leroyjenkens said:
I'm going to Yosemite two weeks from now and I wanted to know if anyone here has been. I was going to be staying in Stockton and driving there in the morning. I can only stay for one day, so I want to do as much as possible in that day. There's a few sites that I wanted to visit and was thinking about doing it on my own instead of with a tour. Is it feasible to drive to each site on my own, or are there certain places cars can't go and I'd have to get out and hike? I'm kinda worried about getting killed by a bear.
I used to go to Yosemite almost every summer as a kid, although now it's been about 20 years since I've been. Back in those days, the 70's, we didn't go on organized "tours" per se. I think I remember that the organized tour back then was the Rangers station and a 4 color map they handed you ( or maybe it was even black and white). My dad was what you might call today a survivalist stoner hippie, and was always wanted to go somewhere "off trail".
In your case, though, I would definitely recommend hooking up with an organized tour. There are several reasons for this...First of all, you're on vacation, you want to relax and enjoy yourself, not stress out about having to figure out what you are going to do or whether it's going to be safe or not. In short, figuring out what to do takes time, time out from your vacation. And if it's your first time there, it's going to take a lot of time, and you're going to make mistakes, which are going to drain even more time. And if you're only there for one day, foggettaboutit. This is one thing that an organized tour will alleviate.
Second, being on a tour is a great way to meet people, and co-share in fun adventure.
So, with any trip to a novel locale, I typically recommend a guided tour. You can go Maverick the next time you visit. Plus, you can always just ditch the group if you're feeling brave halfway through, etc.
