Yosemite National Park

 Getting to Yosemite is quite the task.  Yosemite Pines RV Park is our home for 2 nights, giving us the in between day to see the park.  We knew that our RV park was 16 miles from the Big Oak Flat Entrance gate.  We also knew we would have mountain driving the last 8 miles before arriving at the RV park.  What we didn't know was that CA hwy 120 is extremely steep and not a straight stretch on that 8 mile incline.  We were in the middle of an extremely long line of cars, trucks, rvs, and tractor trailers crawling up the mountain.  Much of the time we were only going 8-10 mph which was okay because there was a switchback about every 50 ft.  We've pulled Wander through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada  and southern California mountains but they were like small hills compared to this climb.  But thankfully, we finally arrived.

Yosemite Pines RV Park is my least favorite of everywhere we have stayed.  They sites are tiny, we barely have room for our 2 chairs under the awning and our picnic table is sitting behind Wander.  When you step out of the trailer or stand up from a chair you have to be careful not to roll down the hill to 40+ ft fifth wheel sitting beside us.  We actually can hear their children bouncing around inside playing. However, there are some really cute cabins across the drive from us.

The sixteen mile drive to Yosemite from our campground is gorgeous.  Lots of curves but not switchbacks and everything is lush, lush forest.  Just beautiful! However when you arrive at the entrance gate, you are only half way to the valley which is the hub of the park.  It is also a picturesque drive and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Much of the park is closed.  Some things are closed because of Covid and some because there is still much snow in the higher elevations (above 8000 ft)  The scenery is unlike anything we have seen anywhere else in our travels and is very worth the drive.  

El Capitan

Merced River runs through the valley