The unique beauty of Yosemite National Park was one of the huge main reasons the entire National Park system was created.

Yosemite consists of enough unique experiences that I will continue to try and return each year. Whether it’s the giant sequoia groves, the breathtaking waterfalls, or the one of a kind granite climbing walls, there is no shortage of adventures to find once in the valley. That’s where the trouble starts, camping inside the valley is one of the most competitive reservations to land in the entire country. At exactly 7 am, five months in advance on the fifteenth of the month… you must be the one out of tens of thousands of people to click first. With the arrival of bots and scripts, and the federal government imposed hiring freeze which led to campground closures and less sites, this has become increasingly difficult. This year, myself, and my small army of clickers all failed to land a spot during the first campsite release. We found alternative plans in the sierra and admitted defeat, once a small set of second round of sites was released we took our chances again. This year, Amy landed it, I remember celebrating her click and feeling so relieved. Of all the above mentioned activities which I love, perhaps my favorite is being in the valley after the masses have left and the sun sets and the valley might as well be its own planet. I find it difficult to describe the feeling in the valley once the crowds disperse but I feel very at home. Even Everest has been talking about how fun the valley is since we won the click lottery last year.

This year I plan to float, boat, hike, and swim my way through the valley. We are entering the park through a fun, less visited, entrance which will allows us to take advantage of the Tuolmmne Meadows and the cool air of the high elevation . The domes here are more accessible than from the valley several thousand feet below us at this point.

The domes, most famously the eroded Half Dome, formed from a process that’s pretty easy to picture. As magma builds up a large bubble under the surface, sometimes, as in the case of Mt. Saint Helens, it breaks through, forming a Volcano. Here, the magma never broke through, the bubble just sat and cooled slowly, over time it solidified into massive granite domes. The crust that was once atop of it has long since eroded, leaving us with these bald peaks with endless 360 degree views.

We took advantage of the cooler weather here and hiked to the top of Lembert Dome to build up a sweat before picnicking and swimming at Tenaya Lake. Eventually we made our way down into the valley, our home for the next three nights.