After last year’s trip to Sequoia National Park and our two previous trips to the Redwoods State Parks, it is natural to complete what I consider California’s golden triptych by visiting Yosemite. The one reader that follows this blog might comment that we came to Yosemite last year when we backpacked to Rancheria Falls. The truth is that Hetch Hetchy does not offer the same feel than the Yosemite valley.

We joined some friends that managed to get one of the extremely sought after spot at the Lower Pines campground. Conveniently located on the East side of the Yosemite Valley right along the Merced river, this campground offers great large and flat campsite though not  much privacy. Similarly to LodgePole in Sequoia, there is a convenience store, restaurants and other niceties close by making it a viable option for a longer stay.

Thanks to a late Winter and abundant rainfalls, all the main water falls of the park are still active. Quite a treat for late August.

On Saturday, Alicia and I hiked around the Valley floor. We first checked out the lower Yosemite falls, then went for a long stroll along the river including a dip in the ice cold water, and at the end of the day, we joined another group for a short hike to the bottom of Vernal falls.

On Sunday, we drove all the way up to Glacier point to take a full vista of the famous Half Dome, Nevada fall and Vernal fall on one side.

And Yosemite falls and the valley on the other side.

On the way up, we got into a Bear-jam as the fellow bellow had been spotted not far from the road. (Original picture taken by Aurelie. Most of the other beautiful pictures on this page as well).

I have been in the Yosemite valley several times before hiking to the top of Half Dome two times, to upper Yosemite falls from the Valley another time, and to El Capitan on yet another occasion. Thing is I had never really taken the time to explore the Valley and some of the vista points. That was definitely enjoyable and we are looking forward coming back again soon.

We are back from  3 days enjoying the sun, the ocean and great friends in one of the lovely house of Sea Ranch on the  Sonoma Coast.

We liked the design, landscape, and wandering deers a lot.

For memorial day weekend, we gathered a bunch of friends for a trip up North to Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. Alicia and I had been there 2 years ago (for Memorial Day Weekend as well) and we thought it would be great to share the experience with more people this time.

I love the Elk Prairie campground. It has some great campsites, full amenities including hot showers and it offers easy access to over 50 miles of hiking trails. Even though the weather was not as nice as we wished, we still managed to squeeze in two hikes including the 13 mole long Miner’s ridge and James Irvine Loop while staying dry.

That loop is great because it takes you from the campground through old growth redwood forest to the beach and then along a canyon before coming back through the same old growth redwood forest. With all the rain we got this year, the forest is lush green and beautiful. And thanks to the protecting canopy of the redwoods, the path is in great condition with only very short muddy stretches.

Everybody had a great time admiring the amazing giant redwoods (some of whom are more than 2,000 year old) with their strangely shaped burl (pictured above) or looking at their feet at large patches of redwood sorrels (pictured below) and fern.

Truth is we did not get to enjoy the beach this time around because I took the wrong turn once we reached the dirt road. Two years ago, we enjoyed lunch and a nice walk along the beach but then, once we reached the level of Fern Canyon, we did not manage to find a dry path through some swamp to the parking lot and I ended up carrying Alicia through it. This time, once at the parking lot, we looked for a path to the beach and could not find one. That wrong turn ended up saving everybody a trek through the swamp so it might have been for the best ;-).

On the way back, Alicia and I stopped at one of the grove in Humboldt Redwoods State Park named the Grieg-French-Bell grove for an additional short hike. This place is gorgeous. Giant Redwoods, thick canopy and a lush carpet of green Redwood Sorrels. It does not stop amazing me that this place is mostly in its natural state because if I could have the perfect garden, it would look like this.

Made me wish I lived in Humboldt County because then, I would be running here all the time. In place, maybe I should start by running the official Avenue of the Giants marathon.

Last year, we visited the Redwood State Park of Prairie Creek to wander among the redwoods, tallest trees on Earth.

It is only natural to follow up this year by visiting Sequoia National Park to once more walk among the giant sequoias, largest trees on Earth.

Our campsite at the awesome Lodgepole campground was top notch. We had great weather throughout our stay and enjoyed long hikes in the shadow of the Sequoias and along the beautiful meadows.

Of course, we managed to get lost on our way to Alta Peak but it did not really matter since the scenery was very enjoyable.