This was my first visit to Yosemite. I’m not sure if it was due to the trip being cut short because of weather or the amount of people at the park that drastically took away from my experience.
I will attempt to go back next year to get a “Yosemite re-do”.
First, the drive there was absolutely crazy. I think it took me 2.5 – 3hrs to do 85 miles from my previous location at Glory Hole.
It pretty much started from 1000ft elevation to over 6000ft very quickly. The drive was stressful because i was on the drop side and it was long, steep and scary. I felt like the smallest jerk of the steering wheel would have be go over the cliff.
There are signs to turn off your AC white ascending so you don’t overheat your engine. It was already working hard enough without the AC. After a while we were descending back down into Yosemite valley which is roughly 3800-4000ft.
There was a traffic jam in the valley. People parking, pulling out, illegally double parking, slowing down or stopping to snap pictures. Driving in the valley was a nightmare, hence i didn’t get a lot of pictures there because I prefer to be more secluded places in nature and not surrounded by crowds.
I stayed at Upper Pines campground and it was an okay experience. As you can see in this picture the campsites are close to each other with nothing in the way to provide privacy from the neighbors. There is a bit of room to the back for cooking on picnic tables, and to set up tents, shelters etc.
I had to reserve it the day the spots became open for reservation, at 9am on the dot, in order to be able to get a spot. They do it on the 15th of every month, on a 5 month advance basis. I had it scheduled on my calendar weeks in advance so I can be at my PC, on the site and ready to hit RESERVE button. That didn’t work as the second 9am hit the spot I was hoping to reserve was taken by someone else, but after a few tries I ended up with another site, also at upper Pines. Whew!
Here are a few pictures I got from walking around the back section of the valley, all the way behind the campground. Of course Aesop found some sand to roll around in…
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Next day we drove up to Glacier Point, walked around, took pictures and ate lunch. That was a short .07 mile distance right above the campground, but the ride there was 30 miles or 1 hour, with only vehicles shorter than 30ft allowed. Again, one of those steep drop off drives as you can see from images below. Oh, and to make it more fun they have signs about falling debris I guess from recent forest fire. Nerve-wrecking.
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The views up there were breathtaking. There was a store/ranger station, hiking trails, parking (even RV parking all the way at the end – so don’t stress about fitting into a regular spot if you are in an RV).
Click to enlarge photos
On my way down I had to stop and take a tunnel picture of the valley and one roadside stop to capture this beautiful spot.
I had to cut my trip short unexpectedly due to a winter storm coming with high winds and nighttime temps well below freezing. I didn’t want to risk any of my pipes freezing and causing damage.
But the main reason I decided to leave was because Tioga Pass was going to close due to sleet and snow the next day. So I had to choice but to go to make it to my next destination or get stranded in the cold. Here was the route I had to take out of the Valley to get to 395. Some of the places elevation was up to 11,000 ft.
Another scary but absolutely gorgeous drive with multiple lakes along the way.
On my way out the park I stepped to take the picture of the road, its hard to see, but the slight line splitting the mountain is the road I had to take out.
Falling rocks anyone?
It was such a windy day, the RV was jerking with the strong winds. At some point I had to get out my hat and coat.
And this was the last picture on my way out.
My next stop from here was Lone Pine California – Whitney Portal 
and also Japanese Interment Camp 
Next post – Death Valley National Park coming soon 
What month were you in Yosemite?
Last week of September, 2019