We love Yosemite National Park. A bit of a drive from the Bay Area but it so serene, beautiful, and perfect for a Summer family camping trip.
Time:
Summers is a great time to visit Yosemite. And if you can end of May and early June or late August and early Sept, that would be the best.
Camps:
Yosemite is famous for the camp grounds and the tents style accommodations that they offer.
They have a few options you can choose from, ranging from the most luxurious to the most basic ones!
There are two camping sites "Housekeeping" or "Half Dome Village(Formerly known as "Curry Village").
Housekeeping : Housekeeping has basic tents, with queen/bunk beds. They do not have any heating systems. And no bed sheets or blankets. But they have a nice picnic table for each tent, and a fire pit. Some of the tents are right by the Merced river!!
Half Dome Village : These are more sophisticated camping accommodations which have heating systems, provide bed sheets and blankets etc. But its not by the river, does not have fire pits :(
Both have bathrooms and showers and they provide towels.
You can book them here.
Tips: They have a cancelation policy that lets you cancel until 7 days before so a lot of people cancel it then. Track it and you will be surprised to find Housekeeping for a weekend.
Well, this summer was the first time we went with toddler S. We have been there a few times but it was so much fun with toddler S.
We prefer Housekeeping more than Half Dome Village and booked that this summer.
Itinerary
Short version :Day 1 : Drove to Yosemite, BBQ and stroll around the valley.
Day 2: Hike in the morning, Picnic lunch by El Capitan Picnic area, Glacier point, star gazing.
Day 3: Lower Yosemite falls and drive back home.
Day 1: We started off a little after noon to beat the traffic and reached Yosemite around 6pm. The weather was great, checked in our tent quickly. Toddler S was glad to be out of the car seat and running around.
We took a few toys so she could play in the sand, paint etc.
We took marinated things for BBQ that evening. The plan pretty much was too relax, BBQ and have fun. For the fire pit, I would recommend buying some wood logs from the Mariposa downtown(which is on the way). If not, you can get some in Yosemite. The pit is deep so coal doesn't work well.
Our tent was besides the river and we would go for walks by the river so often.
The weather that day was great with no clouds. We did BBQ, had good dinner and then went for a walk by the river. Spent some time by the picnic tables.
If you can walk by the river at night or walk to the bridge, you may get to see so many stars.
Day 2:
We headed to the Vernan falls trail early morning and did the first 0.8miles that leads you to the footbridge. The view of Vernan falls from this location is great. You have restrooms and water stations here. We spent some time here and then headed back, Yosemite has bus service to travel within the valley. You have to park your car in the parking lot that is shared with Half Dome village.
It was almost lunch time by the time we got to the bus. We came back to Half Dome village and went to the El Capitan Picnic Area. This has a small beach by the Merced river.
We had our packed picnic lunch, spent some time napping(the cold breeze was perfect for a hot afternoon).
It was a perfect spot for relaxing and getting ready for more activity in the evening. The toddler got to run around, play in the water!
We then headed to Glacier point and stopped at the Vista point for some great views of the valley on the way.
Tip: Get to Glacier point before sunset as the view before and while the sunset are awesome! As the sun sets the rays fall on half dome, its a beautiful!
Come prepared to stay after the sunset as Glacier point has some ranger lead programs right around sunset and then after sunset to watch planets, starts etc.
Ask what time are the ranger led programs!
Day 3: After having a nice breakfast in the Cafe(They have a good spread) we headed to the Yosemite Lower falls. After spending sometime there, we headed back home.
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