Yosemite Part 1: A Misadventure

A trip where I was physically uncomfortable for 95% of the time. Not the first thing you think of when one says Yosemite, but my travel plans never go quite according to plan and this one went spectacularly awry. 

For the July 4th holiday, three friends and I decided to fly down to San Francisco, watch the fireworks and then head to Yosemite for a camping trip. For those unfamiliar, Yosemite National Park is a national park in Central California and is famous for its sheer granite walls, iconic climbing spots, waterfalls and giant sequoia groves.

While we did make it down to San Francisco, watch the fireworks and camp at Yosemite, even hiking to Glacier Point, nothing went according to plan. 

First off, San Francisco needs to be more tourist friendly for budget travellers. Needing to stay in SF for just one night, we decided to cut corners and stay at a hostel in Tenderloin. If you’re curious as to why San Francisco’s shadiest neighborhood is named after a cut of beef, I will include a link at the bottom. Granted, that hostel was possibly the only thing mildly affordable on Independence Day weekend in SF, but I think after encountering broken windows covered in suspicious brown goop, a hole in the wall for a light socket and a bathtub flooded with scummy water, I’d rather sleep in Dolores Park in a sleeping bag. At least the beds didn’t have bed-bugs in them. 

After spending the next day brunching with bottomless mimosas and picking up camping supplies, we made our way down to Ghirardelli Square to settle down to watch the fireworks. Now, I am aware of San Francisco’s fickle weather. But nothing, I repeat, nothing prepared me for that evening. Wrapped in a thick jacket with the hood pulled up and a fleece blanket, every inch of me was frozen. Thick fog had descended and a sharp cold wind was just making everything worse. After 3 hours of waiting miserably for the show to start, we saw the colored clouds. Apparently, when you set off fireworks into the fog, it is…not great.

Fervently wishing that we had watched the fireworks from a less foggy city, we made our way back to our car, grabbed dinner at In-n-Out and set off. The plan was to drive through the night, reach Yosemite before the crowds descended and snag a campsite and get some sleep.

4 sleepy hours later, we reach Yosemite. Oh. My. God. When driving into the valley, there is a point where you’re still far from the valley floor but you take a sharp turn and all of a sudden, Half Dome appears in the distance. I think my heart jumped a little, it was that beautiful.

But here’s the thing. At 5 am in the morning at Yosemite there were no crowds but also no open information booths. Tired, hungry and un-showered, we ended up driving around the park for hours fruitlessly. Every campground we arrived at, said “FULL”. 

It was 9 AM and getting crowded. We finally heard from a ranger that the Crane Flats might have something open. We frantically drive there. Apparently two campsites were open but the ranger didn’t know which. She handed us and 3 other groups some information packets and sent us off on the most high-stakes do-or-die treasure hunt of my life. My friend, Neels, ended up running through someone’s campsite. Bad camp etiquette, but the sight of the bleary eyed camper who stopped mid-butt-scratch to stare at my friend stampeding by his tent was worth it.

 

We ended up finding a decent campsite and setting up camp. With renewed enthusiasm, we set off towards the valley floor, intent on doing part of the Mist Trail and Mirror Lake. But an anticipated 30 min drive took us almost 3 hours because of insane traffic and by the time we reached the trailhead it was 4 pm. We ended up doing a tiny hike around mirror lake, waded through some glacial water, decided to walk back and then, we saw the bear. 

Now, Yosemite has bear warnings all round and you’re definitely not supposed to approach or run away if you see one. You are supposed to make a lot of noise and slowly back away. I did none of those. I had a brain fart and I thought, if I can’t see the bear, the bear can’t see me either, so I did a lightning quick about turn and noped out. The bear which I vaguely remember as being smallish, light brown and very furry just calmly walked across the trail. To be honest, I turned around so quickly that my memory is hazy at best. Cece insisted it was more mountain lion than bear and I insisted that it looked like the baby bear from Goldilocks, but we are no longer sure. 

Eventually, we made it back and headed to the village store to get supplies. Firewood, marshmallows and beer. I’ve camped before and this time, one of my camping goals was to cook over an open flame, so I got a couple of metal skewers and packs of sausages. 

Back at camp and one of my favorite things to do and also the one I’m least skilled at : starting a fire. Neels is great at that, so we had a fire going and we settled in to enjoy the best part of camping. A lot of things have gone wrong on our previous camping trips but the one thing we are great at is having great food! I roasted spicy jalapeño sausages and made everyone s’mores. Neels cooked spicy ramen and Cece had beers and cuba libres ready for everyone. Somehow, at the end of the day, it didn’t matter that I was tired, dirty and sleep deprived, there was a roaring fire, some really cool people, clear starry skies and some good food. At that moment life seemed pretty great…

Keep watching this space next week to find out what happened on the rest of the trip as I attempted the most uncomfortable hike ever!

As usual, I’ve linked some of the cool stuff that I mentioned in the post. Like, comment and share with all your friends!

Until next week, 

Kat

Why San Francisco’s sketchiest neighborhood is named after a cut of beef

Yosemite National Park

Half Dome,  Mist trail and Mirror Lake

What to do if you see a bear