Last weekend, my Dad and my brother came out to CA to visit me and do some camping and hiking. We drove out to Yosemite on Saturday and checked out Yosemite Valley, Half Dome and El Capitan. We camped outside the park that first night. Next morning we moved camp to a spot in the park that had opened up then hiked 6 miles out to Ten Lakes. We ran into a bunch of the ski cabin people on the way out. I stupidly forgot to take any pictures of them but they were out there too.
On Monday we drove out of the park to Mammoth Lakes with a short detour to get a flat tire fixed. We camped by Twin Lakes and hiked down to Devil's Post Pile the next morning. That geological formation is pretty crazy. If you are camping in that area, I would be sure to check it out. We were too lazy in a rush to get back to SF so we took some buses back to the top.
To get home, we drove back a slightly longer way over Sonora Pass via CA-108 to avoid going back through Yosemite. It is so beautiful all through there and the Marine Corp has a Mountain Warfare training base there. Compared to Yosemite, it is absolutely empty over there. I'd love to do a camping trip at one of the campsites out there in the eastern Stanislaus National Forest. Dare I say some of its scenery rivals Yosemite?