We rolled into Yosemite late last night and camped at Bridalveil Creek Campground with morning plans to visit Glacier Point and a hike or two along the ridge afterward before hitting Yosemite Valley.
I think that Glacier Point has the absolute best views in the Park, even better than from the top of Half Dome.
There are some crowds, but you still have opportunities for the classic Yosemite photo with Half Dome and Clouds Rest as the backdrop.
Kids On A Rock
The first of many photos at the top of Glacier Point
My Downtime
Shelby enjoys some alone time with the mountains
Cheezy Rocks
Just say cheese!
Half Of A Dome
It’s not hard to figure out how Half Dome got its name…
We got a bit of a late start, and since the hikes up here are all on an exposed granite apron with zero shade we scrapped the morning hike idea.
Down into the Valley instead, because that’s where the road goes when Plan A dies.
Not much has changed since Colette and I were here in 2012 or when Shelby and I were here in 2013. Yosemite Valley is still tourist central.
We were surprised that road traffic wasn’t terribly bad, although Tunnel View and Bridalveil Falls were tourist madhouses.
Classic Tunnel View
This is the exact shot most people imagine when they think of Tunnel View looking down into Yosemite Valley
Tunnel Kids
Shelby and Tom with the must-have shot at Tunnel View
Chip Off The Old Blockhead
Posing with Shelby at Tunnel View
Fluffy Fronds and Solid Rock
Looking up at El Capitan through clusters of fluffy grass
Big Rocks Little Rocks
Looking over the Merced River up at El Capitan
We parked and found a shady spot along the Merced River for lunch, and then on up to the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias – Tom finally gets to hug the big trees.
Tuolumne Grove is the smallest of Yosemite’s three groves.
Mariposa gets all the tour buses and Merced Grove barely gets a parking lot, but Tuolumne has the big trees without the big crowds.
Into The Void
Tom walked all the way through the hollow trunk of this fallen Sequioa tree and exited on the other end.
The Tunnel Tree
Mandatory Tunnel Tree shot!
I Lovez Da Treez
Tom hugs a Giant Sequoia
Kids Tunnel Tree 360
A 360 inside the Tunnel Tree. Click and scroll around.
Outside The Tunnel Tree 360
And a 360 outside the Tunnel Tree. Click and scroll around.
The plan for tonight was Hodgdon Meadow Campground, on paper a reasonable stop near the Big Oak Flat entrance.
When we arrived we realized that it was a sloped mess of a site, small and not level in any direction, and we bailed almost as fast as we’d arrived.
A little bit of cell signal, a little bit of scrambling and some luck got us into Tuolumne Meadows Campground early instead.
Tuolumne Meadows sits at 8,600 feet, a full mile higher than the Valley floor and a world away from it – subalpine meadow and granite domes instead of sheer walls and waterfalls, and noticeably cooler air the second you step out of the car.
Good thing too, since the whole day had started because the Valley was already cooking by breakfast.
This will be our basecamp for the remainder of our week here.
