Family Van Life: Rock Climbing in Yosemite With Young Kids

Yosemite National Park is an excellent place to begin outdoor rock climbing with young kids, we started at Tuolumne Meadows.

Rock Climbing with Young Kids

Our kids and pets loved family rock climbing in Yosemite. Tuolumne’s granite formations are more sturdy than the breccia formations at Pinnacles National Park, for example. So if safety is a priority, and you like some shorter, easier climbs, Tuolumne Meadows is a good choice.

Camping in Yosemite

The Yosemite Rangers are so fantastic they will lead you to a great dispersed camping, aka, boondocking spot if the campgrounds are full. Campgrounds being full is an absolutely certainty without competitive months-in-advance registration. Evergreen Road is a welcoming, safe stretch of road right outside the gate, great boondocking there. Coordinates for Evergreen Road are (37.8144, -119.8711). Here is a fantastic map of dispersed camping outside Yosemite’s gates in the Stanislaus National Forest.

Camping is always an adventure in itself at Yosemite. The second day we got a first-come-first-serve camp site at Crane Flat Campground (I think because we arrived by 930 am). Filled with towering trees and happy campers, it was a peaceful way to end the quick Yosemite rock climb trip.

Indian Rock Arch Trail

We also loved hiking to Indian Rock Arch. It is the only named natural granite arch formation in Yosemite. The decent uphill trek is well worth the end view. Not only is the arch stunning, but you get a pretty great site of grand Half Dome from here. It is evident the rock fairies are here in full force.

Our take away: Yosemite is just simply magical. It’s a great place to camp, rock climb, and hike with young kids. Come often.