Glamping at its finest, in Camp Four

Victor and I had Thanksgiving in Yosemite Valley this year and shared the weekend with several friends. The whole endeavor was a crazy adventure and we even got some climbing in along the way. To collect decorations for our campsite, the indefatigable Victor (aka drc) drove me around to every secondhand/goodwill store on the Peninsula to collect candle holders, picnic supplies, and luxury camping gear. Packing the car was a feat in itself, but with some bungees to secure a pack to the roof of the Subaru, we were off around 7:30AM on Thanksgiving Day.

We arrived to find out all the reservation-only sites in Upper Pines were still that...reservation-only. Fortunately, site 18 at the back of Camp Four was free and we went to work.


I learned a great new trick for longer camping trips: tying the paper towels under the picnic table. Keeps them dry and they're always there when you need them.

I heated our precooked turkey up over our fire. This is something I won't sign up for again anytime soon. Basting the sucker over an open flame for two hours or so was...well, smokey! It was well worth it though, when we had our feast: turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce.


The next day we climbed at New Diversions Cliff.


It was a gorgeous day!


On Saturday, we climbed a bit at Five and Dime and then finished the day on old favorites at Bishop's Terrace.

We packed up with help from our friends on Sunday morning and climbed "Little John Right" at El Cap Base on our way out of the park.


I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!