Packing for Adventure

Fast forward from the moment I first learned about the existence of Half Dome in late 2018 to actually embarking on the journey in September 2023. In a later post, I’ll dive into how I secured the permits and how I trained for the hike itself, but this part of the story starts with the road trip.

Taking a trip to a National Park isn’t as simple for us as hopping in the car and driving a few hours. When we travel, we like to make it count. That usually means packing in multiple parks, covering as much ground as possible, and seeing every corner we reasonably can.

A happy accident shaped this particular itinerary. Back in 2020, we had planned a trip to Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks, but all of our Yosemite campsite reservations were canceled due to Covid. At the time, that trip didn’t include the Half Dome. I still believed it was far beyond my capabilities, and we also had a six-month-old baby who would have been coming along. Half Dome simply wasn’t on the table.

By the time 2023 rolled around and I actually had Half Dome permits in hand, much of our original 2020 research suddenly became useful again. The bones of the trip were already there, we just needed to build around them.

And of course, we couldn’t resist adding one more park. Why not make it four?

We originally planned to kick things off at Death Valley National Park. Everything was booked, planned, and ready to go, until a few weeks before our departure, when our campsite reservations were abruptly canceled. Not because of Covid this time, but because Death Valley was experiencing severe flooding from Hurricane Hillary. I was just as shocked to hear it as you probably are reading this. A couple of inches of rain may not sound like much, but in that climate, apparently it’s enough to cause absolute havoc.

Determined not to lose the opportunity to add a fourth National Park, we rerouted and started our trip at Joshua Tree National Park instead. I had driven past Joshua Tree years earlier on a different road trip, and it had never really been high on my list. But we were pleasantly surprised to find out just how lovely the park is! What started as a backup plan turned into a highlight.

Joshua Tree wasn’t the main event of our trip, but it turned out to be a solid and worthwhile starting point. It offered a unique landscape, some great photo ops, and a chance to ease into road-trip mode before the bigger parks ahead. In the next post, I’ll share what we did in Joshua Tree and why it’s well worth a stop if you find yourself in the area.

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