Doug and Kerry Hudson in Yosemite, California

World Trip >> USA >> California >> Yosemite NP

The day after our tour of Death Valley, we set off for Yosemite National Park, our last destination in the United States.

Our route took us along Owen's Valley, a very pretty drive following the Sierra Nevadas. We arrived six hours later, absolutely knackered. Our drive had included a section of the park, and our first impressions were very good: high alpine meadows with rocks, grass and flowers, then lower into the valley with huge granite cliffs either side.

Needless to say, we were up early the next morning ready to explore, despite our fatigue. We went to Yosemite Valley, the most famous and popular part of the park...

And how popular! Yosemite National Car Park would be a more fitting name. There were literally thousands of tourists there, and while we admit it was impressive to see the Yosemite Falls, and walk up to and alongside the Vernal Falls, the sheer number of people did diminish our enjoyment somewhat. We simply struggled to find anywhere quiet there.

The next day was better, as we headed up to the Tuolumne Meadows in the high part of the park (pronounced tu-OLL-um-ee). This was much more to our taste. We were almost alone as we headed up to Lembert's Dome. Kerry made another brave step in slowly conquering her fear of heights, as we had to scrabble over the rocks up this slope. We were rewarded with excellent 360' views of the meadows and the mountains that encircle them. We ate lunch in a beautiful and tranquil setting by the river, surrounded by greenery, and with the clear water of the river sparkling in the sun. After lunch we wandered through the meadows for a bit, then walked up to May Lake high up in the mountains. This was pretty but unfortunately they had chosen that day to empty the pit toilets up there, meaning there was a rather unpleasant stink!

On our final day, we had an easy stroll to Tuolumne Grove, where you can see the giant sequoias. These trees were unbelievably big! They grow over one hundred metres tall, with a girth of over twenty metres at the base. We saw one that had fallen over and you can crawl all the way along the hollow trunk. We didn't though - it was too dark in there! There also the tree which you can drive your car through - in the 1920's somebody thought it would be impressive to cut a big hole through the trunk.

In summary, we enjoyed Yosemite very much, but it had too many tourists and lacked the magic we found at Zion National Park. Oooh, how controversial! Following our stay in Yosemite, we returned to San Francisco to fly back to the UK for the next leg of our travels: Europe.

World Trip >> USA >> California >> Yosemite NP

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006