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What to bring | What to do | Meals | Where we sleep | Directions | To communicate Weather forecast | Weather conditions Final
What to doI recommend that people who have never been in Yosemite spend saturday doing sightseeing. See the table for what people plan to do each day. If you plan to hike Misty Trail and/or Half Dome (Yosemite's most popular trail, 27 kms round trip), and you have never done it before, I suggest you read and print this page. Then click on "Trail Map" and print that one too (unless, of course, you have purchased a real map). If you plan to hike El Capitan, I suggest you read and print this page. Then click
What To Bring/ Checklist
FoodA general note about food: leave absolutely no food in your cars, unless you want to demolish them. Bears do not forgive. They WILL destroy your car if they see just a few potato chips or if they smell fruit in the trunk. They "WILL", not "may". It is up to you if you want to a) store food in bear-proof lockers, b) hang it from trees, c) keep it in the tent with you (better lose your life than your car). If you think an item (box of chips, water bottle, packed sandwich) is harmless in the car, the question is very simple: if it is so harmless, why don't you keep it in the tent with you? No tourist has ever been killed by a bear in recent memory, but LOTS of cars are destroyed every year by bears. People who prefer to eat at restaurants make sure you know where you are eating. (Every year someone comes back at 10pm starving because they couldn't find any restaurant in Yosemite, and the rest of the group has to feed them). Some of us will cook where we camp. Since we are so many, we split in several groups: each group has a chef (food organizer) and its own stove/supplies/etc. Checklist for each eating group:
(Read again the note about bears: piero, who is lazy and does not want to destroy his car, buys the food that he wants to eat a few hours before cooking it; others bring it from home and hang it from trees; etc).
Where we sleepWe are planning to camp in the National Forest right before the park entrance (see directions below).If you prefer to sleep in a motel/cabin/campground, you have to make your own arrangements. The Yosemite Gatehouse Lodge is very close to where we camp. Directions. As you are driving east on 120, it will take a long time (and a lot of curves) before you get to the beginning of Yosemite National Park. The left turn on Evergreen Rd (also marked "Mather campground") is a few kms before the ranger station, so almost at the very end. If you get to the ranger station, you missed it: just drive back and take the first road on your right. Now you are driving north on Evergreen Rd. After a while you get to a fork. At the fork, take the road to the left and look for a spot big enough for 5-6 cars. If you get to Mather campground you went (way) too far. Repeat: you are driving east on 120 towards Yosemite; minutes before the ranger station, there is a paved road on the left handside called Evergreen Rd; take it and keep driving north on Evergreen Rd till the fork; take the road on the left and look for a spot on your left-hand side. We camp in the forest, which means that we can make as much noise as we like and stay up as late as we like (in an official campground you can't make noise, and after 10pm you can't even talk). But it also means that anything can happen.
I have a campfire permit at the California Dept of Forestry so we are
absolutely legal.
RouteDirections from San Francisco:
From Palo Alto first take 101 to 680 to 580. Distance from:
Where we meetPeople who live friday evening can meet somewhere for dinner.Otherwise we meet directly Where we sleep. |