After staying at the park I have some thoughts on the good and the bad. Overall its hard to give and extensive review of the park given I was only there for two days. However I can give some words of advice from my experience. We’ll start out by reviewing the reason I decided to go to Yosemite in the first place and that is because of the Mist Trail/Vernal Fall trail. The trail provides a unique experience because of its climb next to the waterfall. This was definitely a fun and unique trail which the waterfall added some extra stimulation from the wetness of the mist. Climbing the trail was tough at first only because I have not much climbing experience or training beforehand although soon after it got strenuous I caught a second wind which carried me long after the beginning. Since this is one of Yosemite’s most popular trails there was no trouble finding the trail however once you get higher up the mountain things got trickier given the lack of signs explaining were to go. I ended up having to turn around as I got to a higher elevation even after asking multiple people going higher up if they knew where they were going, which they did int seem to know. Even if I ended up having to turn around I feel I definitely got a full experience going on that trail as it was challenging enough for someone in fairly good shape and it provided some beautiful scenery.
The park itself if huge and there are many trails to cover and I definitely think a trip over there warrants more than two days but I was focused mainly on budget. There are many living accommodations surrounding the park and some are near the park and some like the hostel I stayed at was about an hour away. The price of the hostel was great at only $30 per night however there are problems with it. The hostel itself was nice enough given what you pay for but after hiking a large trail and wanting some peace and a nice shower you should consider the cost vs privacy trade off. If you are young hostels can be a great way to save money and meet other travelers who might be traveling alone as well. As stated before there are many options to choose from and some require booking months in advance so choose carefully beforehand.
So some final conclusions on the trip. I am definitely glad I decided to go and I think it added some fuel to the fire in terms of adventuring. Some tips I would give is to stay longer and book accommodations that are closer to the park and consider looking for deals for hotels at least a month in advance. I drove six hours to get there and the with the wear on the tires and gas then you might as well stay longer. Take plenty of pictures since the scenery is amazing and shoot some video as well. Food places are about an hour away from the park so stop by the grocery market on the way to the park and pick up some sandwich supplies for later and also try a local pizza shop after a long hike, you wont regret it. Yosemite is a great park to visit with plenty of trails so definitely go, I think it is must park for visiting at least once.
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