Autumn Camping in Yosemite

It really has been the year of outdoor adventures, particularly in the recent months. I started a new part time job that has a pretty flexible work schedule... so when we found a couple days that had campsites open, we took it. I borrowed my mom's Grand Caravan, loaded a bunch of things (we brought along bikes, best idea ever) and off to Yosemite we went!

The Deets: Dates: Nov 13-15 Lodging: Upper Pines Campgrounds *It's open all year round, even in Nov the sites seemed to be pretty popular. Pricing: 26 dollars a night, reservations only.

Though we originally wanted to grab a site in Camp 4 (mainly to watch climbers and check out Midnight Lightning), we knew that the campground is insanely popular so we didn't try to risk it as it's walk-in only. Funny enough, we did end up meeting Adam Ondra the first day while walking around Camp 4 for fun! He was gearing up to make the 2nd free climb ascent of the Dawn Wall, so it was cool to get a picture with him before he embarked on his own adventure.

The first day was pretty chill. After getting to our campsite and setting up, we biked around the Valley, exploring and going into gift shops and grocery stores to pick up some last minute cooking ingredients.

Also passed by Lower Yosemite Falls. Love the lack of tourists, and happy to see the waterfalls still flowing even with our drought:

For those looking to get the most out of Valley within a day or two, I highly recommend bringing a bike. You'll skip the crowded shuttles during peak season and not have to wait around for limited shuttles during off season. I rented a bike last time I was in Yosemite, but they only offer cruisers, which wasn't that fast or comfortable for me... and it costed 35 dollars for the day. Or 12 an hour, I believe.

Dinnertime:

A abridged gear review of the Power Practical Luminoodles:

A couple months ago, I received the Power Practical Luminoodles (5ft) from my Cairn subscription box. A few months before that, Cairn sent me the Power Practical portable 4400 battery. I used the noodles during my stay at Yosemite as a kitchen light with a bike pump and trekking poles (gotta use what ya got).

The lights lasted around a total of 6 hours from the 2 nights. The lights are fixed at 180 lumens, which means the brightness isn't adjustable but it was good enough for our purposes. The noodles also come with a couple ties, a utility loop, and there are magnets on the ends for easy hanging. The nylon bag that the noodles come in can be used to turn the noodles into a lantern, though we didn't use it that way during this trip. Overall, pretty solid product. I even bought the luminoodle color for one of my friends.

B was the main chef making pasta for dinner, while I was tasked with starting the fire. Our wood was a little wet so it took a lot of patience and perseverance to get it started. I squatted for an hour next to the fire pit trying coax the fire to life while the temperatures started to dip. After dinner, we headed to bed early.

Breakfast: Scramble with vegetables and coffee mmm.

The main hike of our trip was the Glacier Point hike via 4 mile trail (really, it's closer to 5 though haha). I've gone to glacier Point a couple times before and it was B's first time in the Valley, so we figured... eh, why not hike it? It's listed as the steepest hike in the Valley, and is a continuous uphill climb the whole way. Lots of switchbacks, but it's something we've gotten used to after doing Angel's Landing, haha.

From our camp we biked along the bike trails and passed through Tenaya Creek, the Ahwahnee and made our way around to the trailhead for the 4 Mile Trail after passing the Swinging Bridge. It was a beautiful chilly morning.

Most guides will say that it takes about 6-8 hours round trip, but I think it took us about 5 hours total going up and back down.

The view going up is pretty stellar. Every half an hour or so we'd stop and look back out at the Valley floor to see how far up we've gone. And each time we stopped, the view looked even better.

This was taken during one of our bar breaks:

We made it up in time for Golden Hour, stayed for about an hour eating a very late lunch (peanut butter and jelly sandwich) and enjoyed the view for a while before heading back down.

We caught a pretty magnificent sunset with intense orange hues behind silhouetted trees, a sunset I've never quite seen before. I couldn't capture it well enough on camera.

Taken from the 4 mi trail on the way back down:

We were under the impression that going down would be a lot easier than coming up, as it has been for most of our hikes. We thought wrong. We were tired. The journey down felt short at first -- then as the sunlight slowly disappeared and the lights came on in the Valley, we realized that we still had quite a long way down to go.

An hour and a half later:

"Didn't we pass by a mini waterfall on the way up? Have we passed by it yet?"

"No...I think it's coming up soon? I hope it's coming up soon. I think that was in the first mile."

Once we finally made it down to the trailhead, we high-fived, hugged, and cheered. We made it down! And now, we still had to bike back to camp and make dinner. Silver lining -- that night was the night of the supermoon! B encouraged me to stop and take some pictures:

Dinner was more pasta with some sweet potatoes that we roasted in our campfire. It didn't take me an hour to start the fire this time around! We crashed real quick after that.

This is Arby. I take him with me on all my adventures.

On our last day, we started off the morning with more bike riding. We went to Mirror Lake, contributed to the area of cairns, and walked through an area that I call the epitome of Autumn -- tall trees, gentle breeze, and falling leaves everywhere. It was beautiful.

Half Dome:

B collecting rocks to make his cairn:

Some time in the afternoon we loaded the bikes back into the van and then drove by some more popular Valley sightseeing spots on our way out, such as Bridalveil and Tunnel view.

Had to stop by the meadows because the sunlight reflecting off the grass was too pretty to pass up:

Bridalveil Falls:

Tunnel View:

This would be my 2nd time in Yosemite in a year (read about my spring trip here), and my first time coming during the off season. I'm glad to have done the 4mi trail up to Glacier Point, thought admittedly it was not a particularly exciting hike and I'm not sure if I'd do it again. It definitely wasn't easy, and the views don't change much as you make your ascent. But hey, I didn't want to knock it until I tried it. I got some good pictures from it :)

Regardless, I loved seeing Yosemite so empty and after seeing autumn leaves, I know I'll be back here again in the upcoming Fall season.

Featured Photo: Dangling my feet at Glacier Point, Nov 2016 Entrance Fee: $30 per car (camping fees not included) Follow me on Instagram!

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Autumn Camping in Yosemite