I must say that's the nicest National Park Entrance Sign we've seen, and we've seen a lot!
OUR NATIONAL PARK CHALLENGE: TO VISIT ALL 51 NATIONAL PARKS LOCATED IN THE LOWER 48 STATES
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MONDAY - This morning we were excited to get up and get moving, because today we are visiting our 49th National Park. It's not just any old National Park either, it's Yosemite!
Not only is Yosemite our 3rd oldest National Park (behind Sequoia by 6-days and Yellowstone by 18-years) it's our 4th most visited National Park with 4.2 million visitors in 2025 (behind Grand Canyon's 4.4M, Yellowstone's 4.7M, Zion's 4.9M and Great Smoky Mountains runaway lead of 11.5 million visitors).
So as I said it's not just your "run of the mill" National Park we're visiting for the next 12-days.
TRAVEL DAY
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That's how the road to Yosemite National Park's Big Oak Flat Entrance begins! The first 6.5-miles changes from 900' to 2900' and then the next 26.5-miles brings you to 4783'.
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It looks bad on paper, but it's even more formidable when you start to drive it.
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Just when you feel you've gotton to the top the road keeps going up.
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The road is a continuous twist of curves with 20MPH speed limits.
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We've come a long way since being down in the valley at 900' elevation.
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We arrived at our campsite and got out our oversized shoehorn to squeeze into the site.
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We played around with rearranging ROVER and Starlink to get the most sun and sky.
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We've got about 6" to spare in the back and a whole foot on the door side of THE POD.
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Tricia got a little creative to make up for being out of level by 6" from side to side.
TUESDAY - We decided to postpone our visit to the Yosemite Valley Region because that would require us getting up very early and driving 25.5-miles down to the Welcome Center parking lot. It fills up early and we wanted to sleep in this morning!
So instead we waited until 10:00AM to leave THE POD with a picnic lunch that Tricia made for us and drive Tioga Road up and over the Tioga Pass (8457' elev.) to Olmsted Point on the east side of Yosemite National Park.
That's a 37.5-mile trip one way, making it 75-miles round trip. Along the way we also checked out several other campgrounds here in the park, like we always do, just in case we ever find ourselves back here in the park.
TIOGA ROAD
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Tioga Road is closed November through May each year until the road is clear of snow. Some years it has closed in early October and others remained closed until late July.
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It runs east/west across the Sierra Mountains in the northern region of Yosemite N.P.
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It is 70-miles long between the East Entrance Station and Big Oak Flat Road in the west.
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It traverses the Yosemite Wilderness with no towns, no gas and minimal human impact.
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The road travels as high as 9945', but we only reached a little over 8500' today.
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Along the road there were several places where we could have taken a short hike.
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Bald granite mountain slopes is not an uncommon sight up here.
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The "U" shaped valley is the telltale sign of a glacier having carved this valley.
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We were starting to catch glimpses of Half Dome off in the distance.
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Just around this corner will be Olmsted Point Overlook at 8450' elevation.
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From Olmsted Point we were looking straight across at the top of Half Dome at 8842'.
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The granite here is cracked from years of freezing and thawing and then refreezing.
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The rocks on the slope here are called "glacial erratics". They are glacially deposited rock, differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests.
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Half Dome is at a distance of just over 5-miles from here.
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Some of the visitors here hiked up to the top of this short mountain across the road.
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We said "No Thank You" to that idea.
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Also from Olmsted Point we could just make out Tenaya Lake down below us.
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After beginning our trip back home we stopped to enjoy Tricia's picnic lunch.
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Soon we'll be back on our campsite after our long scenic drive on Tioga Road.
WEDNESDAY - After sleeping in yesterday we were up bright and early at 6:00AM and on the road by 6:30AM to drive 25-miles down into Yosemite Valley.
Today we are going to concentrate on visiting Yosemite Village where the Visitor Center is, along with some shops and restaurants. We'll also check out the three highly sought after campgrounds down in the valley to take notes on which sites would work well for us if we returned in the future.
OUR FIRST LOOK AT YOSEMITE VALLEY
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We would have arrived 10-minutes earlier if we hadn't run into traffic caused by road work.
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We still managed to photograph El Capitan and Half Dome before the sun reached the valley.
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There are three of these 10'-14' high tunnels along a short stretch of Big Oak Flat Road.
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We will have to travel through all three when we tow THE POD through here on Monday.
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After the first tunnel we began to see what Yosemite Valley might have to offer.
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The second tunnel measures 10'4" at the right hand curb. With our 3" lift kit and the oversized 16" tires it makes THE POD every bit of 10' tall. YIKES!
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It sure "looks" tall enough for THE POD to make it through unscathed.
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The third tunnel also measures just 10'4" at the right hand curb.
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We are finally getting close to the valley floor at 3850' elevation.
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It's now 7:30AM and the sun has yet to light up the valley floor.
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Of course El Capitan rises more than 3000' above the valley floor.
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It's 7:37AM now and the sun is just now reaching the valley floor.
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El Capitan is now more than half way lit up on the north side of the valley.
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The south side of the valley has yet to see the sun.
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Yosemite Valley
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After lunch we headed back towards the campground and called it a day.
THURSDAY - There is another valley here in Yosemite National Park and according to the NPS statistics only about 1% of visitors ever make it over to Hetch Hetchy Valley.
Well, today we are going to join that 1%! We'll have to exit the park for a short while and then re-enter when we arrive at the Hetch Hetchy Entrance Station.
HETCH HETCHY VALLEY
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The 337-acre Camp Mather is also here in Hetch Hetchy Valley and is owned by the people of San Francisco. The residents enter a lottery each year to recieve a campsite.
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It would be an understatement to say that the road into Hetch Hetchy is a little sketchy!
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Hetch Hetchy is derived from the native Miwok word, hatchhatchie, meaning edible grasses.
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The Tuolumne River flows through the Hetch Hetchy Valley.
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It's 8-miles from the Entrance Station to the O'Shaughnessy Dam at the end of the road.
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The reservoir behind the dam supplys San Francisco with drinking water.
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It holds 117-billion gallons of clean drinking water for the 2.7-million Bay Area residents.
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The O'Shaughnessy Dam (named for the chief engineer) stands 430' high over the valley.
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145-miles to the west is where you'll find San Francisco.
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The area in the red is where the 880' Tueeulula Falls flows in the spring.
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Today, like most falls in this area, it is bone dry.
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At the far end of the dam we got to walk through a 1/4-mile long old train tunnel.
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There were overhead lights in the tunnel, so no flashlight was required.
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The inside of the tunnel looks just like the road tunnels into Yosemite Valley.
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Once on the other side you can begin to see the length of the 8-mile long reservoir.
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This is where we turned around since there was no waterfall to see.
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This tunnel was large enough for a train to pass through.
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I wish the road tunnels were this tall for THE POD to get through.
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This is a Manzanita tree, which translates to “little apple” in Spanish.
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The red rubbery bark is split open in many places on this particular tree.
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I'm not sure if that's normal or this tree is in some kind of distress.
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Hetch Hetchy Valley
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On our way out of Hetch Hetchy we got caught behind this slow moving truck and trailer.
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He eventually found a spot to pull over for us to pass. That was nice of him!
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A final look out over the often overlooked Hetch Hetchy Valley.
FRIDAY - I don't know if you have realized it or not, but I've been trying to limit these daily slideshows to just 25 photos each. So far I've been able to do that, but today I don't think that's going to happen.
That's because today we're headed back into Yosemite Valley with the sole purpose of taking photographs.
When we asked the Rangers where is the best place to take photos of Yosemite Valley at sunrise, the answer was given without even thinking about it. We were told to get up to the Tunnel View Overlook on Wawona Road.
Apparently we weren't the only ones he told, because when we arrived at 7:00AM there were at least 50 other park visitors already there. We were lucky to grab the last parking space in the small lot.
We knew before leaving THE POD that it might not be a good day for photos, because of the clouds and smoke pouring into Yosemite Valley from the nearby Dome Fire, located just southeast of the valley. The winds shifted overnight and is now bringing the smoke directly over and settling into the deep Yosemite Valley.
That's not going to keep us from trying, but I'm just warning you not to get your hopes up for any award winning photos today. We sure aren't expecting any.
YOSEMITE VALLEY
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7:09AM - Those two pink spots in the center of this photo are where Half Dome is. It's easier to see El Capitan on the left hand side of the photo.
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7:29AM - Twenty minutes later and Half Dome is completely hidden behind the smoke.
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El Capitan may just be the only thing to photograph from here today.
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7:49AM - The sun is just about ready to break out from behind the clouds and smoke, but Half Dome is still nowhere to be seen.
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By 8:02AM we had given up and drove a mile down the road to see Bridalveil Falls. These falls are one of the few that flow year round and were visible from the parking lot.
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We hiked 1/4-mile up to a viewpoint to get close to the trickle of water coming down. The spot we were standing is totally soaked in the spring when the water is roaring down.
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Could you here all the birds hiding in the trees?
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One of the birds flew through the shot at the end of the video.
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This "Steller's Jay" may have been one of those making all the noise.
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By 8:30AM the north face of Yosemite Valley was all lit up from the sun.
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El Capitan is finally starting to catch a little bit of that sunlight too.
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Looking back at Bridalveil Falls on the south face is still in the dark.
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El Capitan is 3000' tall and can be seen from just about anywhere in Yosemite Valley.
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We are going to drive a little bit deeper into the valley towards Yosemite Village.
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8:35AM - There's El Capitan again.
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A side view profile of El Capitan.
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This "Northern Raven" has found a piece of bread for his morning breakfast.
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Yosemite Valley floor is covered with these grassy meadows.
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Here's the iconic photo of Half Dome and it's reflection in the Merced River, photographed from the center of the Sentinel Drive Bridge.
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It's still smoky, but at least you can see it from closer up.
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It's hard to take a bad photo when there is beauty like this surrounding you. Enjoy the rest of the photos uncaptioned.
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My favorite of them all.
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On our way out of the valley we drove back up to Tunnel View Overlook just to see if the conditions had improved any, as you can see they had not!
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Or maybe they had, afterall you can see Half Dome in the background now!
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The parting shot of our 2026 visit to Yosemite Valley.
SUNDAY - We've learned our lesson and stayed on the campsite all day Saturday and Sunday.
It's just not worth fighting the weekend crowds in these National Parks. These's nowhere to park, long lines to get something to eat and constant noise when trying to shoot any video.
No, we're just going to stay in the quiet campsite while everyone else tries to cram their visit into a two day weekend.
We've seen it time and time again on the weekends, the campground empties out by 9:00AM and stays that way until 3:00PM, giving us six hours of piece and quiet, plus it's the perfect time to sit outside or grab a shower when they're available.
It's good when we can spend a week or more in these National Parks. It sure makes the entire experience more enjoyable!
We're not done with Yosemite just yet! Tomorrow we move 40-miles down to the southern area of the park for another five days of exploring.
ON A SIDE NOTE: For the first time since I can't remember we started up our Honda 2000 generator for the sole reason to charge our batteries. After 7 days parked under the trees and marginal sun on the solar panels our batteries were down to 50% SOC.
The last time I can even remember starting the generator was last October at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Then we were just trying to adjust some settings on our solar equipment, which by the way I ended up putting them back where we started.
On Day 1 of owning this generator I converted it to be powered by propane only. I've NEVER put gasoline in this generator and for that reason it starts on the 3rd or 4th pull everytime, even after sitting unused for a year or more at a time. That was one of the best decisions I've made when selecting what equipment we needed to live this lifestyle!
With 900-AMP hours of batteries to charge, we only gain about 6% SOC for each hour we run the 2000-watt generator. So after 2-hous we were back up to 62% SOC and I shut it down, for now!
Looking for our Visited States Map and Data? How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List? If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.
That's how the road to Yosemite National Park's Big Oak Flat Entrance begins!
It looks bad on paper, but it's even more formidable when you start to drive it.
Just when you feel you've gotton to the top the road keeps going up.
The road is a continuous twist of curves with 20MPH speed limits.
We've come a long way since being down in the valley at 900' elevation.
We arrived at our campsite and got out our oversized shoehorn to squeeze into the site.
We played around with rearranging ROVER and Starlink to get the most sun and sky.
We've got about 6" to spare in the back and a whole foot on the door side of THE POD.
Tricia got a little creative to make up for being out of level by 6" from side to side.
Tioga Road is closed November through May each year until the road is clear of snow.
It runs east/west across the Sierra Mountains in the northern region of Yosemite N.P.
It is 70-miles long between the East Entrance Station and Big Oak Flat Road in the west.
It traverses the Yosemite Wilderness with no towns, no gas and minimal human impact.
The road travels as high as 9945', but we only reached a little over 8500' today.
Along the road there were several places where we could have taken a short hike.
Bald granite mountain slopes is not an uncommon sight up here.
The "U" shaped valley is the telltale sign of a glacier having carved this valley.
We were starting to catch glimpses of Half Dome off in the distance.
Just around this corner will be Olmsted Point Overlook at 8450' elevation.
From Olmsted Point we were looking straight across at the top of Half Dome at 8842'.
The granite here is cracked from years of freezing and thawing and then refreezing.
The rocks on the slope here are called "glacial erratics". They are glacially deposited rock,
Half Dome is at a distance of just over 5-miles from here.
Some of the visitors here hiked up to the top of this short mountain across the road.
We said "No Thank You" to that idea.
Also from Olmsted Point we could just make out Tenaya Lake down below us.
After beginning our trip back home we stopped to enjoy Tricia's picnic lunch.
Soon we'll be back on our campsite after our long scenic drive on Tioga Road.
We would have arrived 10-minutes earlier if we hadn't run into traffic caused by road work.
We still managed to photograph El Capitan and Half Dome before the sun reached the valley.
There are three of these 10'-14' high tunnels along a short stretch of Big Oak Flat Road.
We will have to travel through all three when we tow THE POD through here on Monday.
After the first tunnel we began to see what Yosemite Valley might have to offer.
The second tunnel measures 10'4" at the right hand curb.
It sure "looks" tall enough for THE POD to make it through unscathed.
The third tunnel also measures just 10'4" at the right hand curb.
We are finally getting close to the valley floor at 3850' elevation.
It's now 7:30AM and the sun has yet to light up the valley floor.
Of course El Capitan rises more than 3000' above the valley floor.
It's 7:37AM now and the sun is just now reaching the valley floor.
El Capitan is now more than half way lit up on the north side of the valley.
The south side of the valley has yet to see the sun.
Yosemite Valley
After lunch we headed back towards the campground and called it a day.
The 337-acre Camp Mather is also here in Hetch Hetchy Valley and is owned by the people of
It would be an understatement to say that the road into Hetch Hetchy is a little sketchy!
Hetch Hetchy is derived from the native Miwok word, hatchhatchie, meaning edible grasses.
The Tuolumne River flows through the Hetch Hetchy Valley.
It's 8-miles from the Entrance Station to the O'Shaughnessy Dam at the end of the road.
The reservoir behind the dam supplys San Francisco with drinking water.
It holds 117-billion gallons of clean drinking water for the 2.7-million Bay Area residents.
The O'Shaughnessy Dam (named for the chief engineer) stands 430' high over the valley.
145-miles to the west is where you'll find San Francisco.
The area in the red is where the 880' Tueeulula Falls flows in the spring.
Today, like most falls in this area, it is bone dry.
At the far end of the dam we got to walk through a 1/4-mile long old train tunnel.
There were overhead lights in the tunnel, so no flashlight was required.
The inside of the tunnel looks just like the road tunnels into Yosemite Valley.
Once on the other side you can begin to see the length of the 8-mile long reservoir.
This is where we turned around since there was no waterfall to see.
This tunnel was large enough for a train to pass through.
I wish the road tunnels were this tall for THE POD to get through.
This is a Manzanita tree, which translates to “little apple” in Spanish.
The red rubbery bark is split open in many places on this particular tree.
I'm not sure if that's normal or this tree is in some kind of distress.
Hetch Hetchy Valley
On our way out of Hetch Hetchy we got caught behind this slow moving truck and trailer.
He eventually found a spot to pull over for us to pass. That was nice of him!
A final look out over the often overlooked Hetch Hetchy Valley.
7:09AM - Those two pink spots in the center of this photo are where Half Dome is.
7:29AM - Twenty minutes later and Half Dome is completely hidden behind the smoke.
El Capitan may just be the only thing to photograph from here today.
7:49AM - The sun is just about ready to break out from behind the clouds and smoke,
By 8:02AM we had given up and drove a mile down the road to see Bridalveil Falls.
We hiked 1/4-mile up to a viewpoint to get close to the trickle of water coming down.
By 8:30AM the north face of Yosemite Valley was all lit up from the sun.
El Capitan is finally starting to catch a little bit of that sunlight too.
Looking back at Bridalveil Falls on the south face is still in the dark.
El Capitan is 3000' tall and can be seen from just about anywhere in Yosemite Valley.
We are going to drive a little bit deeper into the valley towards Yosemite Village.
8:35AM - There's El Capitan again.
A side view profile of El Capitan.
Yosemite Valley floor is covered with these grassy meadows.
Here's the iconic photo of Half Dome and it's reflection in the Merced River,
It's still smoky, but at least you can see it from closer up.
It's hard to take a bad photo when there is beauty like this surrounding you.
My favorite of them all.
On our way out of the valley we drove back up to Tunnel View Overlook just to see if the
Or maybe they had, afterall you can see Half Dome in the background now!
The parting shot of our 2026 visit to Yosemite Valley.
