Yosemite Valley - Yosemite National Park

After just returning from a 24 day vacation, it's hard to choose which amazing place to blog about first. Our vacation started in beautiful Yosemite Valley and then moved after a week to the less crowded, breathtaking high country of Yosemite National Park. Our vacation's third week started out with 6 days in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park and then ended with a 2 day visit to San Francisco. I've been asked several times what my favorite part of our vacation was. It's truly an impossible question to answer. It was all amazing.

photo by dturner

Yosemite Valley is really beautiful. Our first view of Yosemite's most famous granite monoliths is pictured above. El Capitan is clearly visible on the left. This monolith is a rock climber's dream. While we were in the valley, we spent a lot of time (both day and night) watching climbers on the face of El Capitan through the binoculars. The average length of time that it takes a climber to reach the summit of El Capitan is 3 days. While rock climbing is far beyond our physical limitations, hiking Yosemite Valley was top on our priority list.

photo by dturner

One of our favorite places was Glacier Point. We watched the sunset from this amazing overlook. There was a small wildfire burning in the high country, and the smoke from the fire made for some really amazing color of the face of Half Dome as the sun went down.

photo by dturner

Our campsite was right on the Merced River. It was a gorgeous spot, and I was lucky enough that a friendly neighbor let me borrow his kayak one afternoon. 

photo by dturner

photo by dturner

A favorite view of mine was of Nevada Falls from the John Muir Trail (below.) This area is so beautiful, and the blue sky this day made it picture perfect.

photo by dturner

Prior to leaving for vacation, we had been given permits to hike Half Dome, one of Yosemite Valley's most famous granite structures. Hiking to Half Dome is an 8.5 mile hike with almost a 5000 foot elevation gain. Right before Half Dome there is a sub dome on which you have to climb several hundred stairs before getting to the base of Half Dome. Half Dome greets you with steep, slick granite and a pair of cables that you grab onto and pull yourself up 424 vertical feet to the summit. Once you have made it to the summit and enjoyed the view from the top, it's back down the cables and then back down the hiking trail another 8.5 miles. The entire hike takes 10-14 hours for most.

photo by mrbturner

My father-in-law, my wife, and I started our Half Dome hike at 3:30am on June 15. It didn't take long for the hike to get steep. We were huffing and puffing within the first mile. We had just arrived in Yosemite Valley the day before and getting used to the elevation wasn't something that we had time to do. We largely underestimated the steepness of the trail, and although we had been training for the hike for a few months, our training proved to be less than adequate. After 7 hours of hiking toward the Dome, my wife and I turned around. At that point, we were a mile from Half Dome. My father-in-law continued toward Half Dome and met its summit with success. My wife and I were both very disappointed that we did not reach our goal of getting to the top of Half Dome. It took us 6 hours to hike back to the trail head. It was a difficult day - both physically and mentally. We are glad that we tried the hike, and we know, without a doubt, that we will get to Half Dome's summit someday.

Yosemite Valley is a really amazing place. Although it was a little crowded, we enjoyed our stay there very much. The scenery is breathtaking, and we look forward to returning some day.