August 17, 2025 • 30 mins
Yosemite National Park captivates millions of visitors annually with its towering granite monoliths and thundering waterfalls, but few experience it with the intimate knowledge of someone who returns multiple times each year. In this special episode, Carol interviews Kristen about her profound connection to this natural wonder in California's Sierra Nevada mountains.
Kristen shares her annual January ritual of hiking to Upper Yosemite Falls, revealing how winter transforms the park into a surreal landscape where waterfall spray freezes mid-air, creating magnificent snow cones at the base. She guides listeners through accommodation options ranging from the historic luxury of The Ahwahnee Hotel ($600/night) to free backcountry camping, with plenty of moderate choices between.
The conversation unveils a little-known opportunity for budget travelers: volunteering with the Sierra Club at the Heritage Center provides a free week-long stay with just four hours of light work daily as a docent. With two consecutive days off mid-week, volunteers can explore extensively while contributing to the park's educational mission.
For first-time visitors, Kristen recommends easily accessible experiences like the five-minute walk to Bridalveil Falls, the reflective beauty of Mirror Lake, or the drive to Glacier Point for panoramic valley views without strenuous hiking. More adventurous listeners will appreciate her insights on backpacking routes from Tuolumne Meadows in the north to Chilnualna Falls in the south, plus practical advice on navigating the permit system for coveted Half Dome hikes.
Throughout the episode, Kristen's passion for Yosemite shines through as she describes nighttime views of climbers' headlamps dancing like fireflies on El Capitan's face and the perpetual white noise of waterfalls creating what she calls a "surreal" and "magical" atmosphere. Whether you're planning your first visit or your fifth, this episode offers both practical guidance and the inspiration to experience Yosemite's magnificence in every season.
Please download, like, subscribe, share a review, and follow us on your favorite podcasts app and connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherenextpodcast/
View all listening options: https://wherenextpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
If you can, please support the show or you can buy us a coffee.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Each episode we interviewpeople around the globe to help
us decide where to go next.
Hi, this is Carol, and today'sepisode we're going to do
(00:36):
something a little bit different.
I will actually be interviewingKristen about Yosemite.
Yosemite is a national park inCentral California that Kristen
loves and adores.
She visits it at least once ayear and she'll tell you why and
the best times to go and someof her favorite features in the
park.
Enjoy, this one is reallyspecial.
(00:58):
Today I'm going to interviewthis is Carol.
I'm going to interview Kristenabout Yosemite, which is a
national park in California.
So, kristen, thank you and tellus what.
Interview Kristen aboutYosemite, which is a national
park in California.
So, kristen, thank you, andtell us what you love about
Yosemite.
Oh, my gosh.
Well, the first thing because Ido it every January is hike up
to the top of Upper YosemiteFalls.
So I go in January and it'sjust sort of like a thing, a
(01:21):
little treat to myself to kickoff the year.
I go for a weekend and hike upall over the place.
I just go straight up, so allday.
So January, isn't there snow inJanuary?
Yeah right, so it's a deepcanyon and so it's just surreal
how beautiful it is.
So at one side because it'skind of a deep canyon and
(01:42):
there's snow on the bottom andit just depends on the year but
one side is shaded and one sidesunny typically.
I mean, of course it's kind ofa deep canyon and there's snow
on the bottom and it justdepends on the year, but one
side is shaded and one side'ssunny typically.
I mean, of course it's sunny.
So when you're coming into thevalley, the right side tends to
have a lot more snow and thenthe left side, where Upper
Yosemite Falls is, is more sun.
So in areas it's still patchysnow, but then other areas
(02:03):
you're just, you know, going.
So when I go hiking up to thetop of Upper Yosemite Falls, I
bring snow boots and like yachttracks, and then boots as well,
and I just have a backpack withmy snacks, water stuff, and then
I swap, depending on as I hitit, if I need shoes or snow
boots.
Okay, and let's just back up alittle bit.
(02:25):
So where is Yosemite?
It's in California, but youwant to like how?
How do you get there?
Like from either Los Angeles orthe San Francisco area, I mean
from the Bay area where I livein Concord.
It's like three, three and ahalf, sometimes four hours,
depending on probably.
I think it's like five or sixhours.
Malay, I think it's like fiveor six hours of ballet, I think,
something like that.
Okay, that's kind of in themiddle, in the mountains, it's
(02:49):
beautiful, okay.
And do you camp overseas?
If you go for a weekend, areyou backcountry camping or do
you stay at a cabin?
How do you manage that?
Do you stay at a hotel and doday hikes?
So in the winter, some of mytrips I've done sort of last
minute and so I just sort ofcall and it's a gamble on what's
available and what room.
So twice I've actually gottenthe Iwani, which is crazy and
(03:11):
that's their really fancy hotel.
One year I got like my owncabin and the other year I got
the hotel and then, yeah, andthen I stayed at Yosemite Lodge,
stayed there before too.
In the winter I stay kind ofinside, I don't camp, and then
the summertime when I stay thereI camp.
(03:32):
Okay, and do you do backcountry camping when you stay
there then or just like in the,like camping in the winter, in
the summer, summertime.
So summertime I do backpackingusually.
Oh, wow, okay.
And then tell us about the.
How much does that cost?
You said the one's fancy likewhat would be a normal, like
rate card for that.
Oh, it can all depend.
(03:52):
Like you know, car camping andthose kinds of things is is a
lot cheaper, and I mean, likethe Iwani is really expensive.
You know it can be Like 500bucks a night, 200?
I don't know.
Be like 500 bucks a night, 200.
No, it was like 600 a nightsomething.
Oh, my goodness, oh, wow, okay,yeah.
So and and you know you're kindof like it's a historic hotel.
(04:15):
It's over a hundred years old.
I should have done my homework,like some of the guests do, and
like have all my ducks in a rowand talk about the Iwani,
although I'm on a little sleepright now.
That's okay.
Yeah, it's a gorgeous hotel.
Actually, right now they'rerenovating it for the last year,
I think, or so.
So the others are, you know,it's over $200.
It's not cheap, okay, in thesummertime there's Housekeeping
(04:39):
Camp, which is the cheapest.
There's Curry Village, which isprobably the second cheapest.
Cheapest.
There's Curry Village, which isprobably the second cheapest,
and then the Yosemite Lodge,that's probably the next tier up
, and then the Iwani, and then,of course, the cheapest is, of
(05:01):
course, camping.
If you backpack, then that'sactually the cheapest and you
get to stay the night before andthe night after your trip for
free in backpacking camp.
Oh, very cool.
And so like, if a cabin, sosomeone's not a camper, what's
like the least expensive cabin?
It's still like a hundred bucksa night.
Oh, it's more than that.
Oh, really, yeah, it'stypically kind of pricey just in
(05:22):
terms of them.
I don't know if they're reallymaking money, but just to
maintain Yosemite, it's, youknow, I just figure I'm donating
my money to Yosemite to keep itgoing.
Yeah, and the how do you callthe Awani?
The Awani, awani Is it?
If someone doesn't stay there,is it cool just to visit?
(05:42):
Is it that unique where yougotta like, take a look at it?
Did you ever see the shining,the movie?
Right?
So I think there's.
You know that hotel.
There's aspects like I want tosay like the elevator room, uh,
or the.
The elevator, sorry, not alittle room, I feel like the
elevator was in the movie orsomething.
And then the dining room isjust this gorgeous, amazing
(06:06):
dining room.
It's just, it's breathtaking.
So I mean even going for a mealor for drinks because they have
like this little restaurantebar area when you can right on
the left of the lobby, and thenthey have like some outdoor
seating and tables so you can,you know, go right outside.
They have a pool there.
It's just gorgeous, it'stotally breathtaking, totally
(06:29):
worth it.
Oh, nice, I remember the trees.
I was there once.
The trees were like really,really huge.
The redwoods Are there a lot ofredwoods there?
Yes, yeah, there are.
I mean, there are what is it,mariposa?
Tall redwoods that are in acouple different areas in
Yosemite Valley that aregorgeous and, yeah, very tall
trees, and then there's just theregular on the valley floor.
(06:50):
Okay, and then the mainattraction I was seeing was
hiking right and climbing.
Climbing is a really big thing,because El Cap is like world
class.
So is there always someone upthere?
Well, it tends to be, I don'tknow, I'm sure in the winter.
Yeah, maybe not in the winter,probably not.
(07:11):
Then let's see.
In May I was there also.
So I also volunteer for theSierra Club and so I helped this
year with the Heritage Center.
So it's the oldest and ofcourse I could rattle off all
the numbers and now I can't, butit was, like you know, built in
the early 1900s and it was thefirst visitor center.
(07:32):
John Muir was actually, Ibelieve, the first president of
the Sierra Club, so we werethere in May and I camped.
So the nice thing about it ifyou volunteer with Sierra Club
you get to stay for a week forfree and arrive on like Saturday
, and they train you Saturday,sunday, you kind of work a
little bit or something, if I'mremembering, and then you have
(07:54):
two days off, monday and Tuesday.
So I could go on a backpackingtrip.
I could go which I did, gohiking to the top of Upper
Yosemite Falls, and then youwork Wednesday, thursday, friday
, saturday and then Friday nightand I think even Saturday night
they have like a really cute inthe Heritage Center, some sort
of like music thing or kidsevent or something like that.
(08:17):
It's really nice.
And what kind of work do you dowhen you're volunteering?
And just before I forget, so inMay when I was camping and I
was looking up on the rocks orjust, you know, the cliffs, I
could see headlights, so peoplewere climbing in May.
That's what made me think of it.
Oh, my goodness, that wasreally cool.
And then the kind of work thatwe do is just docents to welcome
(08:41):
people to Yosemite and theHeritage Center, and there's a
lot of material in there.
It's kind of like a librarywith lots of knowledge and lots
of learning and it's pretty fun.
Oh, I thought you were gonna belike making trails or something
like hard labor.
No, no, no, no.
Heritage Center it's like andit's gorgeous inside.
It was moved.
(09:03):
Actually it was in CurryVillage and then, when they were
expanding Curry Village, theyactually moved the building.
Well, actually they rebuilt thebuilding, but they took the
roof and I think they moved theroof and it's actually not even
perfectly on.
You can see where it's on, butyou know there's some you can
(09:25):
also tell it's not on, it's offa little bit, Okay.
So I'm just thinking, especiallylike, for people that have a
very flexible schedule, thissounds amazing to just go spend
a week there, volunteer.
You're going to meet tons ofpeople, probably from all over
the world.
Yes, you do.
Free lodging the whole week.
Yep, oh my God, how did likeyou have to apply to do this?
How did you?
Yes, I did have to apply.
(09:46):
I had to apply, and then ittook a year plus year-ish or so,
okay, and then, yeah, well, andit was also just because they
had all of their spots filledfor that year, and so then I had
to interview and be selectedfor the following year.
Oh, okay, so if someone wantsto do that now, so like as an
(10:07):
empty nest, or maybe I don't dothat in a few years, like apply
now, and so then once you apply,is it just for one year or now
you're in their volunteer queue?
I am in their volunteer queue.
They actually just said, like,when do you want to come?
And my son is graduating highschool next year, so I haven't
given them an actual date yetand so I'll slip in at some time
(10:29):
.
I just can't figure out thedate.
And do you have to commit todoing one week a year?
Then moving forward?
It's just whatever, Just do itwhen you can, and then, and
maybe if you don't do somethingfor many years, they'll be like
stop it, Just go away.
Awesome.
It was really neat because hermom was there and then there
were a lot of retired folks andwhat was interesting is there's
(11:00):
sort of like this.
I don't know, I didn't realizethis.
But you know how I'mvolunteering and I get to stay
for free.
Well, there's all the nationalparks or like campgrounds and
things, and her mom actuallyjust does that and they're
retired and they go and stay atdifferent campgrounds.
So it's like they, you know,kind of take care of like a
(11:21):
caretaker, and then they justtravel and I'm like, wow, that
sounds pretty sweet.
Yeah, so I have not looked intothat.
And when you work, are youworking eight hours a day for
those three days?
No, no, no, no, it's like fourhours, I think that's it.
And so there's two shifts offour hours and we just cover
(11:41):
each other.
Oh, okay, yeah, and it's to belike, you know, a mom and we
have our companies and there'sso much going on and it's just
like to sit there for four hours.
It was just blissful People andjust hang out and talk, and then
I it's funny how you don't Idon't know If somebody is a
(12:05):
really it doesn't seem big, butit's big Like just walking back
to our campsite or kind ofbiking.
Also.
It's like, you know, it's agood walk and bike just to and
from places to get a littleexercise, but it was just, it's
gorgeous, it was just so.
The weather was beautiful.
Actually, right before I came Iactually came directly from a
(12:28):
wake surf competition andliterally finished there and got
in the car.
But there was a huge one of thecoldest storms that we'd had in
May and they said don't comeyet, stay overnight where you're
at because there's so much snow.
They sent a picture and so itwas really cold and snowy and
then it warmed up but it wasokay.
(12:49):
And so someone that maybe is nota huge fan of snow me when is
the best time of year to go,miss Colorado, afraid of the
snow?
I know, I'm not afraid of it, Ijust don't have fond of it.
Yeah, exactly, I didn't mean tosay that Best time to go, and
in the summer it can get reallyhot as well.
So I mean I think the fall isprobably the best time where
it's not too hot and not toocold.
(13:10):
In the spring, with the flowers, they're really pretty.
If you go, you know hiking andthings, you know it just depends
on the year, but the summersalso they're so awesome, they're
warm.
I know I kind of bop around alot because it's like one of my
favorite places ever to go.
So I like, when I get there andif I have an evening, I'm like,
(13:32):
okay, I'm going to go hike upto Mirror Lake, which has a
reflection of Half Dome, so I'llgo hike up there and come back.
And then I'm like, oh, I wantto go to check out Bridal Veil
Falls.
So I'll check that out, becausethey redid that and that was
really pretty.
So there's, you know, all thesefalls around, and then I don't
(13:52):
really go to Lower YosemiteFalls.
So I was like, oh, I want to gocheck that out, because I'm
usually in upper Yosemite Falls.
Oh, you really know this place.
Oh, I go there a lot, likeprobably two to three times a
year.
So I'll go check out that andjust see what it looks like and
if it's different.
And then, you know, at nighttimeI'll go to El Cap, which is the
(14:19):
best, because you can see allthe headlamps and you just look
up at the stars and you see allthe people climbing.
So people climb in the night.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, you know.
I mean, there's a lot of portalledges that are up.
Do people, like, sleep up there?
I think I've seen that, like inpictures.
Yeah, but you can see peopleclimbing, or maybe that's a
portal edge, it's dark, so it'slike it's almost like fireflies,
(14:40):
yeah Right, like, yeah, yeah,you know, be a fireflies one
that you see at night, yeah,okay, and so that's.
It sounds so cool.
So, oh, what's the elevation?
Oh gosh, I'll find it, I mean,but you're like it is, you know,
it's definitely higher up,right, because if it snows a lot
, it doesn't snow where you aretypically, so it must be maybe
like 3,000, 5,000.
(15:01):
It is 4,000.
4,000.
Okay, interesting.
And then you're like pretty fit,I would say, as far as like
being able to hike.
So someone that maybe doesn'thike a lot, like what's a good
beginner trail, mirror Lake.
So the road after Curry is notreally open really for traffic
(15:26):
as much.
So I mean, there is one whenyou pass Curry Village, you go
down a street that has a parkinglot, a bigger parking lot, but
most of the time people just atthat there's like I, you know,
has a parking lot, a biggerparking lot, but most of the
time people just at that there'slike I don't know, like some
sort of like gate or not a gate,but just something in the
(15:46):
street that you kind of walkfrom that point and you can walk
from there to the Mist Trail.
So that's in the back corner onthe right side, and that takes
you to Nevada and Vernal Fallsand that actually is the trail
that leads up to Half Dome.
So if people wanted to go toHalf Dome, you have to get a
permit, of course, and they'rereally hard to get, but you can
get like a same-day permit.
Sometimes that's even easier.
(16:07):
Okay, well, how about justgoing to the park in general?
I mean, obviously you have toget lodging arranged.
Do you have to have a permitjust to go hiking in the park,
or is it just a date?
Well, I know, after fouro'clock you don't need it, so
you can just go through, becauseI don't think anyone's at the
gate and you can just get on inand go and do whatever.
(16:27):
But and if you aren't as activeI mean, driving around is really
beautiful as well, oh, okay,you know, when you get to
Brideville Creek sorry,brideville Falls it's kind of
the very first fall that you runinto and I mean you park in the
parking lot, you walk like fiveminutes maybe, oh okay, and
(16:49):
you're like, oh, there it is,and you can then go drive down
and you know there's kind of oneroad in and one road out and
kind of in the middle it makesanother little loop so you'd
have to go all the way out.
But if you miss that and youhave to go, I've had this happen
all the time, even this lastvisit, where you're like, oh,
shoot, so I'd have to drive allthe way out and then go all the
(17:12):
way back in the way out and thenall the way back in.
But yeah, like for easy folks,I would say Bridal Oak Creek,
mirror Lake, you can go and kindof view from sort of the middle
where El Capitan is, and thenthat will also take you to Lower
Yosemite Falls.
So Lower Yosemite Falls wouldbe those three are super easy.
(17:34):
I okay, and is half dome theonly one that requires a special
permit that you know?
So yeah, I mean, unless you'regoing to climb l cap, but for
the okay, like regular person.
So you do need a um, like abackpacking pass for l cap, and
then you do need a permit forhalf dome, which is kind of hard
(17:55):
to get in advance.
Oh, okay, got it.
So if you want to do it like,oh, it's a lottery, okay, go on.
Gosh, okay, have you done itrecently?
I've tried every time and I Idon't get it.
I did do it in the my 20s.
That was a lot of fun.
I did it with a um camp calledsky, like yosemite camp, and we
took a whole bunch of kids upthere.
Oh, my goodness, yeah, I didthat once, I think was also my
(18:17):
20s.
It was so scary, like there waslike these ropes at the top.
You're like, if I let go ofthis rope, I'm dead.
You know, I see why they limit.
Yeah, no, when you're goingthere's, you know, the cables
and then those wood planks thatare you kind of like, yeah, it
was amazing how, because of thegranite, you're not slipping.
(18:38):
You know you're just on therock and it's doable.
Yeah, it is.
It's like, yeah, amazing, allright, well, gosh, if anyone has
any questions, just reach outto us.
There's the text, us in thepodcast and we'll answer any
questions.
Or you know, if you need anytips on Yosemite, it is an
(18:59):
amazing place and hopefullymaybe someday, kristen, I mean,
you've arranged trips for yourfriends right in the past.
Yeah, absolutely.
So maybe make something publicsometime, yeah, and I'd say more
about Half Dome is interestingIf you did get an opportunity
and you wanted to backpack andclimb Half Dome.
You would go out of the MistTrail up past Vernal and Nevada
(19:19):
Falls I can't remember whichcomes first and then there's
Little Yosemite Valley andthat's where you would backpack.
There's a nice stream there andthen you would kind of leave
your tent there and then youwould go towards Half Dome and
we called it Quarter Dome whereit's like all these stair steps
that you go and it takes a longtime.
(19:41):
But you go up that and then youget to where you can climb you
know Half Dome and see that.
And then you would come backdown camp in Little Yosemite
Village or, I'm sorry, littleYosemite Village, maybe that is
what it's called and then thenext day go down to Curry
Village again.
So it's a nice little weekendif you were able to get those
(20:02):
passes Right and you have somebeautiful pictures of Half Dome
and probably El Capitan.
So we'll have to post this onthe internet.
So check out Instagram at we'reNext podcast for the beautiful
pictures of Yosemite.
I almost said Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is in Montana,right?
Yeah, absolutely Well.
And also if backpacking becausewe didn't even talk about the
(20:24):
backpacking aspects, becauseI've done a lot there.
So there's a lot of really goodbackpacking there, obviously.
And then there's like to thevery north, there's Tuolumne,
meadows and that has like GlenAllen and Waterwheel and lots of
really neat things.
And then to the south,chilnawana Falls out of Wawona
(20:49):
And's beautiful.
It's very steep but verybeautiful.
And then there's arches, lakesin the back and lots of really
pretty vistas back there.
And then I've also done justright from Old Tunnel Road.
Actually I didn't mention that.
Old Tunnel Road is a greatplace.
You can just drive to and youjust step out and the view you
see of all Yosemite Valley withHalf Dome, it's really pretty,
(21:10):
oh, wow.
And also backpack from there,which I did.
I didn't realize you could dothat, but you go straight up and
I went to Dewey Point, which isacross from El Cap on the other
side, so you can see El Cap atnight, and go all the way to
Bridalveil Creek, all the way toanother place called Glacier
Point and that would be abeautiful location for someone
(21:34):
who may be not active but wouldlike to kind of get a view.
So you're almost you're on thevalley floor, you go through Old
Tunnel Road and you go almostlike you're going out of the
park towards Wilwona and thenyou'll see the signs for Glacier
Point, which is to the left,and that is like you're on the
top of the world.
It's the most gorgeous view andmy first backpacking trip with
(21:57):
my kids was from Glacier Pointand we went to Bridal Boat Creek
and I made it just super funand easy and just did like you
know a couple miles a day for acouple days and lots of hot
chocolate, oh, very good.
Okay.
So a couple of rapid firequestions.
What is it?
What kind of breakfast do youeat when you're camping?
I'm a big granola fan With milkor like a granola bar, like
(22:20):
granola with milk, but we don'thave milk.
You know, I just kind ofsometimes I did bring powdered
milk or um, and then we do applecider or hot chocolate, I do
tea, stuff like that.
I've also made these reallylike healthy kind of pancake
things that are tightly, youknow, like my girlfriend and I
we made that and we had thosefor breakfast and lunch and
they're like egg whites andgreek yogurt and, uh, bran and
(22:42):
stuff like, and so we just madethose for because we went out of
Tuolumne and ended up in Curry,like we kind of did the back
country and that was just aneasy, fun thing to eat.
And what's a good size hike foryou Like?
If you're like I want to hiketoday, are you hiking like five
miles, two miles, five miles,five miles, that's a good one
(23:06):
With elevation right.
Five miles, five miles, that'sa good one With elevation right.
Of course, yes and no, mostlyyes, okay, got it.
And then do you like absolutelystay away from there on the
weekends?
Or is it like, oh, to go toYosemite?
Yeah, is it like madness on theweekends and you try to go
during the week, or is it justso big you don't notice?
(23:26):
Well, the things that I do itdoesn't matter, because you know
, for the folks that are justthere to kind of drive around,
it can get really busy on theweekends and it can get really
ugly.
I typically go off of thosedays.
So I personally don't and sadlyI usually am working like crazy
and then I'm like trying to getall the stuff in the car and
(23:49):
usually when I get to Yosemiteit's after four.
It's usually sometimes nine or10 at night.
So I have a problem.
There's never traffic.
Oh, okay, very good.
Okay, I go off times.
Okay, very good, all right.
And our other rapid firequestions aren't really so
relevant for this, so I'll justleave it at that.
Name one of them.
Let's see what it says.
(24:09):
Yeah, what kind of what's themoney called?
Like, how do you get into dothat?
Oh, yeah, dollarsTransportation how do you?
How do you get around?
Well, that's actually Actuallyone thing we could talk about is
the shuttle.
Like, the shuttle system isreally simple and easy.
I mean, you can rent bikes.
In the winter they have iceskating rinks so you can ice
(24:32):
skate.
So it's super cool.
In Curry Village they have anice skating rink and you can get
hot chocolate.
Also, in Curry Village theyrent bikes as well.
But then the bus system theyhave, it's always going so you
don't need to drive.
You can just park your car andjust take the bus all over the
place.
Yeah, I just remember I musthave been to Curry Village.
(24:52):
Oh, and then how do we prevent?
But let me just finish mythought.
I just thought it was reallysmall.
Like Rocky Mountain NationalPark is like huge and there's
shuttles and there's just likeendless driving.
Like I didn't realize Yosemitewas so big, but it sounds like
it's very big, it seems small.
But then when I was trying tojust like, oh, I'll just walk to
Heritage Center, and I did, Iwas like I want a bike, like
(25:14):
this is forever, you know to andfrom, but it was, it's really
lovely.
And then they also out ofYosemite Lodge you can pay to go
on a tram ride and it's sort oflike an open bed where you can
see everything above you and youknow they kind of tell you the
(25:37):
history and all the informationabout Yosemite.
Okay, yeah, this reminds me ofanother question.
In one of our episodes we talkedabout like wanting like tour
guides.
Is Yosemite good to have a tourguide to really like help you
orient yourself or just like no,just go explore on your own.
Boats, honestly, are fine andthey do have a lot of programs
(25:57):
in the evening and you know you,just when you're going to the
park they give you a magazine or, I'm sorry, like a newspaper,
magazine-ish thing and it tellsyou all of the like things that
you can do in the valley floor,actually next to the Mist Trail.
Before you go into the MistTrail, on the other side of the
little the river there's, you goin the back and they actually
(26:20):
have, like this art center andyou can do artwork back there
and that's a visitor center backthere.
I honestly just found out aboutit this year with the heritage
center because I'm usuallyhiking a peak, but I only had a
couple minutes and I thought I'djust kind of explore and so
that's really neat too, okay,and like rocky mountain national
park they had they now likeyear-round, have timed entry
(26:42):
that you have to like reserveahead of time.
Do they have that there or youcan just go?
Is it just the special trailsyou're talking about going into?
Yeah, just going into the park.
Going into the park, you, you,um, I know covid was a little
different.
I feel like you, yeah, you mayneed to check because, yeah,
okay, you check the nationalpark website.
It is a national park, right?
(27:03):
Yeah, so you have a NationalPark pass?
Yeah, but usually when I'mgoing, I have a reason, like I
have a reservation, I have abackpacking trip, I have
something.
Oh, okay For me, I just I'mgoing in, but if you don't have
something, which you probably do, I mean it's actually big
enough.
I haven't been to any of theother national parks which I
(27:24):
totally need to do.
Yes, I would love to.
Very good.
Thank you so much for thespecial Yosemite discussion.
Yes, thank you.
You are a so glad to share Sucha fan.
I'm a big fan.
I definitely enjoy my time inYosemite.
It's like it literally is sobreathtaking, magical, like you
(27:50):
just see these, and it's justthe sound also.
It's just like.
It's like white noise, I guess,I don't know.
It's just like surreal.
It's just like you just andbecause it's all up and you're
looking, you're just looking up.
It's not like you have have topeer over or there's trees in
the way, even though the treesare really big and really tall,
(28:10):
but you're always looking up andit's just amazing.
The water's always going.
Oh, okay, like Bridal VeilCreek, they always have water.
It never stops Yosemite Falls,I believe it can stop, but
usually it's always going, butsometimes it's more of a trickle
than a really downpour.
(28:31):
And, what's interesting, inJanuary, when I go not this year
but the previous years it comesoff the top water and as it's
falling, because it's so cold,it turns into snow.
It's falling because it's socold, it turns into snow and so
that's a huge snow cone at thebottom of the falls, which is
amazing and that's, you know, sounique, wow, yeah, yeah.
(28:53):
And then nevada and vernal fallsof mist trail.
There's usually always watergoing there.
It feels like too, butsometimes, um, you know, bigger
than not and you know if it'sreally a torrential, then you
don't want to be hiking the misttrail because it's just too
slippery and the rocks are.
The rocks are so big.
You do kind of have to be inpretty good shape if you're
(29:14):
going to try and go up the misttrail because of just the it's.
It's very steep.
Oh, okay, yeah, right, okay,good times, thank you.
Thank you so much.
It was wonderful talking aboutyou, okay, and can't wait to do
one for you next time.
Yeah, okay, bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
(29:36):
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app, and
, if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again.
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
I am Kristen and I am Carol,and we're two long-term friends
with a passion for travel andadventure.
Each episode we interviewpeople around the globe to help
us decide where to go next.
Hi, this is Carol, and today'sepisode we're going to do
(00:36):
something a little bit different.
I will actually be interviewingKristen about Yosemite.
Yosemite is a national park inCentral California that Kristen
loves and adores.
She visits it at least once ayear and she'll tell you why and
the best times to go and someof her favorite features in the
park.
Enjoy, this one is reallyspecial.
(00:58):
Today I'm going to interviewthis is Carol.
I'm going to interview Kristenabout Yosemite, which is a
national park in California.
So, kristen, thank you and tellus what.
Interview Kristen aboutYosemite, which is a national
park in California.
So, kristen, thank you, andtell us what you love about
Yosemite.
Oh, my gosh.
Well, the first thing because Ido it every January is hike up
to the top of Upper YosemiteFalls.
So I go in January and it'sjust sort of like a thing, a
(01:21):
little treat to myself to kickoff the year.
I go for a weekend and hike upall over the place.
I just go straight up, so allday.
So January, isn't there snow inJanuary?
Yeah right, so it's a deepcanyon and so it's just surreal
how beautiful it is.
So at one side because it'skind of a deep canyon and
(01:42):
there's snow on the bottom andit just depends on the year but
one side is shaded and one sidesunny typically.
I mean, of course it's kind ofa deep canyon and there's snow
on the bottom and it justdepends on the year, but one
side is shaded and one side'ssunny typically.
I mean, of course it's sunny.
So when you're coming into thevalley, the right side tends to
have a lot more snow and thenthe left side, where Upper
Yosemite Falls is, is more sun.
So in areas it's still patchysnow, but then other areas
(02:03):
you're just, you know, going.
So when I go hiking up to thetop of Upper Yosemite Falls, I
bring snow boots and like yachttracks, and then boots as well,
and I just have a backpack withmy snacks, water stuff, and then
I swap, depending on as I hitit, if I need shoes or snow
boots.
Okay, and let's just back up alittle bit.
(02:25):
So where is Yosemite?
It's in California, but youwant to like how?
How do you get there?
Like from either Los Angeles orthe San Francisco area, I mean
from the Bay area where I livein Concord.
It's like three, three and ahalf, sometimes four hours,
depending on probably.
I think it's like five or sixhours.
Malay, I think it's like fiveor six hours of ballet, I think,
something like that.
Okay, that's kind of in themiddle, in the mountains, it's
(02:49):
beautiful, okay.
And do you camp overseas?
If you go for a weekend, areyou backcountry camping or do
you stay at a cabin?
How do you manage that?
Do you stay at a hotel and doday hikes?
So in the winter, some of mytrips I've done sort of last
minute and so I just sort ofcall and it's a gamble on what's
available and what room.
So twice I've actually gottenthe Iwani, which is crazy and
(03:11):
that's their really fancy hotel.
One year I got like my owncabin and the other year I got
the hotel and then, yeah, andthen I stayed at Yosemite Lodge,
stayed there before too.
In the winter I stay kind ofinside, I don't camp, and then
the summertime when I stay thereI camp.
(03:32):
Okay, and do you do backcountry camping when you stay
there then or just like in the,like camping in the winter, in
the summer, summertime.
So summertime I do backpackingusually.
Oh, wow, okay.
And then tell us about the.
How much does that cost?
You said the one's fancy likewhat would be a normal, like
rate card for that.
Oh, it can all depend.
(03:52):
Like you know, car camping andthose kinds of things is is a
lot cheaper, and I mean, likethe Iwani is really expensive.
You know it can be Like 500bucks a night, 200?
I don't know.
Be like 500 bucks a night, 200.
No, it was like 600 a nightsomething.
Oh, my goodness, oh, wow, okay,yeah.
So and and you know you're kindof like it's a historic hotel.
(04:15):
It's over a hundred years old.
I should have done my homework,like some of the guests do, and
like have all my ducks in a rowand talk about the Iwani,
although I'm on a little sleepright now.
That's okay.
Yeah, it's a gorgeous hotel.
Actually, right now they'rerenovating it for the last year,
I think, or so.
So the others are, you know,it's over $200.
It's not cheap, okay, in thesummertime there's Housekeeping
(04:39):
Camp, which is the cheapest.
There's Curry Village, which isprobably the second cheapest.
Cheapest.
There's Curry Village, which isprobably the second cheapest,
and then the Yosemite Lodge,that's probably the next tier up
, and then the Iwani, and then,of course, the cheapest is, of
(05:01):
course, camping.
If you backpack, then that'sactually the cheapest and you
get to stay the night before andthe night after your trip for
free in backpacking camp.
Oh, very cool.
And so like, if a cabin, sosomeone's not a camper, what's
like the least expensive cabin?
It's still like a hundred bucksa night.
Oh, it's more than that.
Oh, really, yeah, it'stypically kind of pricey just in
(05:22):
terms of them.
I don't know if they're reallymaking money, but just to
maintain Yosemite, it's, youknow, I just figure I'm donating
my money to Yosemite to keep itgoing.
Yeah, and the how do you callthe Awani?
The Awani, awani Is it?
If someone doesn't stay there,is it cool just to visit?
(05:42):
Is it that unique where yougotta like, take a look at it?
Did you ever see the shining,the movie?
Right?
So I think there's.
You know that hotel.
There's aspects like I want tosay like the elevator room, uh,
or the.
The elevator, sorry, not alittle room, I feel like the
elevator was in the movie orsomething.
And then the dining room isjust this gorgeous, amazing
(06:06):
dining room.
It's just, it's breathtaking.
So I mean even going for a mealor for drinks because they have
like this little restaurantebar area when you can right on
the left of the lobby, and thenthey have like some outdoor
seating and tables so you can,you know, go right outside.
They have a pool there.
It's just gorgeous, it'stotally breathtaking, totally
(06:29):
worth it.
Oh, nice, I remember the trees.
I was there once.
The trees were like really,really huge.
The redwoods Are there a lot ofredwoods there?
Yes, yeah, there are.
I mean, there are what is it,mariposa?
Tall redwoods that are in acouple different areas in
Yosemite Valley that aregorgeous and, yeah, very tall
trees, and then there's just theregular on the valley floor.
(06:50):
Okay, and then the mainattraction I was seeing was
hiking right and climbing.
Climbing is a really big thing,because El Cap is like world
class.
So is there always someone upthere?
Well, it tends to be, I don'tknow, I'm sure in the winter.
Yeah, maybe not in the winter,probably not.
(07:11):
Then let's see.
In May I was there also.
So I also volunteer for theSierra Club and so I helped this
year with the Heritage Center.
So it's the oldest and ofcourse I could rattle off all
the numbers and now I can't, butit was, like you know, built in
the early 1900s and it was thefirst visitor center.
(07:32):
John Muir was actually, Ibelieve, the first president of
the Sierra Club, so we werethere in May and I camped.
So the nice thing about it ifyou volunteer with Sierra Club
you get to stay for a week forfree and arrive on like Saturday
, and they train you Saturday,sunday, you kind of work a
little bit or something, if I'mremembering, and then you have
(07:54):
two days off, monday and Tuesday.
So I could go on a backpackingtrip.
I could go which I did, gohiking to the top of Upper
Yosemite Falls, and then youwork Wednesday, thursday, friday
, saturday and then Friday nightand I think even Saturday night
they have like a really cute inthe Heritage Center, some sort
of like music thing or kidsevent or something like that.
(08:17):
It's really nice.
And what kind of work do you dowhen you're volunteering?
And just before I forget, so inMay when I was camping and I
was looking up on the rocks orjust, you know, the cliffs, I
could see headlights, so peoplewere climbing in May.
That's what made me think of it.
Oh, my goodness, that wasreally cool.
And then the kind of work thatwe do is just docents to welcome
(08:41):
people to Yosemite and theHeritage Center, and there's a
lot of material in there.
It's kind of like a librarywith lots of knowledge and lots
of learning and it's pretty fun.
Oh, I thought you were gonna belike making trails or something
like hard labor.
No, no, no, no.
Heritage Center it's like andit's gorgeous inside.
It was moved.
(09:03):
Actually it was in CurryVillage and then, when they were
expanding Curry Village, theyactually moved the building.
Well, actually they rebuilt thebuilding, but they took the
roof and I think they moved theroof and it's actually not even
perfectly on.
You can see where it's on, butyou know there's some you can
(09:25):
also tell it's not on, it's offa little bit, Okay.
So I'm just thinking, especiallylike, for people that have a
very flexible schedule, thissounds amazing to just go spend
a week there, volunteer.
You're going to meet tons ofpeople, probably from all over
the world.
Yes, you do.
Free lodging the whole week.
Yep, oh my God, how did likeyou have to apply to do this?
How did you?
Yes, I did have to apply.
(09:46):
I had to apply, and then ittook a year plus year-ish or so,
okay, and then, yeah, well, andit was also just because they
had all of their spots filledfor that year, and so then I had
to interview and be selectedfor the following year.
Oh, okay, so if someone wantsto do that now, so like as an
(10:07):
empty nest, or maybe I don't dothat in a few years, like apply
now, and so then once you apply,is it just for one year or now
you're in their volunteer queue?
I am in their volunteer queue.
They actually just said, like,when do you want to come?
And my son is graduating highschool next year, so I haven't
given them an actual date yetand so I'll slip in at some time
(10:29):
.
I just can't figure out thedate.
And do you have to commit todoing one week a year?
Then moving forward?
It's just whatever, Just do itwhen you can, and then, and
maybe if you don't do somethingfor many years, they'll be like
stop it, Just go away.
Awesome.
It was really neat because hermom was there and then there
were a lot of retired folks andwhat was interesting is there's
(11:00):
sort of like this.
I don't know, I didn't realizethis.
But you know how I'mvolunteering and I get to stay
for free.
Well, there's all the nationalparks or like campgrounds and
things, and her mom actuallyjust does that and they're
retired and they go and stay atdifferent campgrounds.
So it's like they, you know,kind of take care of like a
(11:21):
caretaker, and then they justtravel and I'm like, wow, that
sounds pretty sweet.
Yeah, so I have not looked intothat.
And when you work, are youworking eight hours a day for
those three days?
No, no, no, no, it's like fourhours, I think that's it.
And so there's two shifts offour hours and we just cover
(11:41):
each other.
Oh, okay, yeah, and it's to belike, you know, a mom and we
have our companies and there'sso much going on and it's just
like to sit there for four hours.
It was just blissful People andjust hang out and talk, and then
I it's funny how you don't Idon't know If somebody is a
(12:05):
really it doesn't seem big, butit's big Like just walking back
to our campsite or kind ofbiking.
Also.
It's like, you know, it's agood walk and bike just to and
from places to get a littleexercise, but it was just, it's
gorgeous, it was just so.
The weather was beautiful.
Actually, right before I came Iactually came directly from a
(12:28):
wake surf competition andliterally finished there and got
in the car.
But there was a huge one of thecoldest storms that we'd had in
May and they said don't comeyet, stay overnight where you're
at because there's so much snow.
They sent a picture and so itwas really cold and snowy and
then it warmed up but it wasokay.
(12:49):
And so someone that maybe is nota huge fan of snow me when is
the best time of year to go,miss Colorado, afraid of the
snow?
I know, I'm not afraid of it, Ijust don't have fond of it.
Yeah, exactly, I didn't mean tosay that Best time to go, and
in the summer it can get reallyhot as well.
So I mean I think the fall isprobably the best time where
it's not too hot and not toocold.
(13:10):
In the spring, with the flowers, they're really pretty.
If you go, you know hiking andthings, you know it just depends
on the year, but the summersalso they're so awesome, they're
warm.
I know I kind of bop around alot because it's like one of my
favorite places ever to go.
So I like, when I get there andif I have an evening, I'm like,
(13:32):
okay, I'm going to go hike upto Mirror Lake, which has a
reflection of Half Dome, so I'llgo hike up there and come back.
And then I'm like, oh, I wantto go to check out Bridal Veil
Falls.
So I'll check that out, becausethey redid that and that was
really pretty.
So there's, you know, all thesefalls around, and then I don't
(13:52):
really go to Lower YosemiteFalls.
So I was like, oh, I want to gocheck that out, because I'm
usually in upper Yosemite Falls.
Oh, you really know this place.
Oh, I go there a lot, likeprobably two to three times a
year.
So I'll go check out that andjust see what it looks like and
if it's different.
And then, you know, at nighttimeI'll go to El Cap, which is the
(14:19):
best, because you can see allthe headlamps and you just look
up at the stars and you see allthe people climbing.
So people climb in the night.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, you know.
I mean, there's a lot of portalledges that are up.
Do people, like, sleep up there?
I think I've seen that, like inpictures.
Yeah, but you can see peopleclimbing, or maybe that's a
portal edge, it's dark, so it'slike it's almost like fireflies,
(14:40):
yeah Right, like, yeah, yeah,you know, be a fireflies one
that you see at night, yeah,okay, and so that's.
It sounds so cool.
So, oh, what's the elevation?
Oh gosh, I'll find it, I mean,but you're like it is, you know,
it's definitely higher up,right, because if it snows a lot
, it doesn't snow where you aretypically, so it must be maybe
like 3,000, 5,000.
(15:01):
It is 4,000.
4,000.
Okay, interesting.
And then you're like pretty fit,I would say, as far as like
being able to hike.
So someone that maybe doesn'thike a lot, like what's a good
beginner trail, mirror Lake.
So the road after Curry is notreally open really for traffic
(15:26):
as much.
So I mean, there is one whenyou pass Curry Village, you go
down a street that has a parkinglot, a bigger parking lot, but
most of the time people just atthat there's like I, you know,
has a parking lot, a biggerparking lot, but most of the
time people just at that there'slike I don't know, like some
sort of like gate or not a gate,but just something in the
(15:46):
street that you kind of walkfrom that point and you can walk
from there to the Mist Trail.
So that's in the back corner onthe right side, and that takes
you to Nevada and Vernal Fallsand that actually is the trail
that leads up to Half Dome.
So if people wanted to go toHalf Dome, you have to get a
permit, of course, and they'rereally hard to get, but you can
get like a same-day permit.
Sometimes that's even easier.
(16:07):
Okay, well, how about justgoing to the park in general?
I mean, obviously you have toget lodging arranged.
Do you have to have a permitjust to go hiking in the park,
or is it just a date?
Well, I know, after fouro'clock you don't need it, so
you can just go through, becauseI don't think anyone's at the
gate and you can just get on inand go and do whatever.
(16:27):
But and if you aren't as activeI mean, driving around is really
beautiful as well, oh, okay,you know, when you get to
Brideville Creek sorry,brideville Falls it's kind of
the very first fall that you runinto and I mean you park in the
parking lot, you walk like fiveminutes maybe, oh okay, and
(16:49):
you're like, oh, there it is,and you can then go drive down
and you know there's kind of oneroad in and one road out and
kind of in the middle it makesanother little loop so you'd
have to go all the way out.
But if you miss that and youhave to go, I've had this happen
all the time, even this lastvisit, where you're like, oh,
shoot, so I'd have to drive allthe way out and then go all the
(17:12):
way back in the way out and thenall the way back in.
But yeah, like for easy folks,I would say Bridal Oak Creek,
mirror Lake, you can go and kindof view from sort of the middle
where El Capitan is, and thenthat will also take you to Lower
Yosemite Falls.
So Lower Yosemite Falls wouldbe those three are super easy.
(17:34):
I okay, and is half dome theonly one that requires a special
permit that you know?
So yeah, I mean, unless you'regoing to climb l cap, but for
the okay, like regular person.
So you do need a um, like abackpacking pass for l cap, and
then you do need a permit forhalf dome, which is kind of hard
(17:55):
to get in advance.
Oh, okay, got it.
So if you want to do it like,oh, it's a lottery, okay, go on.
Gosh, okay, have you done itrecently?
I've tried every time and I Idon't get it.
I did do it in the my 20s.
That was a lot of fun.
I did it with a um camp calledsky, like yosemite camp, and we
took a whole bunch of kids upthere.
Oh, my goodness, yeah, I didthat once, I think was also my
(18:17):
20s.
It was so scary, like there waslike these ropes at the top.
You're like, if I let go ofthis rope, I'm dead.
You know, I see why they limit.
Yeah, no, when you're goingthere's, you know, the cables
and then those wood planks thatare you kind of like, yeah, it
was amazing how, because of thegranite, you're not slipping.
(18:38):
You know you're just on therock and it's doable.
Yeah, it is.
It's like, yeah, amazing, allright, well, gosh, if anyone has
any questions, just reach outto us.
There's the text, us in thepodcast and we'll answer any
questions.
Or you know, if you need anytips on Yosemite, it is an
(18:59):
amazing place and hopefullymaybe someday, kristen, I mean,
you've arranged trips for yourfriends right in the past.
Yeah, absolutely.
So maybe make something publicsometime, yeah, and I'd say more
about Half Dome is interestingIf you did get an opportunity
and you wanted to backpack andclimb Half Dome.
You would go out of the MistTrail up past Vernal and Nevada
(19:19):
Falls I can't remember whichcomes first and then there's
Little Yosemite Valley andthat's where you would backpack.
There's a nice stream there andthen you would kind of leave
your tent there and then youwould go towards Half Dome and
we called it Quarter Dome whereit's like all these stair steps
that you go and it takes a longtime.
(19:41):
But you go up that and then youget to where you can climb you
know Half Dome and see that.
And then you would come backdown camp in Little Yosemite
Village or, I'm sorry, littleYosemite Village, maybe that is
what it's called and then thenext day go down to Curry
Village again.
So it's a nice little weekendif you were able to get those
(20:02):
passes Right and you have somebeautiful pictures of Half Dome
and probably El Capitan.
So we'll have to post this onthe internet.
So check out Instagram at we'reNext podcast for the beautiful
pictures of Yosemite.
I almost said Yellowstone.
Yellowstone is in Montana,right?
Yeah, absolutely Well.
And also if backpacking becausewe didn't even talk about the
(20:24):
backpacking aspects, becauseI've done a lot there.
So there's a lot of really goodbackpacking there, obviously.
And then there's like to thevery north, there's Tuolumne,
meadows and that has like GlenAllen and Waterwheel and lots of
really neat things.
And then to the south,chilnawana Falls out of Wawona
(20:49):
And's beautiful.
It's very steep but verybeautiful.
And then there's arches, lakesin the back and lots of really
pretty vistas back there.
And then I've also done justright from Old Tunnel Road.
Actually I didn't mention that.
Old Tunnel Road is a greatplace.
You can just drive to and youjust step out and the view you
see of all Yosemite Valley withHalf Dome, it's really pretty,
(21:10):
oh, wow.
And also backpack from there,which I did.
I didn't realize you could dothat, but you go straight up and
I went to Dewey Point, which isacross from El Cap on the other
side, so you can see El Cap atnight, and go all the way to
Bridalveil Creek, all the way toanother place called Glacier
Point and that would be abeautiful location for someone
(21:34):
who may be not active but wouldlike to kind of get a view.
So you're almost you're on thevalley floor, you go through Old
Tunnel Road and you go almostlike you're going out of the
park towards Wilwona and thenyou'll see the signs for Glacier
Point, which is to the left,and that is like you're on the
top of the world.
It's the most gorgeous view andmy first backpacking trip with
(21:57):
my kids was from Glacier Pointand we went to Bridal Boat Creek
and I made it just super funand easy and just did like you
know a couple miles a day for acouple days and lots of hot
chocolate, oh, very good.
Okay.
So a couple of rapid firequestions.
What is it?
What kind of breakfast do youeat when you're camping?
I'm a big granola fan With milkor like a granola bar, like
(22:20):
granola with milk, but we don'thave milk.
You know, I just kind ofsometimes I did bring powdered
milk or um, and then we do applecider or hot chocolate, I do
tea, stuff like that.
I've also made these reallylike healthy kind of pancake
things that are tightly, youknow, like my girlfriend and I
we made that and we had thosefor breakfast and lunch and
they're like egg whites andgreek yogurt and, uh, bran and
(22:42):
stuff like, and so we just madethose for because we went out of
Tuolumne and ended up in Curry,like we kind of did the back
country and that was just aneasy, fun thing to eat.
And what's a good size hike foryou Like?
If you're like I want to hiketoday, are you hiking like five
miles, two miles, five miles,five miles, that's a good one
(23:06):
With elevation right.
Five miles, five miles, that'sa good one With elevation right.
Of course, yes and no, mostlyyes, okay, got it.
And then do you like absolutelystay away from there on the
weekends?
Or is it like, oh, to go toYosemite?
Yeah, is it like madness on theweekends and you try to go
during the week, or is it justso big you don't notice?
(23:26):
Well, the things that I do itdoesn't matter, because you know
, for the folks that are justthere to kind of drive around,
it can get really busy on theweekends and it can get really
ugly.
I typically go off of thosedays.
So I personally don't and sadlyI usually am working like crazy
and then I'm like trying to getall the stuff in the car and
(23:49):
usually when I get to Yosemiteit's after four.
It's usually sometimes nine or10 at night.
So I have a problem.
There's never traffic.
Oh, okay, very good.
Okay, I go off times.
Okay, very good, all right.
And our other rapid firequestions aren't really so
relevant for this, so I'll justleave it at that.
Name one of them.
Let's see what it says.
(24:09):
Yeah, what kind of what's themoney called?
Like, how do you get into dothat?
Oh, yeah, dollarsTransportation how do you?
How do you get around?
Well, that's actually Actuallyone thing we could talk about is
the shuttle.
Like, the shuttle system isreally simple and easy.
I mean, you can rent bikes.
In the winter they have iceskating rinks so you can ice
(24:32):
skate.
So it's super cool.
In Curry Village they have anice skating rink and you can get
hot chocolate.
Also, in Curry Village theyrent bikes as well.
But then the bus system theyhave, it's always going so you
don't need to drive.
You can just park your car andjust take the bus all over the
place.
Yeah, I just remember I musthave been to Curry Village.
(24:52):
Oh, and then how do we prevent?
But let me just finish mythought.
I just thought it was reallysmall.
Like Rocky Mountain NationalPark is like huge and there's
shuttles and there's just likeendless driving.
Like I didn't realize Yosemitewas so big, but it sounds like
it's very big, it seems small.
But then when I was trying tojust like, oh, I'll just walk to
Heritage Center, and I did, Iwas like I want a bike, like
(25:14):
this is forever, you know to andfrom, but it was, it's really
lovely.
And then they also out ofYosemite Lodge you can pay to go
on a tram ride and it's sort oflike an open bed where you can
see everything above you and youknow they kind of tell you the
(25:37):
history and all the informationabout Yosemite.
Okay, yeah, this reminds me ofanother question.
In one of our episodes we talkedabout like wanting like tour
guides.
Is Yosemite good to have a tourguide to really like help you
orient yourself or just like no,just go explore on your own.
Boats, honestly, are fine andthey do have a lot of programs
(25:57):
in the evening and you know you,just when you're going to the
park they give you a magazine or, I'm sorry, like a newspaper,
magazine-ish thing and it tellsyou all of the like things that
you can do in the valley floor,actually next to the Mist Trail.
Before you go into the MistTrail, on the other side of the
little the river there's, you goin the back and they actually
(26:20):
have, like this art center andyou can do artwork back there
and that's a visitor center backthere.
I honestly just found out aboutit this year with the heritage
center because I'm usuallyhiking a peak, but I only had a
couple minutes and I thought I'djust kind of explore and so
that's really neat too, okay,and like rocky mountain national
park they had they now likeyear-round, have timed entry
(26:42):
that you have to like reserveahead of time.
Do they have that there or youcan just go?
Is it just the special trailsyou're talking about going into?
Yeah, just going into the park.
Going into the park, you, you,um, I know covid was a little
different.
I feel like you, yeah, you mayneed to check because, yeah,
okay, you check the nationalpark website.
It is a national park, right?
(27:03):
Yeah, so you have a NationalPark pass?
Yeah, but usually when I'mgoing, I have a reason, like I
have a reservation, I have abackpacking trip, I have
something.
Oh, okay For me, I just I'mgoing in, but if you don't have
something, which you probably do, I mean it's actually big
enough.
I haven't been to any of theother national parks which I
(27:24):
totally need to do.
Yes, I would love to.
Very good.
Thank you so much for thespecial Yosemite discussion.
Yes, thank you.
You are a so glad to share Sucha fan.
I'm a big fan.
I definitely enjoy my time inYosemite.
It's like it literally is sobreathtaking, magical, like you
(27:50):
just see these, and it's justthe sound also.
It's just like.
It's like white noise, I guess,I don't know.
It's just like surreal.
It's just like you just andbecause it's all up and you're
looking, you're just looking up.
It's not like you have have topeer over or there's trees in
the way, even though the treesare really big and really tall,
(28:10):
but you're always looking up andit's just amazing.
The water's always going.
Oh, okay, like Bridal VeilCreek, they always have water.
It never stops Yosemite Falls,I believe it can stop, but
usually it's always going, butsometimes it's more of a trickle
than a really downpour.
(28:31):
And, what's interesting, inJanuary, when I go not this year
but the previous years it comesoff the top water and as it's
falling, because it's so cold,it turns into snow.
It's falling because it's socold, it turns into snow and so
that's a huge snow cone at thebottom of the falls, which is
amazing and that's, you know, sounique, wow, yeah, yeah.
(28:53):
And then nevada and vernal fallsof mist trail.
There's usually always watergoing there.
It feels like too, butsometimes, um, you know, bigger
than not and you know if it'sreally a torrential, then you
don't want to be hiking the misttrail because it's just too
slippery and the rocks are.
The rocks are so big.
You do kind of have to be inpretty good shape if you're
(29:14):
going to try and go up the misttrail because of just the it's.
It's very steep.
Oh, okay, yeah, right, okay,good times, thank you.
Thank you so much.
It was wonderful talking aboutyou, okay, and can't wait to do
one for you next time.
Yeah, okay, bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
(29:36):
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app, and
, if you have a minute, we wouldreally appreciate a review.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
We're at where next podcast.
Thanks again.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.