Last summer I went to Yosemite National Park. We stayed near Yosemite where we camped outside of the park.

When we first arrived at the campsite, the weather was warm and sunny but the sun was about to go down. My cousins and their families camped outside, but my grandparents had a small cozy cabin. Later that night when I needed to go to bed I had trouble falling asleep because of the path that went into the woods by our tents, and a group near us stayed up to what seemed like all night. At the camp site some nights we would make smores and tell scary stories.

In Yosemite we spent most of our time hiking around the park. One day my cousins and I walked up to almost the top of Yosemite Falls. There were small pools of water at the end of a three mile hike, and the water that fed into the pond formed a small stream with quick waters. The other side of the pool was completely made of a rock that gradually slid into the water that some people were sliding on into the water. My cousins and I swam across the bone chilling water, but went down the stream, which no one else was doing. Once we had gone down the stream we figured out the mistake we had made. At the bottom of the stream, the water hid a rock that was just underneath the water. When we looked at the aftermath of the slides and compared experiences for the two others in our group that went down and pole vaulted out of the water and back in onto a rock; one had a scrape down his ribs and the other appeared unharmed, and I had a few scrapes on my legs. We then hiked up to another pool that was smaller but had huge boulders between it and the path. To get to the path we had to climb over the large rocks. From the top we jumped off the rocks near the deep areas and swam in it for a while which was thrilling because the water was extremely cold. We also went to see Half Dome and a few other sites such as a Church by a beautiful, peaceful meadow, a few other lakes and waterfalls, and a lookout where the most of the valley was visible.

One day we started to walk around in a small wooded area behind Yosemite Lodge where we had just eaten brunch. We were waiting for everyone to come outside for a picture, and my mom went for a walk in the woods. She quickly ran back and said that she had seen a bear in the woods. After hearing the news, most of us ran out to see it and take pictures. My uncle ran ahead and first found the bear. He pulled out his camera and started taking pictures. As we followed it more, my uncle and his son started to move closer to the bear. As they approached the giant bear the urging from my mom to get away became more frantic. When they did get farther away, the bear went through the woods and disappeared.

All and all, I had a wonderful time at Yosemite with my family. It was an amazing experience to be with my family, to hike, to see the beauty, and follow a bear through the woods.