How to Visit Yosemite in the Spring, Part 2

If you haven’t checked out part one of our trip, head here first!

After covering many miles in our first couple days in the park, we decided to switch it up and view the valley from the river. We were eager to find Zephyr Rafting in El Portal along the Merced River as we drove along highway 140, the main entrance into the park. We opted for an early morning whitewater rafting session so we’d have the afternoon to recuperate. After arriving around 8am for our time slot, we were introduced to three of the tour guides as well as the other participants. We were split up into three rafts and would be riding with our tour guide, Jake through class three and four rapids. Rapids are rated on a scale of 1-6, six being non-raftable (it’s a word, swear). So, I was a bit eager/anxious to make my way through rapids being such an amateur paddler. After the necessary safety lesson, we dressed up in wet suits, wool sweaters and rain jackets, all included in our tour package. I ended up using a pair of water shoes left over from a previous trip so I could spare my sneakers, though gym shoes were fine to use. Given it was an overcast 43 degrees out (brrr!), we were only expecting to get chillier as the day wore on due to the water melting straight of the snow covered mountains. We would soon find out it was impossible not to get wet on this adventure.

Rafting Cranberry Hole

After splitting up into our rafts, we had a brief practice run on the nearby rapid. Emphasis on the brief, we were about to hit Cranberry Run, our first rapid, in less than a minute.

Getting a little wet at Ned’s Gulch Rapid

The rapids each had their own unique names which made it all the more fun. Although we were soaked, we managed to stay warm as long as we kept paddling. On the most difficult turn at Ned’s Gulch, a boy felt out of the raft behind us, followed by an entire boat behind them turning on its side, dumping everyone out. Luckily, our mini-rescue lesson allowed us to save the swimmers near us.

Rescuing a swimmer at Ned’s Gulch

Although this was the biggest fear I had (uh, no thanks to the ice bath, please), it wasn’t that rare of an occurrence. Given the life jackets and helmets, the swimmers just rode down the currents until a boat was near them. It almost looked like fun. *Almost*.

Trying our luck with class 3 rapids

After about two hours of rafting, we exited the river where a bus took us back to the start. At this point, I began losing feeling in my toes and was ready to dry off and warm up. We thanked Zephyr Rafting for an awesome experience, and headed back to our condo to spend the rest of the day warming up by the fire. A huge pot of tomato soup hit the spot, and we had a kick out of laughing at the pictures from the day’s event.

For our last morning in Yosemite, we didn’t want to miss a beat and were up at 5:30 am. Luckily, we were staying in West Yosemite close to Tunnel View, an easy access point to witness the sunrise over the valley.

Sunrise at Tunnel View

Apparently we weren’t the only ones with this fantastic idea. We unknowingly inserted ourselves into a photography class already staked out, and got to pick up a few pointers!

Photography class at Tunnel View circa 6am

Having been so early in the morning, we took this time to hit up some of the trails that had been mobbed the last few afternoons.

Bridalveil is a gorgeous walk to the bottom of a powerful waterfall that’s viewed afar from Tunnel View. It took only seven minutes to reach the end of the trail to take a few pictures of the mist flowing off the rocks like a veil (thus, the accurate name).

Bottom of Bridalveil Falls

As we continued our drive around the valley, we captured a few last moments of the sun peaking over El Capitan before we headed on our way.

Sunrise reaching El Capitan

Although we were limited to open areas in the park because of the heavy snow fall, we has zero issues filling our days. In fact, we would have easily run out of time if we had tried to reach every corner of this incredible region. This way, we were able to fully enjoy all Yosemite had to offer, minus the suffocating crowds and long wait times to reach the summits. If you haven’t made the time to visit this national treasure yet, now is the time to experience the world as it was hundreds of years ago.

Do you like hiking in the snow? How do you stay outdoors when the weather gets chilly?

xx,
Juliette

Follow my blog with Bloglovin