Yosemite, USA

Yosemite highlights

Yosemite Valley
Tuolumne Meadows
Tenaya Lake
Tuolumne Grove

Why visit Yosemite?

For exploring one of nature’s most spectacular offerings and for adventures in the wilderness.

Getting there and around

In September 2022 we hired a Volkswagen estate car from Avis in San Francisco (cost - £70 per day including fuel, additional driver, car seats and one-way drop off fee).

Knowing that car hire fleets were depleted during the pandemic and costs were rising in response to surging demand, we booked our hire car months in advance.

Booking through the Avis U.K. website meant standard insurances were included. We also had excess cover included as part of our World Nomads travel insurance policy. This saved us the hassle of having to negotiate an insurance sales pitch at the rental desk.

We drove from San Francisco to Yosemite which took 4.5 hours including a stop for lunch. The drive along the 120 road to get there was spectacular (but with lots of corners and steep drop offs). We had fantastic views of Yosemite Valley before descending down into it.

In the Valley we left our hire car parked at the Lodge and explored on foot and by bike. We used our rental car to drive up to the high country.

Accommodation

**Yosemite Valley Lodge**

We stayed at the Yosemite Valley Lodge for 3 nights. The room cost £270 per night. This was over our budget but comparable to other accommodation in the National Park (cabins at Curry Camp are cheaper and rooms at the luxury Awahanee hotel are more expensive).
We had to book the room at the Lodge a year in advance because lodging within the National Park sells out quickly and there are limited family rooms.

The amenities and size of room were a pleasant surprise, as we had expected it to be more basic. Our room wasn’t cleaned during our stay which was a shame but not the end of the world. There is no wi-fi in the rooms and only very limited slow wi-fi in the lobby area.

The Lodge had two restaurants, a bike rental, and a shop selling souvenirs and food. The Starbucks and the pool were both closed for the season when we arrived. We didn’t rate the Lodge ‘base camp’ cafeteria style restaurant as it was over priced and poor quality but Curry Village’s pizza deck served good pizzas and was reasonably priced.

The Lodge location cannot be beaten. The Lodge is within easy driving or cycling distance of the sights and amenities in the Valley. There were some wildfires in the National Park and the air quality and visibility was sometimes poor during our stay.

Our star rating: 4

Our cost rating: 3

Yosemite Valley Lodge

Yosemite Valley

We hired tag-along bikes and rode through the Valley. A half day rental for a tag-along costs £50. But because there was a power cut, the payment systems were down, and we got our rentals for free.

Our 3 hour cycle ride took us over Swinging Bridge, and then past the Village Centre and Store, the North Pines Campground, Happy Isles, the Mist Trailhead, and Curry Village. We took in the stunning backdrops provided by Glacier Point and Half Dome.

We saw loads of wildlife during our stay including a coyote, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, prairie dogs, crows and bears.

We explored the Valley some more so took the free shuttle bus to El Capitan meadow and walked about 2 miles back on the Valley Loop Trail to the Lodge via Cathedral Rocks and Cathedral Beach, Sentinel Beach, and the Swinging Bridge.

Tuolumne Meadows

We drove 90 minutes from Yosemite Valley up the Tioga Road to Tuolumne Meadows. The road winds it’s way through the mountains and has sheer drops and tight corners, so if you are afraid of open drop heights like Harriet is then take it slowly and don’t look down! We parked at the visitor centre where we picked up a junior ranger activity booklet for the kids.

At high altitude (8,600ft) the air here was thin, cool and clean. There were hardly any people and the landscapes and views were amazing. Yosemite’s high country is vast and wild and visiting the Meadows gave us a small flavour of this stunning and ecologically important part of the National Park.

We walked to Soda Springs where ice cold water bubbles up from the ground. At the Parsons Memorial Lodge we chatted to a park ranger and looked at maps in front of an open fire. We also walked a very small part of the Appalachian Trail’s sibling, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Finally, we played Pooh Sticks on the Meadows Footbridge.

On the drive back down the Tioga Road we stopped at Tenanya Lake to take some photos.

Tuolumne Grove

Before heading back to the Valley we stopped at the Tuolumne Grove to see the giant sequoia trees. The Grove was pretty and not crowded at all. The giant sequoias are about 3000 years old and they are indeed gigantic!

The walk to the trees is a steep winding trail downhill and therefore a strenuous walk back up a steep winding hill! Don’t do what we did and underestimate the walk and leave all your water behind in the car thinking it will be a quick stroll…

This 2.5 mile round walk was very tough, particularly on 7 year old legs and took us 90 minutes to complete. We were overly ambitious attempting this walk having hiked earlier that day at the Meadows, but we made it!

Final Thoughts

We visited Yosemite in mid-September after the peak summer season when there were fewer crowds and cheaper rooms. We didn’t have to queue for food, bike hire or shuttles and we had many of the walking and bike trails to ourselves.

However, some of the amenities were closed and the waterfalls were dry (the best time to see the falls is in the spring). There were a lot of construction works and roadworks going on.

Staying at the Lodge was great because we could start early with trails on our doorstep; beat all the day trippers to the best spots; and didn’t have far to travel to our beds after long days.

Visiting Yosemite was a big detour in terms of distance and expense (10 more hours of driving and 3 extra nights). It was absolutely worth the extra time and cost though!

The landscape is like none we have seen anywhere else. We could wax lyrical about how beautiful it was, but our description just wouldn’t do it justice (and neither do our photos really).