California - Yosemite National Park

There is so much to see and do in California, but one bucket list item for us was Yosemite National Park, so we planned a road trip from Vegas to Oregon with a stop at Yosemite!

We found cheap flights from Orlando International airport to Las Vegas McCarran Airport, so if you follow our itinerary you could even add a visit to Las Vegas in to your trip. We had an early flight which landed in Vegas around 9am.

As soon as we landed, we got our rental car and began making our way north. Initially we had planned on going to Death Valley, but September is still a really hot month in the desert. Unfortunately when you rent a car if your car breaks down in Death Valley, the rental insurance and rental company won’t do anything to help you. So keep this in mind when planning your travels!

Instead of going through Death Valley and risking an issue with our rental car, we made a stop at Desert National Wildlife Refuge on our way to Yosemite.

Estabishled in 1936, this refuge is twice the size of Rhode Island plus 250,000 football fields, this is the largest national wildlife refuge in the contiguous United States. It is located in Nevada, just north of Las Vegas. It is free to visit the refuge, just be sure to check their hours of operation before visiting.

It was mid-after when we visited so we only stayed about an hour or so. The desert heat is very dry and will drain you faster than you realize so we made sure to stay hydrated. Then we were back on our way to Yosemite.

TIP: When driving through desert areas be sure to have plenty to drink with you and make sure you have a full tank of gas to get from point A to point B. Plan out gas station stops before heading into the desert. There is very little cell phone service so it’s best to know where your next stop will be and your directions to get there.

After hours of driving through the desert, passing Area 51, then eventually making our way to the Sierra Nevada mountains we made it to our destination for the evening, Mono Lake.

Mono Lake is an ancient saline lake located at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada in California just outside of Yosemite National Park. Home to trillions of brine shrimp, millions of birds, and world-famous tufa towers, its tributary streams also supply water to Los Angeles, nearly 350 miles to the south.

The gateway to both Yosemite National Park and Mono Lake, Lee Vining is located at the base of the Sierra just below Tioga Pass. The town is an ideal base camp for exploring the Mono Basin, or nearby Yosemite. There is very little in Lee Vining but there are a few local restaurants, lodging locations, and a gas station. We stayed the Yosemite Gateway Motel for around $100.

The drive to the center of Yosemite is about an hour from Lee Vining, so we planned to leave our hotel before sunrise to make it there when the visitors center would be opening.

TIP: if you will need breakfast, coffee, or an energy drink in the morning, make sure you have something with you or pick something up the night before in town.

We did in fact leave our hotel well before sunrise to make the drive into Yosemite. At Mono Lake it is so dark even it felt like you could see every star in the sky, it was absolutely amazing.

Since we began our drive in the dark, it is best to be careful driving, you go up and down mountains, around twists and turns, animals come out of nowhere, but once the sun rises, you will be in for a real treat!

Yosemite is absolutely beautiful, even just on the drive in to the park. First protected in 1864, Yosemite National Park is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more. Once you get closer to the visitors center and main area of the park, you can see the Half Dome during your drive and it is absolutely stunning.

We didn’t spend as much time in Yosemite as we would have liked, but we did Hike around for a little while and got to see the main “attractions” like El Capitan, the Half Dome, and the water fall. Unfortunately in the fall the water fall is dry but it was still cool to see Yosemite for it’s natural beauty. If you want to see everything in Yosemite and hike to all the best views, you will need to plan for a few days worth of time for this park is huge.

After spending about half the day in Yosemite we began to make our drive to San Fransico which was the second leg of our California Road Trip!

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