Yosemite in the Spring

Hiking, of course! The Yosemite Falls Trail is one of the most popular and generally open this time of year. Bridal Falls is lovely, and you can walk up to the bottom of the falls.

Don't miss having a meal at the Ahwahnee Hotel - it's a beautiful building with a great restaurant. If the prices are a little steep, go to the bar, get a drink, and relax by one of the huge stone fireplaces.

Bring binoculars for night sky viewing on moonless nights.

Quick Tips:

Spring is a good time to visit - the weather is often gorgeous and the park is not as crowded as it can be in the summer. ,

Many of the hiking trails are closed for the season, but depending on the weather, there are still plenty of trails to explore.

Make sure you have tire chains for your car - the rangers can turn you around at the park entrance if you don't have them.

Best Way To Get Around:

Hiking, of course! Even walking along the road on the valley floor you get incredible views of the falls, meadows, and cliffs. I've often seen deer and coyotes from, or even on, the roads.

Bicycling along the valley roads is also easy, as the floor is completely flat along the roads and lovely.

If you want to get somewhere a little quicker, the shuttle buses have a route along the valley floor. Visit the visitor center for a map of the shuttle stops.

The rooms at the lodge are basic but fairly large and clean, with enough room to throw your stuff all over the place. Large open closets and decent-sized bureaus have enough space for gear, packs, and clothes.

Some of the rooms are smoking rooms, so if you prefer nonsmoking, make sure you request nonsmoking when you make your reservations.

Some of the rooms have balconies/porches. There are no TVs but there are phones. Most rooms have a table and chairs - good for making up a quick picnic lunch or playing a board game.

The bathrooms are spacious, and we've never had problems with hot water running out or water pressure. All the rooms we've stayed in have had large vanity/sink areas.

The location is great - a few minutes' walk from the base of Yosemite Falls. The shuttle stops right in front of the front desk/reception area. (There's also an activities desk area where you can arrange outings located in the reception area.)

Other amenities include the Mountain Lodge Restaurant, the bar, a small general store, the cafeteria, and a gift store. Some of the ranger lectures are held in the complex as well.

Parking is abundant.

The rooms are a little expensive for a place with a basic feel, but how much time will you be spending inside the room itself? You're paying for being smack in the middle of Yosemite Valley.

Camp Curry has cabins with more character, but the location isn't as convenient.

The Ahwanhee Hotel is an incredibly beautiful hotel nestled against the side of the valley wall. Built in the 1920s, it has gorgeous arts-and-crafts architecture on a huge scale. Sumptuous antique rugs decorate some of the walls. Huge stone fireplaces invite lingering on a cold night.

The dining rooms is large, with a very tall ceiling with exposed beams. Huge windows look over the adjacent meadow.

My husband and I have had both lunch and dinner at the Ahwanhee. Lunch is less formal - you can eat in hiking gear. Dinner is very formal - definitely no jeans, shorts, etc. Make sure you bring at least one set of dress-up clothes!

The prices are not cheap, but the ambience is incredible. The food is not on par with a world-class restaurant but is quite good - you're paying for the experience as much as the actual food. The continental menu includes poultry, steak, and fish dishes. Save room for dessert.

Plan on at least one meal at the Ahwanhee just to visit and experience it.

The Mountain Room at Yosemite Lodge is a nice, less expensive alternative to the Ahwahnee for a relaxing, good meal. Not to say it's cheap; you’ll still spend $50 to $60 for two people, but it's less expensive, easier to get reservations, and if you're staying at the Lodge, more convenient.

The Mountain Room is more kid-friendly, so don't expect as quiet or romantic of a dining experience. Request if possible a table near a window - it'll be quieter, plus, depending on the moon phase, you may get a lovely view of the Falls. A series of gorgeous color photos of Yosemite are hung along all the walls without windows.

The food is tasty continental/California cuisine, steaks, fish, pasta, chicken, etc. A nice wine list is available. Desserts are good. Fresh loaves of sourdough bread are brought before the meal, and they are delicious with butter; you can easily make up for all the calories you burned hiking!

Reservations required.

With all the rain we’d had recently this spring (2005), I had trepidation regarding the potential conditions in Yosemite. Not to worry – we had the warmest trip yet this past weekend, and the roads were totally clear, with no ice or snow. Instead we got brilliant, clear skies, snow-kissed cliffs, and balmy temperatures.

Friday afternoon, we parked at the trailhead parking past Curry Village and walked to Happy Isles. We were able to hike the Mist Trail this time, heading up past Vernal Falls to the bridge below Nevada Falls, then up to Clark Point (net elevation gain about 1,500 feet) and down the John Muir Trail. As gorgeous as it is being close to Vernal Falls on the steep stairs just adjacent, the prettiest view was from the ‘official’ viewpoint just off the trail to Clark Point – you could see Vernal Falls spilling over the edge and down, from a bird’s eye view. A couple other hikers came by after we’d scrambled back up to the main trail, and I couldn’t help but tell them, "Check it out, it’s so gorgeous." Their (snidely voiced) retort? They’d come up the Mist Trail and had already seen Vernal Falls. Their loss!

On the way down, we hit some snow packs occluding the trail. I was not thrilled (my fear of falling kicking in), but we managed to get across them.

Saturday, footsore after our 6 or 7 miles the previous day, we decided to hike around Tenaya Creek, a relatively flat hike past Mirror Lake (well, the old site of Mirror Lake, now a widening of the creek area and silting in), adjacent to the base of Half Dome, and over the bridge and back down the north side of the creek. It was a pleasant 4 or 5 miles. Bathrooms are available at Mirror Lake.

If you're a veterinarian, the spring CVMA conference is a great way to get your required continuing education hours combined with a lovely mini-vacation.

Lectures start at 8am and end at noon on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, leaving you the rest of the day to enjoy the park.

The speakers are generally quite good and convey a lot of clinically applicable info. Recent topics included dermatology, internal medicine/ endocrinology, opthomamology, and others. This year's (2005) is on diagnostic imaging and internal medicine.

If interested, sign up early; this conference sells out. Visit the CVMA website at www.cvma.net for info.

Every year since I’ve moved back to California (summer 1999), I’ve attended the spring California Veterinary Medicine Association (CVMA) continuing education seminar in Yosemite.

Spring 2000 was the first time I’d ever been to Yosemite, and I was awed and stunned by its beauty. The weather was atypically balmy for March, T-shirt and shorts weather for day hiking.

Spring 2001 doesn’t stand out – I’m thinking that the weather was chilly but not bad.

Spring 2002 was absolutely gorgeous – it snowed while we were there and turned the valley into a fairy wonderland. This limited our hiking, true, and we left early because of fears of being snowed in, but it was so breathtakingly beautiful, quiet, and otherworldly.

Spring 2003 was like 2001 – standing out only for the fact that that was the weekend we invaded Iraq, and everyone was glued to the TV in the Mountain Lodge bar watching the news.

Last year was gorgeous and balmy, like 2000.

This year – who knows? Last check there’s still snow on the valley floor and the amount of snow in the area is a lot greater than normal, so if does warm up, I expect there’ll be a lot more water in the falls and river.

Visit the Yosemite Park Webpage for more info on the park, conditions, upcoming events, etc.