Yosemite in the Summer

Yosemite National Park was one that we’d seen in pictures for years, but never visited, mostly because it’s a bit of a trek to get to. It’s about 4 hours from San Francisco, but we arrived by driving a zigzag-y route south after our visit to Lake Tahoe. We knew that visiting at the end of July would mean large crowds, which were especially evident at the shuttle stops and restaurants, but they didn’t take away from three great days in this outstanding park.

Autocamp Yosemite

The night before we visited, we stayed at Autocamp in Midpines, about an hour from the park’s entrance. Autocamp is a company that runs glamping properties in Santa Barbara, The Russian River Valley, and Cape Cod. They are known for their chic airstreams, but we opted to stay in one of their Canvas tents. It was a splurge at $300 for the night (the airstreams are even more expensive), but we justified the expense by staying on the night of our anniversary.

The property is new and everything is stylish and beautiful. We checked in at the pine-filled clubhouse, where there is a store with food and clothing, bathrooms and showers with Marin + Goetz products, couches and other seating areas, and the beautiful fireplace. One whole glass wall has retractable doors that they opened up at night once it was cooler. We got a free drink when we checked in, and since it was our anniversary they kindly gave us a complimentary s’more kit to use at our site.

There’s a great pool, and we enjoyed swimming and reading our Yosemite guidebook in the shade. We spent the rest of the night lounging in our tent. Every textile and piece of furniture was perfect, and it was stocked with everything one might need- matches, corkscrew, a small fridge, a teapot with complimentary tea and coffee, a comfortable couch and a coffee table with pretty books to page through. There were outlets that we used to charge up all our devices for the next few days, knowing we wouldn’t have electricity at our next accommodations. We loved our stay here, but we noticed that many guests seemed to use it as their home base, heading into Yosemite each day. I don’t think I’d do this: it’s too far from the entrance (you’d be committing to 2 hours in the car a day if you did this), and it would be such an expense to use this upscale property as just a place to sleep; we were glad to really settle in and soak up all the amenities.

Autocamp provides a complimentary breakfast each morning, and we left pretty shortly after eating. One of the front desk staff had mentioned that the line of cars at the park’s entrance could get pretty frustrating, so we left Autocamp by 8 and were inside Yosemite by 9. I’d recommend this if you are visiting in the summer. We parked in one of the last available spots at Curry Village by 9:30 and left our car there for the next few days.

Within a few minutes of parking, we heard other visitors talking about a bear sighting, and we watched a mother and club eating berries about 20 yards from the nearest shuttle stop. A ranger’s presence made us feel better about our proximity, and it was a fun moment to start the trip.

We passed swimmers and rafts on our walk along the Merced Rive

Yosemite National Park

We exclusively walked or took the shuttle throughout the next few days. The shuttle was often convenient but was not without problems. One, the crowds meant that the shuttles were often packed, and another was that there were sometimes strange delays in the shuttle route. We’d wait 30 minutes for a shuttle, then 3 in a row would line up. Overall, this was preferable to using a car. Traffic was regularly bumper to bumper, and I cannot imagine the stress of trying to find spots, especially when there is so much to see and do in the park; it would be such a waste of time.

We used our first day to walk the Valley Loop trail, which was a beautiful introduction to the park. We did the whole thing, and also added in the Lower Yosemite Falls trail (because this is so flat and easy, it was the most crowded trail we encountered on the trip).

Where we stayed

There are several hotels in the park, but we opted to stay in one of the 403 canvas tents in Curry Village. Our tent was simple, with a bear box in front, a locked door, and inside, a tent with simple white bedding, towels, a single lightbulb, and a safe. It was affordable and a great little “neighborhood” to come home to each day, always full of kids playing and people cooking and towels drying: a true “summer camp” atmosphere. When I posted the above photo on Instagram, my cousin Jocelyn commented that the tents remind her of the Lindsey Lohan version of the Parent Trap, and I agree! The identical tents were cute, there was a bathroom close by, and the showers were perfectly acceptable.

The Ahwahnee Hotel

One day, we had lunch at the park’s fancy hotel, the Ahwahnee. It was pretty, and it was fun imagining Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir having drinks and discussions in the cozy seating areas. We’ve heard that the dining room is beautiful (though overpriced; lots of online commenters noted that the only food supplier to the park is generic, mass-scale Aramark, so the concept of fine dining is a bit of a facade), but we opted to have IPAs and lunch in the bar area instead.

On the Mirror Lake Trail

The Mirror Lake Trail was an easy route and an enjoyable one for an early morning. Here too, we spotted swimmers and beautiful scenery.

Glacier Point

We’d heard that this area was not to be missed, and we agree. It’s about an hour from Yosemite Valley and only accessible in summer, but if you visit the park at the right time of year, make sure to include this in your itinerary. I’d read that with the summer crowds, parking fills up fast, but when we pulled in at 8 on a Thursday morning, we were one of the first dozen cars in the lot. We did enjoy having the views to ourselves, though, and when we left at 9, a line of cars entering the parking lot had formed.

It was helpful to see the park’s layout from this vantage point, and the view of Half Dome made us all the more appreciative of the visitors who win the lottery and do the hike to the top. Many photographers come at dusk, which would be lovely; on our early morning visit, the glare and direction of the sun did affect our photographs.

Next time, we’ll take the shuttle up from the Yosemite Valley and then hike back down on the Four Mile Trail or the Panorama Trail. When I went to book this, about 2 weeks out, they were sold out.

Taft Point

After seeing Glacier Point, we did the 2.2 mile roundtrip hike to Taft Point, a open viewpoint over the Yosemite Valley made famous by the photo of Teddy Roosevelt and John Mirror at the same point. Without railings or stone walls, though, this spot has also been the scene of devastating falls and accidents, and looking over the edge really is frightening. We didn’t linger at the edge, but the views were impressive.

It was easy to park along the road to do this hike, so we’d recommend going to Glacier Point first, then do this one on the way down. You could also loop in the Sentinel Dome hike, which starts from the same trailhead, but we were running out of time and needed to start our drive back to San Francisco.