Day Trip to Yosemite

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my booking and trip to Yosemite was canceled due to threat of flooding in Yosemite Valley that did not materialize, thank Heavens. We were very disappointed with the missed opportunity and knew that it would be so difficult to plan another overnight trip so we just planned a day trip. I think a day trip will satisfy the crave for the park.

We were excited to go. The drive was smooth and I was making good time since we purposely left really early to beat the traffic. And that was true until we were near the Big Oak Flat entrance of Yosemite where traffic stood still making a long line of idle cars for an hour or so. Many people were bored and got out of cars and walked up and down the side of the road.

When we eventually got inside, the situation was not any better. Especially nearing and around the Yosemite Valley area. Again, the long line of cars not moving was the common sight. Despite the long delay, I saw that people were generally in better mood, who wouldn't be when you're standing still in your car and you're looking at a roaring waterfalls or a rushing river. Also, a positive for the traffic jam was that we saw and photographed places we normally would not see because we were just zipping by to reach a "must-see".

Here comes the traffic jam.

Tunnel View viewpoint. A must stop for any visitor.

My view while sitting in traffic.

Got out of the car to watch the river run wild.

Still sitting in traffic.

We sat and sat.

We got lucky with the parking near Curry Village, which meant we could go take a short hike. We chose to hike to Mirror Lake because we have not seen it yet despite the multiple visits previously. Generally an easy hike. We started from the parking lot and to Yosemite Valley, and cut through via the boardwalk and ended up in one of the campgrounds. With the someone's help we found the trail and from there it was such a pleasant hike.

By hook or by crook we were determined to see Yosemite Falls despite the crowd. With stroke of luck, we found street parking just across the Falls (most likely due to late hour).

All photos were taken with Pixel and I-phone. My Flick'r album is here.