The day after Christmas, we set off early for a trip to Yosemite National Park in California.  We had hoped to spend the week snowshoeing around the iconic peaks, taking in the land that John Muir and Ansel Adams loved so much.  Instead, we spent days hiking in short sleeves as the unseasonable warmth kept the daytime temperatures in the 60s.

Our first adventure in Yosemite took us into the backcountry on a beautiful hike to Dewey Point for the night's campsite.  Our hike began at the viewpoint made famous by Ansel Adams, Tunnel View.  The warm temperatures and holiday week meant the parking lots and best viewpoints were filled with tourists flocking out of buses, vans, and cars.  The upside of the crowd was there were plenty of people around to take our photo before we started our climb.

After leaving Tunnel View, we climbed past Inspiration Point where the views were beautiful but blocked by decaying trees.

Along the trail were piles of huge Sugar Pine pine cones, as big as a football!

Our next stop was to take in the views from Stanford Point.  Here you could see the entire west face of El Capitan, the tip of Half Dome in the distance, and Bridalveil Falls hidden in the shadows.

Just up the trail from Stanford Point is Crocker Point, a higher view of the valley below.

The light was beginning to change as the sun dropped in the sky and we knew we needed to make our way to Dewey Point to find our campsite for the night.  Thankfully a trail marker alerted us that it was just about half a mile ahead.

We had heard that Dewey Point offered the best campsite in Yosemite.  We knew that it was a small point which jutted out over the valley below offering incredible views of El Capitan, but we were still surprised as we approached and caught our first glimpse through the trees.

The first thing on our to-do list once we go to our campsite was to set up the tripod and take a selfie. A friend had given us some fun new shirts and we were excited to show them off to her.

We set up camp, collected wood for a fire, and got ready to watch what we hoped would be a beautiful sunset.  And it certainly was!

After sunset, we were treated to a star-filled sky.  The campfire kept us warm from the winter chill as we took in the incredible views.

Sunrise was equally as incredible, following the same color palette as the previous night's sunset.

Following the beautiful sunrise, we packed up camp and set out for our hike to the valley below.

We arrived in the valley below just in time to get lunch and check out the Ansel Adams museum.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend our time!