09/16/2026
Fourteenth stop on our camper adventure: Yosemite National Park
June 20–25
Yosemite has been one of the places we’ve been looking forward to the most. It’s a very special place for us—we’ve visited four times before having kids and even backpacked here twice. This time, we were so excited to bring Mila and Mason and experience Yosemite together as a family. ❤️
And Yosemite wasted no time welcoming us!
We had only been at the campground for about four hours when we heard a huge bang outside. We looked up and saw a bear way up in a tree right in the campground! Needless to say, that was a pretty exciting first few hours.
Day 1 - June 21
We started our Yosemite adventure with the Mist Trail to Vernal Fall.
It was hard, wet, beautiful, and so much fun! The hike to the top of Vernal Fall is about 2.4 miles (3.9 km) round trip with around 1,000 feet of elevation gain. The final section takes you up more than 600 steep granite steps right alongside the waterfall!
And we definitely got wet! The trail gets its name from the huge amount of mist coming off Vernal Fall, especially when the waterfall is flowing strongly. One of the coolest parts was looking up and seeing rainbows forming right in the mist 🌈. It honestly felt magical.
The kids did great, although the climb definitely gave everyone a workout! The walk back down was a bit too busy for our liking, but it was still completely worth it.
Later, we grabbed our bikes and rode up to Yosemite Village. While we were there, Andreas booked a photography tour for the next day, so we were already excited about what Day 2 would bring.
Yosemite was off to an amazing start—and we had a feeling this was going to be one of the most special stops of our entire adventure.
