Yosemite Aug 19 - 23rd
 

Hi,

Myself, my husband and 7 and 10 year olds will be leaving Anaheim approx 11am on Sunday Aug 19th and driving to Yosemite Valley Lodge, the quickest way possible which i believe is
I-5 N from S Walnut St

Follow I-5 N and CA-99 N to CA-41 N in Fresno. Take exit 131 from CA-99 N

Follow CA-41 N and Wawona Rd to Yosemite Lodge Dr in Yosemite Valley taking 7 hours with stops on top.

I'm guessing we can get gas in Oakland before entering the park and stock up on some picnic/snack items.

Not sure how reaslistc the next idea is - but.....
will it be too late/ dark/ rushed to do the giant sequoias at Mariposa grove on our way in or should we save it for another day? Think the shuttles stop at 8pm.
If we save Mariposa grove for another day ( as I think kids would like the horse drawn wagon ride and other ) is there somewhere else we could stop for a view/ quick stretch of our legs? Or should we just power on through to the valley? I might have to play it by ear anyway depending on whether kids have slept in the car or not!
I'm presuming most folk will be leaving the park on sunday eve and we wont have too much trouble getting into the park or getting parked in the valley. Does this sound right - assuming we're arriving somewhere between 6 - 9pm?

I am then planning on doing

a day in the valley, probably tuesday (possibly night prowl ranger programme/ starry skies over yosemite)
a day in Touloumne Meadows - prob wed if the ranger programme is the same in august as the one published for june/july - as they do a kids campfire
and if we havent done the trees a day in Mariposa Grove - to do horse drawn wagon ride it would have to be mon if we are in touloumne on wed (this would mean driving back where we came from the night before!!!!
Think we might do glacier point in evening after the mariposa and stay to the starry night skys ranger activity there

So maybe we should stay somewhere nearer the seqouias on night of 19th? Less far to drive on 19th and means we dont have to drive back out to the seqouias another day. We could do these on 20th. Will anywhere have availabilty now - any recommendations? Is this a good idea or should we stick with the lodge. I have been looking forward to arriving in the relative peace, quiet and cool of an evening.

I'm aware that I'd really like 14 days in the park to fit everything i want to do in plus the kids will be tired if we do early mornings AND late nights - tired children dont make good hiking/walking company in my experience. Ideally I'd come back to the valley lodge for a post lunch nap but we're looking at at least an hour's drive each way to most of these places plus the lodge doesnt have air conditioning as far as i know and we'll be tyring to park in the valley in the middle of the day. Is a lunch time/ early afternoon nap feasible at all?

I'm presuming kids can attend ranger talks that arent advertised as child firendly. Ie 30 min sunset ranger talk ?

We'd like to do a bit of star gazing but not madly keen on the starry skies over yosemite one as not particularly interested in the folk lore behind the constellations etc.
Does anyone know of an affordable alternative? - the ability to use someone elses telescope would be great. I cant find any astronomer club events for our dates.

On 23rd we need to leave yosemite to drive to Pacific Grove. This takes 4 hours depending on getting out of Yosemite I'm told
Do we get an early start out of yosemite and have more time in pacific grove/monterey or make the most out of every possibly moment we can have in Yosemite? Kids could maybe do 10am ranger walk at happy isles if they havent got their ranger badge by then and want it?
Is there anything we should try and squeeze in that i've left out?

Or we could head over to PGrove and spend some time on Asilomar state beach/ drive down highway 1 to big sur/point lobos. I guess we can play that one by ear.


Thank you

You’’ve posted this question on the European Forum but it’s about a National Park in the US. Ask the moderators to move it or repost your question on the US Forum.

oops - thanks!

Leaving at 11AM is problematic. I would press on with only quick rest stops/fast food/gas and get to the Valley as early as possible.

>>Does anyone know of an affordable alternative? -<<. Well, $10 pp is about a 'affordable' as any for-pay tour you'd ever find. But you can star gaze EVERYWHERE - just take a walk out into the meadow from YVL. Doesn't cost anything. (assuming there isn't a nearby fire at the time with lots of smoke)

Whether you hang around on departure day or head early over to Pacific Grove is up to you. Leaving the park doesn't usually have traffic issues -- Me personally, I'd try t maximize my time in Yosemite.