Yosemite Visit
 

I will be traveling from Sonora CA to Yosemite on Friday. I have reservations at Curry Village on Friday, but check in is not until 5pm. I have never been to CA, so this is all new to me. Any suggestions as to which route (if there is even more than one) to take from Sonora to Yosemite, what time we should get to Yosemite (crowds!!) and what to do until check in? We have all day Saturday to explore as well!

From Sonora I would take highway 120 into Yosemite. I'd get there as early as I could to beat any traffic crowds, park at Curry Village, and enjoy the day exploring Yosemite. There is more than one day worth of exploring to do in Yosemite.

My "what to do" reco's:

Day 1. Ride the valley shuttle bus to one or several of the drop off points - Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls, and do short hikes there. Stop in the visitor center, and walk along parts of the valley trail that connects the locations listed above. Stop and smell the roses.

Day 2. Pack a good picnic lunch and get in a good hike. My favorite day hikes are a) top of yosemite falls b) John Muir/Mist trail, and c) 4 mile (up to Glacier Point), then down Panorama trail back to the valley.

Those are all serious hikes, with b being probably the most accessible to anyone of most any fitness level. a is considered a strenuous hike. (3000' elevation gain), and c is a monster day hike.

Yes - head straight to Yosemite Valley. But make VERY SURE you leave no food or any other scented items in your car while waiting to check in (not even toothpaste or toiletries)

I'd take everything from your car and leave at the front desk til you can check in.

As always, fast and excellent advice! We are flying in for KY and doing a "loop" through CA with 4 kids-the youngest is 5. Sooooo we aren't traveling lite, unfortunately. And the 5 year old boy is quite active, but he's still 5;). I knew about the no baggage in the car thing. We will work it out!

It is ok to keep food in your car during the day, but not overnight.

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bears.htm

Yeah, no problem to leave your stuff in your car during the day time before you check in. Just make sure you take it all out when you check into your lodging.

As for what to do - not being able to check in yet shouldn't impact your choices at all. Whatever you have on your Yosemite itinerary, start doing it :)

The problem w/ leaving things in the car during daylight is you do need to remember every single thing that might be in there -- gum in the door pockets, soft drinks in the trunk, empty bag of chips the kids left in the back seat -- anything - and take it all out. So as long as you have a handle on that, yes you can leave things in the car. Til dusk.

Whether you take everything out at noon or 5pm, you have to remember everything that's in there and take it out ;)

Reminds me of the time we stayed at the Wawona Lodge and left a case of beer in the trunk overnight. Of course, in the morning we had big scratch marks on the rental car...

Who woulda thought that unopened beer cans would smell? At any rate, lesson learned.