Yosemite Day 1

Hiking in the Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains is gorgeous! The landscape is stunning and really diversified owing to the elevation ranging from 4000 to 10000 feet (over 3000m!). Watch out for black bears and mountain lions (= Puma)!! That's why you should never ever leave any food in your car or tent overnight, but store it properly in dedicated bear boxes.

We arrived on Saturday morning after a long drive over curvy mountain roads. The guide book says that the majority of tourists never walk more than half an hour in the park. Although I have to admit that we enjoyed indeed some magnificent views while driving through the park or stopping at several of the vista points, it was clear that we wanted to explore more by hiking around. Our first walk was in Sequoia Grove. Sequoias are huge and up to several thousand-year-old redwood trees with amazing diameters, amongst the oldest and hugest living things on earth!

 Later on, we drove higher and higher and reached Tuolumne Meadow, a plateau lined with steep rocks. We saw squirrels and mule deers very close by!

Despite a heavy hailstorm (I was wondering how this could be in sunny California?!) the sun came back and we stopped at a beautiful lake. Peter even went swimming.

We spent the night in a tent on a camp ground directly in the national park, made a campfire, stored our food properly and woke up at sunrise.