Thanks to the efforts of John Muir, a Scotsman who spent most of his life in the wilderness areas of the Sierra Nevada, congress developed the National park system, So in 1878, Yellowstone became the first National Park followed by Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. It does not need any imagination ... Read review
Nestled within Yosemite National Park, 4 miles (6 km) from the park's south entrance, this ... more
Victorian-style lodge offers access to golf, relaxing public spaces and an on-site restaurant.Wawona Hotel serves a free breakfast buffet every morning. For lunch and dinner, the main dining room serves delicious cuisine. Guests will also enjoy Saturday night barbecues in the summer months.Guests at the Wawona can play a game of tennis or golf, then relax in the sunroom. In the evening, visitors can listen to a live singer and pianist. For a restful stay, the guestrooms do not contain telephones or TVs.A variety of activities are available within minutes of the Hotel Wawona. Guests can spend the day hiking or cross-country skiing. After exploring the Pioneer Museum, visitors can take an audio tour of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias..
Information: :Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Seconds from breathtaking waterfalls and centered in the heart of Yosemite National Park, ... more
this hotel is near many activities and features an on-site restaurant and thoughtful amenities.Guests at the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls can take advantage of free wireless internet access as well as the outdoor pool and hot tub. The hotel also offers an on-site amphitheater, featuring nightly movies, educational programs and more.While staying at the Lodge at the Falls, guests can enjoy dining at the on-site Mountain Room, offering gourmet dishes and stunning views of the Falls. The hotel also features an on-site gift shop, featuring Native American art and much more.Endless activities, including skiing, hiking and horseback riding can be found only moments from the Lodge at the Falls in Yosemite. The hotel also offers on-site bicycle rentals, which makes exploring the surrounding area easy..
Information: :Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Enjoy a unique experience in an unrivaled location in Yosemite National Park in tent-style ... more
lodging, surrounded by breathtaking scenery and exciting wildlife, close to Glacier Point and Merced River.Curry Village provides guests with rustic accommodations only moments from an endless variety of recreational activities. With nearby guided hiking tours, bicycle rentals, mountain-climbing lessons and an outdoor pool, there is something for everyone.While staying at Curry Village, guests are provided with canvas covered tents and common bathroom and shower facilities. The property also offers a common dining and restaurant area along with nearby barbecue facilities. An activities desk as well as a convenience store is also located on-site..
Information: :Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
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Advantages: The views, peace and tranquility Disadvantages: Bears and People
...Park followed by Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. It does not need any imagination to work out why.
We visited Yosemite during a tour of California, stopping at all the usual places, LA, Grand Canyon etc. and we drove to Yosemite from Las Vegas which should have taken about 4 hours, but wanting to see as much as possible we took a longer route through Death Valley and consequently it was starting to get dark when we first saw the signs ... ...first sign we saw was Yosemite Village 70 miles…..arggh if you are going to run out of petrol anywhere you don’t want it to be in the pitch black, down a well maintained but very small road in the middle of bear country!!!!!
Anyway with a bit of luck, a lot of turning the engine off going down hill and petrol fumes we made it into the village. We were staying in Curry Village, which is the cheapest of the on site accommodation and ... more
Thanks to the efforts of John Muir, a Scotsman who spent most of his life in the wilderness areas of the Sierra Nevada, congress developed the National park system, So in 1878, Yellowstone became the first National Park followed by Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. It does not need any imagination to work out why.
We visited Yosemite during a tour of California, stopping at all the usual places, LA, Grand Canyon etc. and we drove to Yosemite from Las Vegas which should have taken about 4 hours, but wanting to see as much as possible we took a longer route through Death Valley and consequently it was starting to get dark when we first saw the signs to Yosemite National Park. We decided that having about a quarter of a tank of petrol we would wait until we got to the village and fill up in the morning – mistake number 1. We entered the Park boundary and the first sign we saw was Yosemite Village 70 miles…..arggh if you are going to run out of petrol anywhere you don’t want it to be in the pitch black, down a well maintained but very small road in the middle of bear country!!!!!
Anyway with a bit of luck, a lot of turning the engine off going down hill and petrol fumes we made it into the village. We were staying in Curry Village, which is the cheapest of the on site accommodation and is basic in the extreme, you get a mission style tent with an iron bed and a chair and it was more expensive than the hotel we stayed at in Nevada. There are a number of accommodation options in the village, from lodge style hotel rooms to 4 star ‘colonial’ hotels. A friend of mine and said that Colonial is code for ‘in need of repair’ but I can not comment from personal experience. All details of the accommodation are available (with an online booking facility) at www.yosemitepark.com.
The first thing we were warned about on arrival is the bears, you are advised not to leave anything in the car that will attract them, so food and cosmetics and staying in the tents you could not leave anything there either so you can hire a bear proof safe. This we did then promptly forgot that we had done it and we were well out of the park 4 days later when we realised our lager was still there. For the record we did not see any bears, but we certainly heard them and there were scratch marks on some of the tents. Curry village is serviced by camp site shower and toilet blocks and here was mistake number 2. We arrived in Yosemite on Labor Day weekend, it was packed and you had to queue for about half an hour to get a shower.
The following morning, is a time I will never forget. We woke up, not exactly peaceful solitude as the place was packed, but it was a glorious day and having arrived in the pitch black we had seen nothing the night before and we poked our heads out of the door and the sight was breathtaking, awe inspiring, we had been lifted out of our mundane lives and deposited in heaven. We couldn’t wait to get exploring, so we had a quick breakfast and drove up to sequoia grove. The great thing about Yosemite, is the majority of visitors do not walk and it is so vast that you can easily get away from the crowds Sequoia grove is an area of very large and very old redwood trees, it used to have an official road running through it and one of the large trees had a large hole cut into it so the carriages could drive through. The tree itself is now dead but it still makes a great photo op. The size of these trees is something I really can not describe I was completely dwarfed by them, not hard at the best of times but it was amazing.
Yosemite is also home to the Ansel Adams studio, for those of you who have not heard of him he is an incredible landscape photographer. We consider ourselves as ok amateurs and were delighted to find a gallery there and the professional photographers offer a free camera walk. We booked onto this really eagerly, and was one of the most interesting couple of hours ever, we did not walk very far, just into one of the meadows where you can see half dome (one of the mountain faces) in the distance and they then helped us to use options on the camera that we did not know how to, how to set perspective and distance and all that sort of thing. The results were incredible and I am really sorry I can not use the ciao photo option to show you but they are all analogue pictures and neatly displayed in albums.
At this point we were so relaxed and enjoying ourselves so much we extended our stay by a couple of days. Waking up on the Tuesday morning was a completely different experience, silence, you could hear the birds (and the bears) everyone else had gone home it was heaven.
Yosemite itself is a valley surrounded by mountains, most of which are so well known that you will recognise them even if you didn’t know it was Yosemite, They have been used in many films, El Capitain was climbed by Spock in the only Star Trek film that my husband has persuaded me to watch, Half Dome is one of the most photographed and is often found in picture shops. The river runs through the centre of the valley and is great for paddling in or canoeing on. There are many waterfalls in the area and they differ depending on which season you visit in. We were there in early September so the water levels were very low, but you could see what the size would be in spring from the discolouration of the rock. Winter, being up in the mountains, not far from the ski resorts of Mammoth and Lake Tahoe, the valley is covered in snow and many of the roads are impassable, but this causes the huge waterfalls in early spring. The whole valley is glacially produced.
We did not even touch the surface of Yosemite, and I will definitely be going back one day, probably in a different season. Staying in the village is not cheap, and the food available is fairly typical fried food restaurants but the nature, wildlife and conservation of the area is truly amazing, whether you walk or not no one will be disappointed, and there are many important viewing points that are accessible by car. However one thing you can be sure of, On my next visit I will certainly fill up with petrol at the first opportunity and I will not go bank holiday weekend.
Thank you for reading, I look forward to reading your comments and if any of you do decide to visit Yosemite, I really hope you enjoy it.
...was an outstanding experience.
Yosemite National Park is a must see, if you are in California definitely make the effort to visit because It really is THAT beautiful and I am sure you wont regret it..
Yosemite Valley was formed by glaciers which, over time, carved through the granite rock and has left us with one of the most beautiful places on the planet with towering sheer granite rock cliff faces which will have you spellbound. Driving through ... ...that do Day Trips to Yosemite so ask at the Visitors Centres or at your hotel.
Self driving is no doubt the best way to go, this gives you the freedom to explore the valley at your leisure and at your own pace.
Fees.
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*$10 per person if on foot or cycling.
*$20 per car -( covers all passengers as well)
* $50 National Parks Pass . This is good if visiting a few parks and is valid for 12 months from date of purchase. They can be purchased ...
casnz 28.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Yosemite (California)
Advantages: Need I say it again THE VIEWS Disadvantages: The the maddening crowds (I'm included in that)
...that was until I visited Yosemite National Park in California. Then I became awestruck, there are not enough superlatives to describe the views of one of most spectacular pieces of geology to be found anywhere in the world.
The plan was to visit Yosemite and stay in the valley in some log cabins on the valley floor at Yosemite Village or the so-called Curry Village. The park can be accessed by car from 4 possible entrances the northern at Mather, ... ...to the car park in Yosemite village that feeds the visitor center. (I’ve not filched this off some US site, honest!) There are signs everywhere warning people not to leave food in their vehicles, due to the bears and their cunning attempts at hunting for junk food. The valley is relatively small in Grand Canyon terms being just seven miles long and one mile wide at its widest point, but the cliffs that surround the valley are near vertical. ...
jason.rowe 26.02.2001 (27.02.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Yosemite (California)
Advantages: A chance to see a little bit of heaven on earth Disadvantages: depending on how you travel & the crowds of visitors.
...We drove further into the Yosemite park and parked for a while in the meeting area by the hotel. Here we had a chance to discover our surroundings. One of the most amazing sights was the mountain called Half Dome. This is quite spectacular in itself, but to see a climber half way up its sheer face was awe-inspiring, then to discover that he was carrying a paraplegic mate up with him produced goose bumps all round. That night they slung hammocks to ... ...I will never forget this incredible sight.
That afternoon we all returned to our Green tortoise to travel further into the depths of yosemite, to explore some of the nether regions where visitors rarely invaded. Not once did we see any fences, buildings or made up roads, everything was natural. a large lake 13,000 feet up surrounded by tall conifirs, looked black, still and uninviting, but nevertheless some hardy buddies, decided to take the plunge. ...
elinor.z 22.05.2005 (23.10.2007)
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Advantages: everything except the crowds Disadvantages: the bloody crowds
...earth, or one of, the Yosemite Valley. Obviously Americans have come to realise what a jewel they have in their country, and this has been reflected in the crowds. I had one day to visit, and the weather was utter crap ? wet, cold, foggy and fickle. And even then there were bloody people everywhere. I can only wonder as to how people get around in the summer months, I get visions of clogged pathways full of people bullocking for a decent view and ... ...made my way to the Yosemite Lodge and gratefully dumped my belongings in a room which had fortuitously been cleaned early. Aside from the rain, the day was off to a good start. Things could only get better (unless it started snowing). The first thing, generally, that one does when they are at the Lodge is look skywards for the falls. I could see the lower falls and a bit of the upper ? and then cloud. There was nothing for it but to walk and see ...
adamsputnik 12.09.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Yosemite (California)
...magnificent land that makes up Yosemite National Park made it the first territory ever set aside by Congress for public use and protection. That was back in 1864.
The park consists of around 1200 square miles of the central Sierra Nevada, with elevations ranging from 2,000 to over 13,000 feet. Here, you’ll find three groves of giant sequoia trees and, around the glacially-carved Yosemite Valley, waterfalls, cliffs and unique rock formations.
We ... ...to the summit via the Yosemite Falls Trail. We watched climbers inching their way to the top through a telescope that another visitor had set up on the roadway. Jaw-dropping stuff.
Mirror Lake - Mirror Meadow
During spring-time, you will see impressive views and mirrored reflections of Tenaya Canyon. The lake is naturally evolving into a meadow and dries up by summer's end. A three-mile trail loops the lake. Half Dome
Yosemite's most distinctive ...
SuzanneW 20.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Yosemite (California)
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Advantages: absolutely breathtaking scenery in National Parks! Disadvantages: cities can be very expensive!
the discovery of Gold in the Sierra foothills. This era is known as the "Gold Rush". Mexican, Central American and Asian immigrants have made San Francisco one of the most radically diverse cities in the US. We went on a trolley bus (tram) around the city - from the top of the crookedest street in the World (Lombard Street) is a fantastic view of the city and harbour. We also visited the quaint China Town and Fishermans Wharf (from where you can see the Prison called Alcatraz). Alcatraz was the first high security prison and was thought to be inescapable- maybe the 5 men who escaped and were never found are still out there?
TREKKING AROUND YOSEMITE N.P:
Yosemite is one of California's National Parks, a very beautiful one at that. It is also home to sheer cliffs, massive granite formations, cascading waterfalls and dramatic scenery. Yosemite ...
Advantages: Stunning, stunning, stunning. Once in a lifetime experience. Disadvantages: The heat!
I have driven through Death Valley twice now; most recently Summer 2003. My boyfriend and I were touring round California and drove from Las Vegas to San Fransisco through Death Valley and up through Yosemite Park. The total trip took about 14 hours in all, bearing in mind we took it slowly!
On the way from Vegas we made our last stop in civilisation at a small roadside restaurant bearing the sign 'Last Good Food for 500 miles'. It was indeed - cheap, hearty, good air con, refillable coffee and exactly what you'd hope for - an authentic 'cowboy' feel.
The drive through Death Valley was amazing - for those who believe it's merely flat desert are very mistake. It soon turns into winding road through mountains. If you're lucky you may spot lizards, birds of prey and a kangaroo rat - the mammal that can survive it's whole life ...
Advantages: THE SCENERY Disadvantages: A bit too curious bears and crowds in Yosemite
~~ General ~~
In two weeks I visited three national parks in California:
Joshua Tree National Park
Death Valley National Park
Yosemite National Park
And I would rate them in this order, Joshua Tree being the most interesting one, Yosemite the most overrated.
If you like heat and deserts, Joshua Tree and Death Valley are the places to go. If you can't stand it, or have troubles coping with heat (<45 Celsius) you'd better skip those two and go to Yosemite instead.
I went on this journey with my friends in our little bus without air condition. If you do use AC, make sure to turn it off when going long distances uphill (for example from Death Valley below sea level to Yosemite 12000 feet) in hot temperature. Otherwise the engine might get exhausted.
~~ Joshua Tree ~~
We arrived after dark, stopping our car outside ...
![Nature Parks Yosemite Park California [DVD] [NTSC]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/117204885.jpg "Nature Parks Yosemite Park California [DVD] [NTSC]")
