Yosemite National Park is an icon of California. It is visited by more than 4 million visitors every year. Ghumakkad visited Yosemite on 17-18 Aug 2025 along with three other nature lovers.
The Travellers
Who were the four travellers to Yosemite?Other than Ghumakkad, all three live in the Bay Area in California. Special thanks to each one of them for making this trip happen.
Ankur- An IT pro with 12 patents to his credit. My son-in-law, a golfer, dancer who loves life and all things tech.
Akanksha (Ashi)- An interior designer, photographer, poet, my daughter and a compassionate volunteer and parent.
Satyam- An IT pro, quiet by nature, mathematics enthusiast, keen traveller and hiker.
Harsh-the-Ghumakkad- whom you all know- a Navy Veteran, golfer, blogger, teacher, hiker and Nature lover. This was my visit to USA after a gap of 11 years.
Yosemite National Park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an area of 3000 sq kms. However, most visitors spend the majority of their time in the valley's 18 sq km area. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, groves of giant sequoia trees, lakes, mountains, meadows, glaciers, and biological diversity. Yosemite was critical to the development of the concept of national parks. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant of 1864 that declared Yosemite as federally preserved land. According to Wikipedia, the word Yosemite (derived from yohhe'meti, "they are killers" in Miwok) historically referred to the name that the Miwok gave to the Ahwahneechee, the resident indigenous tribe. The term Yosemite in Miwok is easily confused with a similar term for "grizzly bear", and is still a common misconception. For detailed history of Yosemite, the readers may refer Wikipedia. It is interesting to note that tourism significantly increased after the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, while the long horseback ride to reach the area was a deterrent.
The park contains thousands of lakes and ponds, 2600 km of streams, 1,300 km of hiking trails, and 560 km of roads.
Notable Spots
Tunnel View - a scenic viewpoint located on California State Route 41 in the Park. Since its opening in 1933, it has offered visitors iconic, expansive views of Yosemite Valley, making it one of the park's most renowned viewpoints.
El Capitan, a 3000 feet granite monolith on Yosemite Valley's northern escarpment
Close to El Capitan are 'Three Brothers' rocks.
Half Dome - It is a quartz monzonite batholith at the eastern end named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth and round, making it appear like a dome cut in half.
Royal Arches - An inset arch on giant rock face.
Washington Column - a roughly 1800-foot high rock formation, arising from Yosemite Valley. It can be viewed from many points in Yosemite Valley including the trail to Mirror Lake.
Yosemite Falls - the highest waterfall in the Park, dropping a total of 2,425 feet from the top of the upper fall to the base of the lower fall. When we visited on 17th August, the waterfall had completely dried up.
Even the lower falls had dried up completely.
Mirror Lake - The iconic mirror lake had shrunk to a tiny pond. It was very disappointing for Ankur, Ashi and Satyam because they had all frolicked and jumped from a rock into waist deep water last season. Pictures of our hike to the dried up Mirror Lake below.
But the Merced river compensated with some stunning views next morning, reflecting sunlit granite peaks in the water.
You can feel the river and its ripples in the video below.
Sequoia Tree Groves - The park has three groves of ancient giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) trees; the Mariposa Grove (200 trees), the Tuolumne Grove (25 trees), and the Merced Grove (20 trees). This species grows larger in volume than any other and is one of the tallest and longest-lived.
We stayed overnight to enjoy the beauty of dusk, dawn and a short hike in Yosemite. There are numerous trails for hiking for all age groups. Sharing below few pictures of our hikes.
Star Gazing
Yosemite offers unique opportunity for star gazers. With clear skies and complete darkness, we could see thousands of stars and milky way. Sharing two pictures shot by Ashi.
Here is a video to give you a feel of the night experience in Yosemite.
Yosemite Tour
You can see the Park by riding a free shuttle bus. There are three routes coloured differently. Just hop on and off. In addition, there is a paid ride in an open coach with a ranger guide with excellent commentary. Mark our guide has volunteered and later worked at the Park for the last 60 years.
Bear Traps
The Park has some 500 Black Bears. They love to eat the food left in the tents. With a strong sense of smell, they forage for food and any other scented items in visitors' bags at night. Therefore, in the tented accommodation where we had stayed, we had to lock up all scented items like toothpaste, Vaseline and food in a metal safe kept outside the tent. Picture below.
In addition, there are Bear Traps placed near the camps.
Hope you enjoyed the Yosemite Park armchair tour with us. You have to visit the Park to feel its vastness and ecological diversity. Signing off with another picture with a fallen tree trunk.
Thanks for browsing and stay connected.
- Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Akanksha Bhargava/ Yosemite National Park/ 19th Aug 2025
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