Living in up in Yosemite!
June 16, 2026
Hey Moondance Families!
We are reporting live from gorgeous Yosemite. We have spent the last four days taking in the beautiful scenes of Yosemite and soaking up everything California has to offer. We are so stoked to dive into our backpacking section but before we do, let’s reminisce on our first days of exploration and adventure.
Airport day was truly a breeze. Everyone arrived safely and soundly. Augie, Will, and Sofie wasted no time dialing in our hacky sack skills in terminal A as we patiently waited for the rest of our crew to file in. Once we gathered the group and Brennan, Michael, and Will cleared our airport charcuterie platter we made our way towards Oh Ridge for some classic first night pizza. We played many more rounds of hacky sack and munched on pizzas. Shortly into the trip we discovered that there in fact is an up and coming celebrity in our group. Thomas from @thomas_reviews7 did his first live food review for the group rating our first meal as a group a 7/10. We all gathered for Moonup under the clearest sky that many of us had ever seen, watched some shooting stars, and rested up for our first day of activities.
Our group woke up bright and early with the sun, ready to get active for our first day of climbing. Cook crew 1 set the cooking bar high with special props to Theo’s expertise in bacon making skills. Annabel and Augie brought the energy as our first LODs (leaders of the day) and set the tone for a great day of climbing. We made our way into the park and met up with our guides. The vibes at the crag we IMMACULATE. No “choss” climbing here as Mac would say. The whole group brought the stoke for some rather tricky slab climbing on granite- a Yosemite special. The group all gained new climbing techniques and also practiced their belaying skills. Big shouts to Lauren for beasting all four of the routes with ease. To celebrate a hard day’s work we headed into the charming town and cooled down with some ice cream. And just when we thought the day couldn’t get anymore epic, we made our way over to the lake to enjoy views of snowcapped mountains as we took a dip in the lake. On the shore of the beach we played spike ball and sack where we discovered that Brooke can get rather competitive when it comes to beach games. We got back to camp for dinner which was an amazing stir fry made by Laney, Michael, and Brooke. Moonup was around a fire and had amazing vibes.
Day three was an incredible day from start to finish. After finishing an amazing breakfast cooked by Kate, Brennan, and Thomas, we head out for our second day of climbing. The objective of the day, crack climbing. One of our guides, led the first female ascent of El Capitan and is an absolute crusher. She provided us with all the techniques to take on the tricky terrain of the Guide cracks. Our first ascensionist was Kate who pointed out an amazing traversing line up the face of the rock then went on to send it twenty minutes later. Somehow the stoke was even higher today and the group was all in on the challenging routes. After hiking down from the crag to our cars, we checked out a nearby alpine lake known as Tenaya lake. From here the weather actually took a huge turn as rain and storms moved into the park. On our drive out we experienced snow and hail at higher elevations, with rain at the lower ones. This did not dampen our spirits. From there we enjoyed an incredible pasta dinner which Annabel and Mac led cooking.
Day four… Park Exploration! Our leaders of the day Laney and Thomas led off with some dancing after breakfast to get the blood flowing before we set off for Yosemite Valley. Every turn on the drive was more breathtaking than the last until we finally got our sights on El Capitan and Half dome! The sheer size of the rock faces was indescribable, we saw climbers look like tiny specks as they tried to climb it. We started with a small hike to lunch at Lower Yosemite falls where Owen led us to some hilarious interactions with other hikers and to our peak of the trail. After, we needed to get a proper look at El Capitan so we shuttled over and proceeded to have an all time hacky sack game on the meadows below it. We got some incredible pictures and views to go with it as well! We snacked up before our hike, Michael killed an entire pint of Ice cream then cruised up the trail to lead us to an incredible waterfall where we all got soaked. It was from here we descended and left the park to drive out to music and sunsets. Even though it was late we all had great energy for Moonup where we recapped our day and brought some psych to our Backpacking section!
We will check back in after the backcountry! See you soon!
Safe Arrival!
June 12, 2026
Hello Yosemite Families!
We heard from our leaders today that the group has landed safely in Sacramento! Please remember that our leaders and students will be unplugged during their trips, but we will post trip updates throughout the trip! This will allow you to follow along with their adventure. You can also follow us on Instagram, @moondanceadventures, to see more of what we are up to!
-Moondance HQ
