My husband and I got bit by a camping bug this fall so that we could weave some memories with our children in the wilderness. The chosen place was ‘Yosemite.’ We had been to Yosemite before and done some popular hikes, but camping was the focus for this fall visit to Yosemite.
With little experience in camping, we were not prepared to go all out in extreme wilderness. We wanted the camping experience to be just right so as to not scare the kids and at the same time expose them to the concept of camping. After all, we want them to take several more trips in future without making much fuss.
Having clarity on our expectations from the trip, we chose our destination as ‘Evergreen Lodge’ in Yosemite. The second week of October, we drove from Phoenix to Yosemite, with an overnight stop at Kingsman, AZ.
Our tent was large and clean, equipped with camping essentials- sleeping bags, towels and a lantern. Glad we requested for some extra blankets as the nights got cold though not uncomfortable.
Close to the tents were some hammocks tied between the trees. The sight of people reading a book on the hammocks was rejuvenating
My pet peeve in the entire trip were the shared showers. Their location though was near the tents, but I found the walk from the tent to the toilet/showers painful, and they were not particularly clean.
I was relieved to know that the Yosemite bears had not paid a surprise visit to the lodge yet. The very reason lodge did not allow us to cook outside to keep the wildlife at bay. To make up for it, they had a restaurant on their premises, which we went couple times to enjoy our dinner in Pajamas.
Outside, we ate once at Buck Meadows, which was a family friendly place. The food was fine and hot.
The favorite part for our children in the lodge were the nightly unlimited smores! The children waited to return from our daily hikes and dinner, to the beautifully lit patio and make their own smores.
Kids play areas blended well with the natural beauty. There were rope bridges, climbing structures that we paid visit to everyday.
This lodge is close to the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which I found scenic but did not make it to my must visit list.
Few hikes that we did in this trip included the Merced Grove to view the Giant Sequoias.
On the whole, this trip was pleasant and was a fine introduction to camping for our children. On our way back, we spent the night at Las Vegas and got to see the Sin City through the eyes of children. Instead of usual casinos, we spent couple hours on the street at Hershey’s and M&M. Sweet, just like our camping! Isn’t it?
Camping in Fall: Yosemite
