When I was seven years old, my family moved to Fresno, California.  My dad was offered a job as a professor at Fresno State University.  Little did we know when we moved to this agriculture town that we would live so close to so many places.  We were close to the beach, to San Fransisco, and near some stunningly beautiful mountains.  Among these mountains sits Yosemite National Park.

When I was about twelve years old, my family started going to Yosemite every Memorial Day weekend.  We would camp, hike, bike ride, and grab the free shuttle all over Yosemite Valley.  It was the beginning of my deep love for this national park, which, in my opinion, is one of the prettiest places in the world. Around fourteen, my friends and I started renting bikes and riding around the park.  I remember riding along and feeling this indescribable joy.  Around every corner, the views were breathtaking.   Since then, I call riding bikes in the park “my favorite day.”   It’s been something I’ve chosen to do on birthdays, anniversaries, and any chance I get. Now, I try to make it to the park at least once or twice a year to either ride bikes or to hike.  I’m sharing a little bit about visiting one of my favorite places.  This isn’t a comprehensive guide to the park, but just things that I love. I’m going to start with my favorite activity, bike riding.  Riding is the best way to get around in the park.  Yosemite gets crowded with traffic and parking.  The park has over twelve miles of paved bike paths.  These paths will get you to all of the main spots in the park while avoiding all the bad traffic.  I live about a 2 1/2 hour car ride from the park.  We usually bring our bikes either in a truck or trailer, depending on how big our group is.  You can also rent bikes in the valley HERE.  If you don’t have the luxury of living close, you can rent in the valley from April-November.  Make sure you check the web site before assuming you can rent. The park is wonderful year round, but in my opinion, the best time to visit is in the spring.  The waterfalls are the most spectacular this time of year.  I almost always try to visit sometime between April-June.  If you come in May, the Dogwoods may be in bloom. After you enter the park, you have about a 45-minute drive to get into the valley.  After driving through the big tunnel towards the end of the drive, you will arrive at a scenic spot that shows bridal veil falls and the whole valley.  It’s worth stopping here to take a few pictures and to see the panoramic view of the valley. Shortly after that, you will see a spot to park and do a short walk to see Bridal Veil Falls.  If it’s your first time seeing the park, this is a great spot to stop and look around. Once in the valley, you can follow signs for parking.  As I said before, the best way to get around is riding bikes.  But, the second best way to see things is by taking the free shuttle to all the spots. Some of my go-to sites to visit are Lower Yosemite Falls.  To visit these falls, its a mile up and back easy hike.  Depending on the time of year, you will get a little wet if you go all the way to the bridge at the top.  When I’m riding my bike around, I always stop and walk to the falls. Then I like to go and see the Ahwahnee Hotel.  Here is a quick description from the website of the hotel. “The Ahwahnee is an enormous luxury hotel at the east end of the Yosemite Valley. Sited in a meadow, the building’s large scale is diminished by the awesome beauty of the sheer granite cliffs of the north valley wall above. The building’s name comes from a local Indian word meaning “deep, grassy meadow.” It’s enjoyable to walk around and look at the hotel.  I’ve stayed in the cottages that are part of the resort and have eaten in the grand ballroom restaurant.  My husband and I took an anniversary trip here one time, and I came another time with friends and stayed here.  If you are fortunate enough to get a reservation, it’s a beautiful place to stay.  My family loves to stop there when we are doing a bike tour.

We love to bike to Mirror Lake.  Most of the time, the lake looks like a small pond.  This year, because of so much snow and rain.  It looked like a lake, and it reflected the stone mountains surrounding it.   The end of this trail gets steep, and I usually need to get off and walk towards the end.  The path leading to the Lake takes you through a beautiful forest, and many times you can see deer in the meadows.

After checking out the lake.  We glide down the hill towards happy Isle. There is a nature center for kids and a bathroom.  Happy Isle is where the trail begins to many of the talked about hikes in Yosemite.  Vernal Falls hike, Nevada Falls, and half dome.  I’ve done all these hikes and all range in length and difficulty.  Usually, when I am doing the valley bike tour, I will hike to the vernal bridge and sometimes to the top of the falls, which is called the mist trail.  HERE is a link to some of my favorite hikes.  One of the hikes that I usually do every year is to Nevada Falls.  The picture below is of this hike.  I usually use the back trail and not the mist trail when doing it.  You get this amazing view coming from this direction.  If you are planning to do a bigger hike like this one, you probably won’t have time for biking around the valley.

If you are spending the day in the valley, it’s nice to eat while riding your bike around.  Our favorite spot is Degnan’s Kitchen.  There are soups, sandwiches, salads, and Pizza.  It’s a perfect spot to grab a yummy, quick bite to eat.  This last time I was there.  I thought it would have been nice to get a sandwich and then eat it at one of the stops on the bike ride. Yosemite Village is where Degan’s is.  There is also a museum and a grocery store.  The museum is a great stop if you have children along for the ride.

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into one of my favorite places.  The pictures in this post were all taken with my iPhone.