Yosemite National Park – A Must-Have In Your USA Travel Bucket-list!
Here’s to adventure trips – ones that can be celebrated solo, with friends, family, and partners. Here’s to celebrating the towering granite monoliths that await travelers across the globe to the Yosemite National Park. Let’s unleash the magical words by John Muirin in his book The Yosemite, “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.”
Yosemite National Park
Being a sucker of wanderlust, I always had a long-cherished desire to explore the marvel of Yosemite National Park, and being able to accomplish a visit to the Park makes me scream ‘Kudos!’ to myself. Haha. Last year I decided to take a road trip to California and before beginning the road journey I grabbed an opportunity to visit Yosemite National Park with my aunt and one of her friends. Trust me, an all-women trip is something you need every now and then to feel independent and liberated like never before. We decided to do a hike – an impossibly rewarding experience on the park in the midst of granite slopes and chains of waterfalls. Before diving down into my personal experience, I will take pleasure to introduce the place to you and why it’s an unskippable spot if you’re traveling to California!
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The Yosemite National Park was established in 1890 and it spreads across 748,436 acres (3,028 sq.km.). It usually records annual visitors of around 4.3 million with its three visitor centers – Yosemite Valley (year-round), Wawona and Big Oak Flats (May-October), and Tuolumne Meadows (June/July to September). The entry fees are $35 per vehicle, $30 per motorcycle, and $20 per individual aged 16 or above.
Yosemite National Park
What makes this place utterly astounding is its dramatic landscapes, diverse outdoor pursuits, and the possibility of soul-searching reflection. Things you must do during your trip to the Yosemite National Park include driving the scenic route to glacier point that opens seasonally in spring & culminates at the glacier point overlook. The stunning view reveals Half Dome’s granite cliffs, which rise almost a mile above the Yosemite valley. You must take a short walk from glacier point along a panoramic trail for equally stunning but less crowded areas.
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Visiting Yosemite Valley to see North America’s tallest waterfall is another highlight. The waterfall is composed of three falls – upper, middle, and lower; the falls tower a combined 2,425 feet and can be heard thundering across the valley especially in spring. If you’re visiting in the winter, look for a snow cone forming at the base of upper falls. It makes an excellent scene for photography maniacs. Take a walk among Giant Sequoia in the Wawona Basin. Towering nearly 30 stories high Giant Sequoia are among the largest living things on earth and they are only found in the Sierra Nevadas. A small tip – in the tourist season, head to the upper grove to avoid the crowds.
In front of the Vernal falls viewpoint in Yosemite Natioanl Park
One exclusive experience that the Yosemite National Park offers is the Alpine Wildflowers in bloom at Tuolumne meadows. In July & August, the flowers reach peak bloom in this subalpine meadow that stands out as the largest in the Sierra. Tioga road is Yosemite’s most popular drive leads to the meadow though the road is seasonally open once the snow has been cleared in the spring. You may hike two miles to the Lambert Dome for a panoramic view of the meadows below. While loitering around the area, keep an eye out for wildlife throughout the park because as many as 500 Black Bears inhabit Yosemite where they are most active from late spring through early autumn. Also, Golden Eagles with a wingspan that can exceed seven feet sometimes soar near the rim of Yosemite Valley. Already sounds exciting, right?
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If your thrill-seeking soul wants to take a hike, you have quite a lot of trails to follow described in the handbook & guidelines provided by the Park authority. There are adequate eateries in the park to feed your hunger pangs and if you are willing to stay around the vicinity of the park, there are a number of hotels and camping accommodations available. The epic California park has so much in store to offer a lifetime adventurous experience and you shouldn’t miss it at any cost!
Watch the video below to know more about my day in the Yosemite National Park and how I craved for Adrak Wali Chai even after finishing an exhausting hike in the US! 🙂
To make sure you put Yosemite National Park in your bucket-list,
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