Yosemite in the snow - a 2 day explore

It’s New Year in the UK and as usual we haven’t had a very “Christmassy” looking festive period…i.e. no snow. So for all those lovers of the white stuff who have little chance of seeing any (you guys in Georgia are included in that list), I’d like to share a particularly snowy trip to Yosemite. Grab a hot chocolate, don your woolly hat and gloves, light a fire (those who can) and imagine you are right there with us, knee high in glorious snow.

Yosemite was always in our planned road trip. San Francisco then Yosemite, King’s Canyon, Sequoia National Park and finally driving to San Clemente just south of LA. What we didn’t plan for was the snow. It was November, yes. But we had just come from sunny San Francisco where a light jacket was all that was required. 2 feet of snow was not expected a mere 3 hours away (and may I say, still in California).

A few Yosemite facts

Do I want to embarrass myself? OK, I’ll admit that until about ten years ago I always thought Yosemite was pronounced Yoss-em-ite (you know, like Vegemite), not the correct Yoss-em-it-ee. It didn’t dawn on me that this word was in fact the same as that of Yosemite Sam (loved that cartoon).

What did we find out about Yosemite (other than previously mentioned “Sam”)?

It’s a colossal 1,169 square miles, 94% of which is wilderness. There are 800 miles of hiking trails.
As with a lot of American National Parks, people are funnelled to just a few entrances (only 5 in Yosemite) where parking is available. In the summer, you need to book in advance (and even then parking is full by 9am) and in spring and autumn it gets very busy. Even when we went the car parks were very busy, although it was hard to tell where the spaces were as everything was under snow.
I recommend taking food in. We went to Yosemite Valley and were surprised to find only 2 options for buying food. Neither were particularly big, and they shut between breakfast service and lunch (just when we turned up of course).
Accommodation in the park is limited. We stayed in a town outside, which was about a 40-minute drive to the southern entrance (very beautiful and quite icy in places as we gained elevation). This gave us various options for eating.
A lot of the park is inaccessible in the winter due to snow/ice and some of the free shuttle services don’t run due to snow. It’s definitely wise to stop in the visitor centres and see what’s accessible.

Embracing the snow

2 feet of snow means most of the higher ground is inaccessible. So after talking to the peeps in the visitor centre we went on a very flat walk to see Mirror Lake, followed by a fairly gradual uphill walk to see Vernal Falls. Of course in snow even a flat walk takes some effort. However, the main point of this post is to see the amazing snow scenery…enjoy.

If you want to hear the crunch of snow, join us on our hike:

Mariposa Grove - The land of giant trees

Mariposa Grove is near the Southern entrance to Yosemite and normally there’s a shuttle bus that runs from the visitor center to the trees. However, as there was quite a few inches of snow on the ground the bus wasn’t running, so there’s only one thing to do, walk it! We took the road up and a lovely path through the trees on the way back.

By taking the road we slowly ascended into the trees, with some picturesque views over Yosemite, and as we neared Mariposa the trees began to grow in stature. It was approximately an hour before the first wow moment, where turning the corner there was a monster of a tree. And then once in Mariposa Grove there were endless monster trees. I know…big trees, what’s all the fuss about? But the sheer size of them, the red bark stark against the white snow and the sun spotlighting each of them really was a sight to behold. Then when you consider some of the older trees have been there since 500 years BC, imagine the history that must have passed by them and their amazing ability to survive. Let me give some perspective on the size: