MIGHTY YOSEMITE

California's Yosemite National Park is an incredible natural spectacle. Accommodation is costly, so an RV is a great way to see the landscape - John Sootheran explains how to plan your trip

There’s the Great Outdoors, and then there’s the mighty Yosemite National Park – a truly breathtaking, neck-craning collection of granite cliffs and peaks, surrounding a valley with the Merced River meandering through.

Legendary American landscape photographer Ansel Adams is revered for his black and white photographs of this ‘other worldly’ destination, and it’s his pictures that have made me long to visit Yosemite for, oh, about 40 years.

Yosemite became a National Park in 1864, and it covers almost 1200 square miles of dramatic High Sierra terrain. From mountain to meadow, waterfall to wilderness, this region really does have it all, making it perfect for the hardcore hiker or climber, photographers, nature lovers and, yes, your bog-standard tourist.

The National Park covers a large area, but it’s centred on the relatively compact Yosemite Valley, and there’s no better way to immerse yourself in this astonishing part of the world than by visiting in a motorhome.

Driving into Yosemite

There are three routes into this American Shangri-La. We first drove in from the west, taking Highway 140 past Mariposa (with its restaurants and supermarket) and Midpines (there’s a tiny roadside all-American store and petrol station here, the last before you enter the valley).

This road follows the Merced River as it frolics past giant boulders and rolls over rapids. From time to time, you’ll spot inflatable rafts braving those tumultuous currents.

As you’re funnelled into the valley, the rock faces on each side grow higher and ever more precipitous. The drama builds beautifully!