Day 2: Oakhurst to Yosemite to Bishop

With a full night of sleep, we woke up refreshed, grabbed breakfast at the local restaurant and headed into Yosemite National Park. It began to rain (more rain of course) as we neared the entrance. After paying the park fees, we were prompted by signs to see the Giant Sequoia Tree, so we had to see them. We didn’t venture into the forest (cars were not allowed) for the trees were visible by the entrance and had our picture taken.

We soon headed back along Rt. 41 to Yosemite Valley. The roads were windy and a little scary, but with each turn there were overlooks of breath taking landscapes. We arrived to the valley, parked the car and set out for a hike to Vernal Falls along the Mist Trail. The trail was steeper than imagined and the view gave us reasons to stop and catch our breath. As we approached the falls, the walkway became steeper still, the rocks carved into uneven steps. Becca wasn’t sure she could make it all the way or if it was worth it to continue or to go on our way. But having come this far, we figured why not. As our hike turned into a steady climb, we welcomed the mist that sprayed up from the falls like a light spring rain. It was refreshing. At the bottom of the falls a rainbow was present. Further up we climbed out of the mist and up to the top. As glad as we were to have pushed our way to the top, all things that go up must come down. And down we went. You would think that going down would be the easy part, however the steepness of the steps made us careful in our footing, making sure we wouldn’t wipe out this early on in our trip. Once we were past the steps, the trail was easier to navigate and harder on the knees.

At the bottom we caught a shuttle that traveled through all parts of Yosemite Valley. It was packed with an array of people who had done the same hike, those who had turned around after the half way point, and others who continued all the way to half dome and were caught in the thunderstorms of that morning on their way back in. We found our stop at the entrance to the lower Yosemite falls. These falls of great heights were an attraction no one wanted to miss. We didn’t linger too long before we found our way back to our car.

As we exited through the National Park, we took our time driving the snake- like roads that slithered its way along the landscapes that varied from cliffs to lakes and mountains that had remains of snow. We stopped occasionally to take in the views and refresh ourselves in the cool air of the high elevation.

As we left Yosemite behind us and headed down route 120 to our hotel in Bishop, a large rainbow ran up the sky, it wasn’t a double full rainbow, but just as pretty and a good way to sum up our day in Yosemite.

188.9 miles