6 Days and Nights at Yosemite National Park (Dispersed Camping and Tioga Lake Campground)
Hikes: North Dome, Tuolumne Grove, Cathedral Lakes, Soda Spring, Lembert Dome
The drive from Petaluma to Yosemite should only take about 3.5 hours or so, but when we left around lunchtime, the GPS predicted closer to 5.5 hours. We also needed to make a grocery stop, so we figured we weren’t going to get to Yosemite before nightfall. Traffic was bad for the entire drive (didn’t think I’d every miss Philadelphia traffic!), so we didn’t get as far as we would have liked. However, after picking up our food for the next week at Walmart, we found Caswell Memorial State Park and they happened to have one campsite left for the night! We set up camp and cooked in the dark, then got into the tent early. The campground had individual bathroom stalls with sinks (a pain when you are just waiting to brush your teeth), but the sites were spaced well, and each had fire pits and picnic tables. Unfortunately, a group occupying the group campsite blasted music for the entire night, finally shutting it off around 7:30 am. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep all that well.
The next morning, we were eager to set off to Yosemite, which was about 2 hours away. We arrived at the Big Oak entrance on US120, where we were informed that all the campsites were full. While we knew camping at Yosemite would be competitive, we were surprised they were full so early in the morning (before 11 am). There is a visitor’s center adjacent to the park entrance, so we stopped in there to check out backpacking options and figure out our next few days.
The ranger who spoke with us was extremely helpful, especially considering we went in with absolutely zero plans. He walked us through the backpacking options – first, we had to decide if we could handle/wanted freezing temperatures. We did not, so that scratched out most of the east side of the park for backpacking (we still planned to do some day hikes in this area). There was a good loop that started at Hetch Hetchy Valley, which included a couple lakes and waterfalls. This sounded interesting, but there was another option that started off Tioga Pass and led to camping near the North Rim of Yosemite Valley. We could then do day hikes to the top of El Capitan and North Dome (for views of Half Dome). We opted for the latter. Yosemite administers backcountry permits based on entry trailhead and nothing more. You can stay backcountry for as long as you’d like! We decided 3 nights would be good for us, which would allow for both day hikes described above. There is a radius from the rim that you can’t camp in (for safety), but apparently great camp spots at the junction of the Yosemite Creek trail (what we would walk in on) to El Capitan. In addition, off the trail to El Capitan, the ranger recommended the brief 0.5-mile detour to Eagle’s Point – often skipped, but well worth the view. The hike to our planned campsite area would be about 6 miles with only about 1,400 ft of elevation gain (the climb being on the way out). Did I mention that backpacking in Yosemite as a walk-up is FREE?! We were very excited for our 4-day backpacking adventure! Another huge bonus is that in Yosemite, you are permitted to camp within the park at backpacker’s campsites one night before and one night after your backpacking trip for a fee of $10 each night. This was perfect for us since we had learned upon entering the park that the campgrounds were full. The permit was printed and all that was left was to review the rules of backpacking, which are usually similar from park to park. We got to the last rule before our trip was brought to a surprising halt. In Yosemite, you are not permitted to keep food or other scented items (including chapstick) in your car overnight; you must store these items in bear boxes at the trailheads or campsites. Apparently bears are known to break into cars, so this rule is in place to prevent property damage and access to human food by bears. Fines for breaking this federal regulation can be up to $5,000. Unfortunately, this was a deal breaker for us. The bear boxes at the trailheads were not large enough to fit our cooler (Engel 50). In addition, since we have been living out of our car, we were not confident that we would be able to remove every scented item since we may not know its whereabouts and were not willing to risk a fine (or damaged car for that matter), both of which would end our trip. So, we talked with the ranger about our alternative options, since we could neither backpack nor stay in the park overnight. Note that another unique rule to Yosemite (that we’ve encountered) is that use of bear spray is not allowed.
We ended up dispersed camping along Evergreen Road, which is about a mile west of the Big Oak entrance, where the food storage regulation did not apply. It did not make much sense to us that we could store our food in our car here, but not in the park, but so be it. We had even checked one campsite down the road (prohibitively expensive at $55/night), and they also indicated no food storage regulations because bears weren’t an issue near the campsite. Dispersed camping along Evergreen (road to Hetch Hetchy Valley) ended up working out very well! We found a turn out about ¼ mile passed Diamond O’ Campground which appeared to have a few previously used campsites along the dirt road. The sign at the turnout says the road is open from April through December. In addition, there is a picnic area (Middle Fork) about a ½ mile down the road from the turnout with a pit toilet, which we used to cook our breakfast and dinner. Evergreen Lodge is about ½ mile further down the road from the turnout, where you can get food and drinks (and wifi!). We ended up staying at this campsite for 3 nights due to its convenience.
Once we set up camp the first night, we headed to Hetch Hetchy Valley to see the infamous dam. We walked across the dam and through the tunnel before turning back (only took about 30 minutes or so). Then we headed back to the Middle Fork picnic area to cook dinner (fish tacos). After dinner we grabbed a beer at Evergreen Lodge and used their wifi to figure out what hikes we were interested in over the next few days.
Unfortunately, Patrick wasn’t feeling well the next day, so we took the opportunity to spend the day driving to Yosemite Valley and Glacier Point. Yosemite Valley offers great vantage points of El Capitan and Half Dome (which we hoped would supplement the views we would get from the top of North Dome later in the week). In addition, there is a nice visitor center with good information/graphics/displays on the park history, small museum, and self-guided (short) walking tour with Yosemite Native American history. Parking near the visitor’s center fills up quickly, so get there early in the day (before 10 am) to secure parking. A shuttle stops at the visitor’s center and transports visitors to the trailheads and other stops within the valley. We didn’t need to take the shuttle since we weren’t hiking that day. Instead, we made the 24-mile (1 hour) drive up to Glacier Point. On the approach to Glacier Point, there was a long line of cars waiting to park, so we turned around and parked at Washburn Point (also a great view of Half Dome here). It was only a 0.5-mile hike down to Glacier Point from this parking lot, which was much less crowded. Both viewpoints were worth seeing – and our first look at the valley from up high! We then had a 2-hour drive back to our campsite on Evergreen Road. We cooked pork loin, mashed potatoes, and broccoli (a staple meal for us) at the picnic area before driving just passed our turnout for a great view of the sunset.
The next day, Patrick was feeling a little better and up for hiking, so we set off to do the North Dome hike. The hike was about 9.5 miles out and back with 2,000 ft of elevation gain, including a short 0.6-mile detour to Indian Rock, one of the few natural granite arches. The hike begins downhill (so remember this on the way out) but is relatively moderate throughout the middle portion of the hike. The Indian Rock detour is well worth the extra 0.6 miles, and we would recommend doing it on the way in since the hike out is a little tougher (uphill). The last stretch after the detour brings you to a rock dome, which you can either climb over/down or go around before reaching the final short climb up North Dome. We elected to go straight over/down the rock dome on the way to North Dome and then around it on the way back (appeared to be a less steep route than going straight over it). There are a few steep rock portions that were a bit slippery due to the loose gravel, but overall, the trail is not too difficult. The views from North Dome are incredible! This was one of our favorite hikes and views/overlooks! You can see down into Yosemite Valley (northeast and southwest) and into the valley where Veranda and Nevada Falls area located. We liked this view much better than that of Glacier Point the previous day. We hung out on the top for about 45 minutes before heading back. Overall, this hike took us about 4.5 hours, including our breaks at Indian Rock (10-15 minutes) and North Dome (45 minutes). Dinner this night was gnocchi with sausage, peppers, and onions. Afterwards we went back to Evergreen Lodge for a well-deserved beer. We had no bear activity our three nights at the dispersed camping site. We did cover everything in the car with blankets (apparently you should disguise the looks of a cooler), but otherwise, we didn’t do anything special.
The next morning, we packed up the tent, planning to move from the west side of the park closer to the east side to explore the Tuolumne Meadows area. We had initially planned to explore Sequoia National Park following Yosemite, but on further examination of the route to the park, we realized it was very far out of the way because you can only access the park from the west side. And we were thinking we would make our way to Death Valley, which was much more easily accessible from the east entrance to Yosemite. Sadly, we decided to abandon our plans to see Sequoia National Park. We also decided to forgo a visit to the southern side of Yosemite, where the largest group of sequoia trees in Yosemite is located (Mariposa Grove), again due to distance/time out of the way. So, the Tuolumne Grove offered a third best option to see the giant sequoias and was on our way to Tuolumne Meadows. The hike to see the trees is over a mile hike down about 400-800 feet (the former being what was indicated on the sign in Yosemite and the latter being that indicated on AllTrails, which we feel more closely resembles the actual elevation gain). Once you get down to the grove, there is a short trail that walks you to viewpoints of the large sequoias. We took our time enjoying the grove, which includes the one dead sequoia that the Old Oak Road had been cut through back in the late 1880s to attract tourists. The tree looks the same as it did in the old photos. There was one large tree – Big Red – that must have been 20-feet in diameter. The grove provides a good taste of the large sequoias, but I’m sure the Mariposa Grove and Sequoia National Park would have been much better. The Tuolumne Grove hike took us about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Tuolumne Meadows is about an hour drive from Tuolumne Grove. We stopped at Tenaya Lake picnic area to make some chicken wraps for lunch, accompanied by chips. We ate and read by the lake for an hour or so – very relaxing! There is a nice beach area where kids can play and swim. Then, we continued to Tuolumne Meadows, where we did a short walk to the Soda Springs – carbonated pocket of cold water bubbling at the surface – which included nice views of the meadow and surrounding peaks. We walked for about an hour. At this point, it was later in the afternoon, and we still needed to figure out where we would be camping for the night.
Tioga Lake campground sits just outside the east park entrance along US 120. We pulled in here to see if the bear regulations applied at this campground. After speaking with the campsite host, it was clear that we would be fine if we just covered our cooler and food in the car, similar to what we did when dispersed camping. Fortunately, there were a few available campsites, and we selected campsite #3. The campground has 13 sites, including one for the host. All sites have lake front views excepts #s 1-3; however, campsite #3 still has an unobstructed lake view, but is set back off to the side. In fact, we ended up loving campsite #3 because it offers a little privacy from the rest of the campsites and shade. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring, bear box, and flat, gravel tent pad. The bear boxes at this campground did fit our cooler, and we did our best to remove our food and scented items from the car (although I’m certain we didn’t get everything). Dinner tonight was burger dogs (elongated burgers because we only had hot dog buns). We spent the evening sitting by the fire, enjoying our nice lake view.
We had initially only planned to stay at Tioga Lake campground for one night – enough to keep us in Yosemite one more day for the Cathedral Lakes hike and then get out of bear country where our car wasn’t in danger of being ripped apart. But we loved the campground so much that we elected to stay two additional nights (kept changing our mind each morning). After making breakfast (egg tacos and coffee), we headed to the Cathedral Lakes trailhead. It was about a 30-minute drive and we made it there by 11:15. We found parking along the main road easily. There are two Cathedral Lakes, lower and upper. Note that the signage at the trailhead is for Lower Cathedral Lake. We hiked to Lower Cathedral Lake first, which is about 3.4 miles one way and took us 1.5 hours. You approach the lake through a nice meadow surrounded by granite peaks, one of which is Cathedral Peak. The lake is stunning! Once at the lake, you can continue your hike around the north side about 0.5 miles or so and eventually get to an overlook of Tenaya Lake and the associated valley. Definitely worth the extra walk. Patrick jumped into the lake on the west side where there is a small sandy beach outcrop. Cold, but not too cold compared to the glacier lakes we had jumped in earlier in our trip. After our short detour, we hiked back up to the junction where you can split to Upper Cathedral Lake. There is no signage for Upper, but you follow the path for “Sunrise H.S.C.” and take a diverging path to your right (south) after about ½ mile. This takes your right to the Upper Cathedral Lake. This lake is smaller but offers a different perspective of Cathedral Peak. Both lakes are very peaceful and worth hiking to! We ate some lunch (tuna packs and crackers) at Upper Cathedral Lake before heading back to the trailhead. Overall, we hiked about 8.5 miles, with 1,500 ft of elevation gain, in about 4.5 hours, including our breaks at each lake. Following the hike, we drove back to the Tioga Lakes campground for a hot dog dinner and stargazing.
The next day was a bonus Yosemite day since we had decided to stay one more night at Tioga Lake. The beauty to no hard itinerary. We lounged all morning, cooking breakfast, reading by the lake, and enjoying the views. Shortly after lunch, we headed to the Lembert Dome trailhead for a quick 5-mile round trip hike with roughly 800 feet of elevation gain. It’s shorter (2.8 miles) if you start from the trailhead further east off Tioga Road, but we had been told that the longer route is more enjoyable because you are further from the road. The views on top of Lembert Dome are well worth the hike – a large panorama of Tuolumne Meadows. Once you get to the rocky dome, there is no defined trail, you just make your way up the giant rock. There is also a lower ledge that you can hike down to, which we did, that gives an uninhibited view of the meadows (sheer drop off from the lower ledge, apparently popular with climbers). Overall a great hike that took us about 2 hours, perfect for our lazy day. Another option for the hike is to add Dog Lake (additional 0.6 miles), but we passed on this to spend more time relaxing at the campsite. Dinner was pork loin, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. This had to be our last night at Tioga Lake campground as snow was expected the next day (and we are not equipped or prepared to camp in snow!). We were sad to say goodbye to Yosemite the next morning, but excited to be out of bear country for a little while and back in the warm weather. Next stop was Death Valley.
