YOSEMITE

“Go to Yosemite! It’s number 1!”
“Yes, you should definitely go to Yosemite, it’s gorgeous!”
“Oh, probably Yosemite would be the place I’d recommend you to go”…

Every time I asked about Yosemite, I got pretty similar answers… Well, it should be definitely worth to go there then, I thought. And yep, when you dream about something, your thoughts materialize. In one way or another… And this time I got to know that spontaneous trips might be one of the bests!

Don’t even need a blanket when we have high dry grass.. and great company

This trip of mine was completely unexpected and unplanned. Me and my friend were just lucky enough to meet another traveler, anxious about Californian treasures. And he was Australian. So we jumped into his car and without any plans headed to one of the most famous national parks in USA.

So what’s about Yosemite? What’s so cool over there? I’m gonna try to explain you guys. Yes. TRY. ‘Couse I don’t really think that it’s possible to accurately portray how does it look like in reality. Even pictures don’t show the exact view, which is probably obvious. But. Whatever. What am I talking here about? ;D

Driving towards Yosemite is an attraction itself. The closer you get, the better it gets, and the always changing scenery doesn’t allow you to close your eyes (and even mouth sometimes… :O ). First you go through deserts and small towns, which look exactly as in western movies (with houses aligned along the road and lots of old-looking adds on them). Then you enter Sierra Nevadas –  huge mountain range located along California. You pass lakes which have beaches covered by salt and other white minerals…  You notice that there are more trees around you and in a while, you finally get into dense Redwoods. Trees here might not be as huge as in Sequoia National Park, but they’re still very impressive. Massive.

And then —-> you’re finally in Yosemite National Park. You only know it because you have to stop at the entrance. Not a lot changes. Not yet.

But then you see.

For me personally the most impressive thing was to realize that these huge mountains are actually monolithic. For example, El Capitan is one giant piece of stone. It isn’t a hill or a mountain range. It is one stone. Huge one! And all Yosemite area is surrounded by these giant creatures which kinda seemed alive for me. It looks like something big is lying on the ground and that it could be awakened any minute… I don’t know why, but they really looked live for me… Especially when I came close and touched the stone. It was warm from sun… Hm. Such a weird feeling. Touching something so perfect and natural, something so old and indestructible!

Half Dome during sunset

By the way, Yosemite is extremely popular. Campsites are always full and cafes are always busy. You almost feel like in a weird city full of stone made skyscrapers because there are a lot of people everywhere – climbing, hiking, driving, camping, taking photos and just chilling.. And that was the reason why we had to sneak in the campsite at night and secretly build our tent… There wasn’t enough space for us because everything was reserved…! We were very silent and careful. Haha. Not really. But yeah, we had to wake up early so not to be caught! And yep, three people in one small tent isn’t the best choice ;D. But, at least I sleep very well everywhere… Though my friends had lots of complaints in the morning.

By the way, Yosemite was also the place where I first tried hitchhiking ;). !!! AND, there is one very special song about this place for me!!! And not only for me, but for all three of us who were there together. It is called “King of the mountain” by Midnight Oil – Australian band (that’s why it is sang in a really funny Australian accent).

Hell yeah, Yosemite was great, but I only had one day there, which makes me sad. I saw a lot and it was gorgeous, but I didn’t do many things, of which the most important is that I didn’t have a chance to hike to the top of Half Dome. I didn’t see waterfalls and Mirror Lake was empty because of the drought… I didn’t grill meat in the campsite and didn’t climb the rocks! … Well, I guess this is THE PLACE where I really want to come back, because I just tried. I didn’t eat the whole dish. But still… It was perfect in many ways…