Salut Madeleine is back! After months of preparing blog posts, I’ve finally decided to start sharing them with you. I hope you enjoy!

With vacation options being limited right now, national parks are some of the few safe and accessible destinations for Americans. Luckily, they are home to some of the country’s most beautiful sites, making for the perfect vacation any time. In fact, my family and I travelled to Yosemite National Park in California last year, where we partook in a 5-night Backroads Biking and Hiking Trip. This trip is specifically for families with children in their older teens and 20s, perfect for us. I would highly recommend taking this trip with Backroads! Every detail was taken care of, and we had an amazing time and got to see a national park that was largely a mystery to us beforehand. Here are some of the highlights from our hikes and other excursions:

Day One

Visit Mariposa Grove to see Yosemite’s largest grove of giant sequoia trees. With over 500 giant sequoias, some (like the Grizzy Giant) over 3,000 years old, this part of Yosemite is not to be missed. We took the Grizzly Giant Loop Trail, which is 2.0 miles long, perfect for our first day.

Day Two

Hike to Taft Point, then up to Sentinel Dome for some beautiful panoramic views. You’ll get a great view of the famous Half Dome. On your hike down, stop at Glacier Point for another beautiful view.

While driving through a beautiful meadow in Yosemite, we passed directly by El Capitan and even saw someone climbing it!

Day Three

Hike through Toulomne Meadows up to Lembert Dome for some more amazing views. Though it was storming, we greatly enjoyed it.

Day Four

We also got the chance to try our hand at some rock climbing, a fun change of pace.

Day Five

Take a casual hike around the Hatch Hetchy Resevoir. We hiked to Wapama Falls, which was a 5 mile hike round-trip.

That concludes our trip to Yosemite National Park, which we paired with a visit to San Francisco (just four hours away)! Visiting a National Park is one of the few ways to take a vacation now, so I’d highly recommend looking into the parks near you! Stay tuned for a post on Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, which we just visited! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe below and check out related posts: