Adventures Top of Your National Park Bucket List

Explore Yosemite’s waterfalls this spring

BY JEREMY PUGH

YOU CAN PRACTICALLY HEAR Peter Coyote narrating the Ken Burns’ documentary. It is America’s Third National Park but, thanks to John Muir’s powerful voice from the wilderness and his famed invitation to President Roosevelt in 1903 to camp with him in Yosemite,w it was the park that inspired Roosevelt’s fight to preserve Yosemite and lay the groundwork to create the National Park Program. Muir’s lifelong mission to protect Yosemite captured the national imagination and once you visit, you’ll see why. Why go now: Waterfalls. Giant waterfalls. Yosemite’s famous falls are gushing in the spring and although the park is jaw-dropping year-round, the waterfalls are, well, majestic. But wait a sec: Yes. There will be crowds. And, while the park has instituted a reservation system that eases bottlenecks, bring patience and plan ahead. >>>

1. Basecamp Option No. 1

Tenaya at Yosemite is just 3 miles from the South Entrance (less busy) and is a destination in itself. Beautiful grounds laced with hiking and biking trails feature a full-service lodge, restaurants, bar, pool and spa. But you’ll want to book one of the Explorer Cabins, a group of private twobedroom tiny homes, in a quiet wooded glade along the creek below the main lodge. Explore the trails with guided hiking tours or rent a mountain bike and get directions to the hidden waterfall. Tenaya also offers guided tour packages from Yosemite 360, with insightful guides who will give you a good orientation tour of the massive park. visittenaya.com

2. Basecamp Option No. 2

The town of Mariposa is 50 miles from the western (busier) entrance to Yosemite. The southernmost Gold Rush town, founded in 1849 by John C. Fremont has maintained its historical charm with former saloons and rooming houses converted into boutique hotels and upscale cocktail bars. In the historic charm, department try the River Rock Inn (an addition to a home built in 1891) or the Yosemite Plaisance B&B with private rooms and entrances (and meals by chef-owner Hélène Halcrow). For a budgetfriendly option, try the newly renovated Mariposa Lodge, a charming motel-style property. For more lodging and dining, choices visit yosemite.com

3. The Mighty Yosemite Valley

T he big show, as it were, is Yosemite Valley surrounded by massive granite cliffs laced with thundering waterfalls showering rainbow mists from high above. This is inevitably the most crowded area of the park but here’s a trick. Pack your bath ing suit and a towel and locate a picnic area along the Merced River, which abounds with wading and swimming holes accessed from rocky (sandals are help ful) put-in beaches off the picnic areas.

4. Mariposa Grove (of Giant Sequoias)

Wow. Often missed by visitors champing at the bit to get to the Valley, the Mariposa Grove area is an example of how easy it is in a national park to ditch the crowds by hiking a mile or so off the beaten path. Make time to take the 7-mile Mariposa Grove Trail to Wawona which will take you out of the crowded shuttle area into a series of groves to the base of the Giant Sequoias and a final payoff with the view from Wawona Point. Add on the Guardian’s Trail Loop for even more neck-craning wonder. These trees are BIG!