe try doing it somewhere that isn't supposed to be a haven for wildlife and natural beauty. end rant.
Wasting Water on burned grass at the Wawona Hotel in drought stricken California. Maybe don't worry about Monoculture grass and try preservation instead? |
Also, Yes, you need a reservation to Yosemite in the busy months from Recreation.gov
Despite limited cars in to the park, parking was god awful. We spent way too long looking for parking near viewpoints and trailheads in the valley. There were several road closures as well that made it even more difficult to get where you need to go. The rangers suggested either taking the shuttle, or walking to the trailhead. I don't have a problem walking places, but when it adds 2 miles one way to your hike, it kind of sucks, especially when you didn't plan for that, and have limited time at the park. The shuttle also takes forever. It takes nearly an hour and a half to make a trip around the valley. So you could easily spend an hour on the shuttle depending on your destination. The shuttle that serves the area we were looking to go, like Mist Trail and Mirror Lake wasn't running due to construction. I'm not complaining, I just wish I came into this all with a better understanding of expectations.