Backpacking Yosemite — Exploring the Valley
This post is part of the “Backpacking Yosemite” Series. If you haven’t done so yet, please start reading the overview post:
Welcome to Yosemite
Coming from the trail head of our last hike through the Stanislaus National Forest, we arrived in the Valley in the early afternoon.
We drove right to the North Pines Campground, which is the entry to the Backpackers Campground. Campsites in the Backpackers Campground can’t be reserved (more on that in the preparations post), but luckily we found a nice spot for us anyway.
It’s worth to note that the Backpackers Campgrounds in Yosemite are always a bit more remote compared to the regular campgrounds. Be prepared to walk a little longer to bathrooms with fresh water or to your car. The nearest place for overnight parking is at the Half Dome Village, which is a 15 minute walk away.
After setting up our tents, we walked to Half Dome Village to check out the stores and to get some dinner. We were happy to see that the stores were well equipped with outdoor stuff and groceries and that the prices were fair. There was also a Pizza place around the corner, where we got some great large pizza for about $20. You can easily spent an hour waiting there, though. Try to avoid the prime times.
Half Dome Village is also the place to go if you want a hot shower. $5 will get you a towel and hot water for as long as you want. After weeks of backpacking and cleaning in ice cold mountain lakes, you will appreciate that for sure!
The night was warmer than expected (as turned out to be all our nights in the valley). We got some good sleep and moved to a regular campsite at the Lower Pines Campground early in the morning (which we reserved months in advance). We had to get a regular campsite because we didn’t have a wilderness permit for the previous or next day. The big upside was that we now had a parking spot for our car right next to us.
Off to Mirror Lake
I was really looking forward to get to the Mirror Lake, because of the many beautiful photos I’ve seen in advance. It’s a very frequently traveled, easy and short hike to get there. The trail is actually paved.
When we reached Mirror Lake, we didn’t even realize it. That was because there actually wasn’t any lake left. All the water was dried up at that time and we just saw a hole in the ground.
After talking to some rangers we learned that you’d be better off to visit between April an June to see this seasonal lake. Unfortunately the same also applied to the many water falls that we planned to explore during our stay in the Valley.
But the trip was still very worth it, because we got lucky and saw a bear and two cups on our way back to the Valley!
Although they were quite close to us, they didn’t seem to care about us at all. In the Valley, all animals are quite used to humans being around. Not saying that that’s a good thing, but it’s nice to be able to watch wild deer, squirrels and birds from so close.
Along the Merced River
We dropped our plans to hike to the Vernal and Nevada Falls because we’ve heard that there wasn’t much water left to see anyway. Instead, we decided to explore the Valley Floor and hiked to the Swinging Bridge.
As expected, we found a dry area with shallow water under the bridge. This must be a beautiful place in early summer, though!
Finally, we got to the Tunnel View vista point to enjoy the stunning view over the Valley, with El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall in the background. I guess you can’t expect anyone to not snap pictures there…
After that stop we called it a day and enjoyed the evening with some campfire and people we’ve met earlier. Next up on our list was the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, but that will be part of another story:
Thanks for reading along. Please feel free to comment if you have any questions or suggestions.
