Our big summer trip was just my son and I flying out to California - he got his Junior Ranger badges at Lassen Volcanic, Crater Lake, Redwoods, Pinnacles, Kings/Sequoia, and Yosemite.
Lassen was really small but much prettier than I expected
We hiked Bumpass Hell - weird - very Yellowstone-esque
There isn't a lot to do at Crater Lake but it is just stunning
I took a ton of pictures but this one above is my favorite
Old Man of the Lake just so happened to be floating right where we were (he is a 30' log that has bobbing vertically in the lake since at least the 1890s)
Swim in Crater Lake. Bucket List....check!
On to Redwoods, which is unlike most other parks. It is basically a series of state parks branded together under a National Park designation. It is REALLY spread out. I shamefully didn't do enough research going into this one and feel like we "left some on the table".....discovered that Avenues of the Giants requires a permit.
Stout Grove
We hiked Trillium Falls, which was pretty awesome
We saw a black bear about 10' off the trail
From Redwoods we drove down to Monterey for two nights and checked out Big Sur a bit and then did a half day at Pinnacles NP
Pinnacles is another small park. My son was SOO excited to see a condor - he did a project on them for school a couple years ago.
From there we headed east towards the Sierra Nevada mountains
We hit Kings/Sequoia like true tourists - paved trails down to Sherman and Grant. We just had one night here so not much time to give it a true exploration.
Yosemite was our final destination - and it truly was magical. We stayed at Yosemite Valley Lodge and I had spent MONTHS searching multiple times every day to try and pick up a room for each night we were there as they became available through cancelations....and it was worth it - it was THE perfect location (especially since no shuttles were running this summer). To top it off, a lady at the lodge CALLED ME the week before our trip started and told me she had noticed that we had 5 different rooms booked over 6 nights and said they had the night we were missing and asked if we'd like to consolidate to one room for the entire stay so we didn't have to move each day. I couldn't believe it.
As a result of the COVID park entrance regulations, it truly felt like we hit the lottery. Everyone we talked to explained what the congestion, parking and traffic is normally like in the valley, and we missed ALL of that.
We did our physical activities in the morning and then just relaxed, ate ice cream, and explored the valley in the afternoons. The whole thing felt like a giant week at summer camp - it was awesome.
We hiked Sentinel Dome and this was the view of Half Dome
This was the view from Sentinel Dome of El Cap
From the valley floor
We hired a climbing guide and my son got to climb, which he loved. I also gave it a go, but it was not my jam.
Camp 4 was closed to campers so it was empty - kinda weird being there and all the bear boxes just being open
We hiked Vernal Falls up to Nevada Falls - awesome little day hike
We spent time with the binoculars watching the climbers on El Cap
Visited Tuolumne Meadows and hiked Cathedral Lakes trail
When on that side of the park, I highly recommend The Mobil (which our climbing guide recommended) - probably the best tacos I've ever had
Awesome trip!
