Rahul and I always wanted to go to Yosemite. The nature, the great sequoias, the pristine water, and everything else that Yosemite has to offer were perfect reasons for us to plan a trip to this amazing park. Also, we took advantage of the long weekend in July this year and planned everything from Wednesday 4th till Saturday 7th.

Although we did a 4-day road trip to Yosemite, we still consider it a 3-day plan. Why? Well, (spoiler alert!) the last day we just got up and drove back home. That is why you can do everything we did in 3 days! And believe us, it is worth it.

Since we are going to explain everything in detail, we decided to divide this post into 4 parts. First, this post, where we will explain our packing list, the accommodation we got, and our final itinerary. So let’s dig in

Packing Checklist

Here are all the basics that we took to Yosemite:

• Sunblock, facial and body.
• Sturdy boots for hiking
• Hydration daypack or Backpack
• Binoculars
• Sunhats
• Sunglasses
• Bug spray
• Light jacket (It gets a bit cold in the night)
• Clif bars (To snack when we got hungry)
• GoPro Hero 5
• Camera (In our case we trusted our cell phones)

Accommodation

Let me be honest, I don’t like camping. Rahul, on the other hand, loves it. So one of us had to compromise, thank god it was Rahul who did! (I love him so much!). Besides, we love staying at bed and breakfast and we were able to book the one that we wanted to stay at The Blackberry Inn.

One big benefit of this bed and breakfast is that is just a 20-minutes drive away from the Big Oak Flat entrance, which made it perfect for us. Also, the breakfasts were amazing every single day; we had fresh fruits, orange juice, brewed coffee, and, hot and filling entrees; perfect to start a busy day.

Just to let you know, our room was the “Bramble Rose” which is located in the main building of the B&B (the Blackberry Inn has 2 buildings where you can choose from). Additionally, there are hummingbirds feeders! This was amazing because we never were able to see so many hummingbirds so close. Truly this is the best accommodation in Groveland.

Itinerary

Because we were first-timers at Yosemite and had only 3 days and a half, we decided to take it easy. Our original plan was very different, however, we cannot complain of how this road trip ended up. Also, if you want more in detail information about each day, click on each one of them because we made a post for every day (except the last one which you will find it on the third day).

Day 1 – July 4th (link here)
Leave San Francisco Bay Area at 10.30 am max
Make a stop for breakfast/lunch
Reach Yosemite National Park 2pm max
Tuolumne Grove Hike
Check in at Bed & Breakfast 5pm max
Dinner at Groveland

Day 2 – July 5th (link here)
Washburn Point
Glacier Point
Sentinel Dome Hike
Bridalveil Fall
Yosemite Valley
Dinner at Rush Creek Lodge

Day 3 – July 6th (link here)
Tenaya Lake
Tuolumne Meadows
Soda Springs
Dinner at Rush Creek Lodge

Day 4 – July 7th
Check out at 10 am max
Buy fresh fruits from farms
Stop at Livermore Outlet (we wanted to get some deals)
Drive back to San Francisco Bay Area