Fall in Yosemite Valley
We recently spent a couple of November days in Yosemite National Park. It was crisp and colorful and everything that we could have wished for in an outdoor fall adventure.
We drove into the park on a Friday morning with the intention of having a chill camping trip to enjoy the outdoors. We planned on camping at Camp 4, a first come first serve campsite right inside the valley. The campsite was full when we got there, along with all the other campsites in the valley, so we rented the last available canvas tent at Curry Village. This actually turned out for the best! Curry Village is further into the valley so it made everything more accessible for what we wanted to do.
Curry Village has over 400 canvas tents, some with heat and some without. Our tent was not heated but had one full-sized bed with sheets and 3 blankets. Since we had intended on camping, we had extra blankets for the 30-degree night that kept us warm. The front desk also had extra wool blankets available if we needed them. We were close to the central bathhouse with restrooms and heated showers which was convenient!
Over in the Curry Village, you are nestled below Half Dome and Glacier Point so the views are beautiful. There is a gift shop, grocery, and a small variety of food right there. We definitely recommend getting the Half Dome pizza at The Deck. We happily shared this in the guest lounge, a common room building filled with a variety of seating and games, warmed by a central fireplace. The Seven Tents Pavilion provided a decent breakfast with yummy pastries and Peets Coffee on the second morning of our trip. It is also worth noting that the gift shop in Curry Village is our favorite in the park!
We have been to Yosemite before so, again, this was just meant to be a chill trip without any big hikes or intentions to traverse the entire park. With that in mind, we rented some bikes beforehand to bring with us! There are bike rentals in the park, but during this time of year, they are not available. Not to be dramatic, but this may have been the best idea we have ever had! We covered so much more ground in the valley than we would have if we were walking or trying to drive around and hop out places. It also just added to the vibes. We got to enjoy the crisp air while riding through the yellow tree-lined trails.
We have only ever been to Yosemite in the summer, this was our first fall trip. And we never hear anyone talking about going in the fall…why? It was so incredible during this time of the year! We far prefer it to going in the summer! The leaves are gorgeous and we were able to enjoy it so much more than in the scorching summer. Really take any opportunity you can to go, but we 10/10 recommend Yosemite in the fall, especially if you don’t care to traverse the whole park (there might be snow at higher elevations resulting in closed roads).
There is a multitude of things to see in the valley. Bask under the greatness of El Capitan, take a short hike on the Lower Yosemite Falls trail, visit the visitor center, browse the bookstore, walk through the Ansel Adams Gallery, and see the Yosemite Museum. The list goes on. While biking around we kept happening upon things to see and stopping to enjoy the views.
On our way out, we decided to take the southern exit, which meant seeing Wawona. We explored the Wawona History Center is a collection of historic buildings beside the Wawona Hotel. This was a nice way to end our lovely fall trip to Yosemite.
If you visit in the fall, please tell us what you think! And if you’re interested in more short-form California road trip content, follow us on our social media, linked here:
Cheers!