Yosemite in the Snow

I am sooooo ready for spring. But, at the same time, hubby and I wanted to get one last trip to see Yosemite in the snow. It was the perfect day! We took out time and really just enjoyed the journey. It takes us about 3 hours to get there and the drive is beautiful the whole way!!

Here are a few of the photos we took on this trip.

This is at New Melones Dam. The water is up. As opposed to down…as in drought. So, that’s good. There is a nice lookout where you have a pretty nice view. Hubby snapped this one of me taking it all in.

We pulled off to see Mark Twain’s cabin. You can see it in my video. And…you will see hubby snapping pics of us talking to the selfie stick! He can’t help himself.

And, he is constantly stopping for “ONE MORE PHOTO”! I complain. But, I also know that IF I will pose for him, it will make him stop shooting faster. lol First is my pic of these spring leaves with New Melones behind, and the second…well…me. Thanks hubby!

One of my favorite parts of road trip is our sweet doggies. They are ALWAYS excited when we get back in the car. Even though we are literally standing right beside it taking photos.

When you get to the gate, you will find this photo op. We had to climb through the snow to get to it. Worth it!

This is the first view of Yosemite Valley. We always stop to get our first glimpse of the valley. I love this view! This next photo is a sculpture of Half Dome and it’s placed just so that you can see the actual mountain in the distance. I love that!

The first stop is always Bridal Veil Falls. Every thing else is at the other end of the valley and it’s hard to come back to Bridal Veil. So, if you’re going to stop, do it first! There is a relatively easy walk up to the bottom of the falls. It’s paved all the way. On this day, it was pretty icy!! Summer or winter, you will get wet on this walk! The spray from the waterfall is all around in a fine mist. It’s a beautiful walk and I highly recommend it!

This is a photo on the walk up to the water fall. the river is beautiful and there are a ton of photo opps!

As you drive away from Bridal Veil, a HUGE mountain appears before you. There is just no way that a photograph can show you how enormous El Capitan is. It’s a favorite with rock climbers. The mountain is so large, that you really can’t see the climbers without binoculars.

I couldn’t resist this gnarled tree stump. In the summer, it’s nice to explore all around this area.

We are in the middle area of the valley now. I love how they created these nice board walk ways. It’s great for keeping the park grounds natural. Watch my video for the 360 view of this spot.

This is in Curry Village. There is a dining room for large groups and this is the lobby. There used to be some huge leather furniture around this fireplace. I hate that they took it out. There were many changes when the park changed vendors and Delaware North left…taking all of the iconic Yosemite names with them. Including Curry Village. It has been renamed to Half Dome Village. I will always think of it as Curry.

Half Dome. What can I say. It’s amazing. Thank goodness we had some nice blue sky.

The fun thing about rain and melting snow is that it creates some cool reflections. Who can resist this photo??

After this, we were starting to lose our light. We went to the store…a must…and grabbed a few things. Then, we rushed over to Yosemite Falls before it got too dark to see it. This waterfall is divided in to Upper Yosemite Falls and Lower. You can take this path, which is paved the entire way, all the way up to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls. You can expect to get drenched when you get there from the spray. It’s well worth the walk and I’m sad that we didn’t have the time to take it on this trip.