OK, I know … not in Europe. But one of the great travel sights in the world and in the US and hey, what the heck, there is that Beyond Europe page on this forum.
So, Yosemite in 2025. The waterfalls are as great as ever. The lollipop-loop hike from the valley, up the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls and on up to Clark Point is as great as ever, but it is harder than it was six years ago when we were on the other side of 70. Still, we managed a 5-mile hike with a 1600 foot elevation gain and got back to the valley floor in time to hang out pool-side at the lodge. Fortunately our three mid-week nights in Yosemite followed the holiday weekend, so the crowds were manageable; certainly lighter than they will be from mid-June when school lets out through Labor Day weekend.
Bike riding all over the valley floor was great yesterday. 20 miles on paved trails and roads. We took in Yosemite Falls, the meadows, the Merced River, Mirror Lake, the Ansel Adams Gallery, the Happy Isles Nature Center, Bridalveil Falls and we took another dip in the pool at the Lodge.
What we learned when we arranged and then took the stargazing tour last night was informative. Due to the purge of National Park Service (NPS) employees, very nearly all ranger led forums, walks and activities are now cancelled. Fortunately, Yosemite is blessed with a long-standing private association, the Yosemite Conservancy (https://yosemite.org), that provides activities - for almost modest fees. In past years, I always expected these programs from the NPS. As ever, trail maintenance is largely performed by the Yosemite Conservancy.
Our Conservancy stargazing tour guide is married to a woman who has worked as a park ranger for 30+ years. She works in the high country. Instead of 12 rangers who used to work under her, she now leads a group of just three other rangers. That perhaps explains why the private vendor, Aramark, has closed its five high country camps for this year. https://www.travelyosemite.com/lodging/high-sierra-camps#:~:text=The%20High%20Sierra%20Camps%20in,not%20be%20operated%20this%20summer. Whether any of those nine missing ranger positions will be refilled this summer is unknown. I am concerned about the shortage of rangers this summer in Yosemite and other national parks, in terms of safety and rescue, park maintenance and sanitation.
Thank goodness this one gem of a park has the Yosemite Conservancy. I don’t know that the National Parks Conservancy Association or the Mt. Rainier National Park Associates or the Washington [state] National Parks Fund provide the same level of support up in the “upper left hand corner” where I live, but all these resources merit consideration.
BTW, in Yosemite we met a family from Australia seeing what they called the great sights in the US (NYC, LA, Yosemite and SF), an English rock climber who now lives in Canada, a Malaysian family who joined us star-gazing and Filipino immigrants who now live on Long Island in NY state. Of course there were Californians, Nevadans, Kentuckians, Texans, Alabamans and Floridians, too.