Merced To Mammoth Lakes | The Big 2025 National Parks Tour, Part 1

It has been suggested I have a tendency to "go big" and be slightly impulsive when I get a hankering to do something 😂

That tendency was on full display in the Fall of 2025. Motivated by the purchase of my 2022 Kia Soul (the first car I'd owned in several years), the inescapable adventure bug compelled me to plan (well, not so much "plan" as "choose awesome destinations, pack all my gear, and run out the door") a sprawling road trip to twelve National Parks in California and the American Southwest.

As if that wasn't ambitious enough, I also wanted to hit my old stomping grounds in Boulder City, Nevada to revisit my first hike.

And at some point during my time in Utah, I wanted to see my brother in Salt Lake City.

This was the first draft of my itinerary:

I later scaled things back to "only" nine parks, which was still ridiculous – especially considering my other tendency to soak in my surroundings and spend as much time as I can exploring a new area.

Spoiler: I only ended up visiting four National Parks (but also several State Parks and two amazing National Monuments), because sometimes nature imposes its own will on you, turning your original intention into something more fluid and organic. And truthfully, I wouldn't have it any other way.

The next several posts here will be a retelling of that adventure, using a mixture of my photos, journal excerpts, original writing, and portions of emails I originally sent to friends and family from the road.

I didn't know it then, but this trip was the catalyst for what would become a major life change several months later...

Original Adventure Date: October 1, 2025

This is my eager and ridiculously excited face. In fact, I was SO EXCITED I could barely sleep past 3:30am.

The Soul was sleep-ready (ish), but I also had a full assortment of proper camping gear, since I wanted to be immersed in the great outdoors for a few weeks. My impromptu solution was to simply use my Nemo air pad as a mattress, find a sturdy cardboard box to pop up on the rear passenger legroom floor, and then my beloved marble board (the game is "Aggravation") that was handcrafted by my grandfather to serve as a holder for my pillow.

The end result was messy, but mostly comfortable after laying there for a few minutes! It remained to be seen how comfortable it will be overnight. Within the next few days, I would know! But this was a perfectly fine stopgap until I can build a proper wooden bed platform.

Before the epic National Park tour officially kicks off, I’m headed to visit my best adventure friend Kimber, who hasn’t stopped singing the praises of Mammoth Lakes. But before I get there, I had to somehow make it through Yosemite and Tioga Pass without stopping a thousand times… 

So, I’ve been to Yosemite a dozen times, and it’s technically not part of my National Parks tour (the goal was parks I've never been to), but it was nice to head in via the 120 and finally tag this entrance sign for the first time.

And I rolled right on through the gate, which had a big green "Open" sign, despite the booth being empty and the shades drawn. I didn’t find out until later that night, but it just so happens that Day 1 of my National Parks road trip also began on Day 1 of the 2025 government shutdown.

Whoops...

The vast majority of National Parks were still open during this shutdown, but with dramatically reduced services. Critical services like emergency response and law enforcement allegedly stayed active but wilderness and hiking permits likely wouldn't be issued, most visitor centers, campgrounds, and concessions would be closed, and bathrooms definitely weren't being maintained.

My plan was to check the status of each park the day before I get there and act accordingly.

The drive up, over, and down Tioga Road in Yosemite? Well, it was spectacular as it always is. I “only” stopped about 11 times, because this is what it looks like around every turn:

I also got the slightest taste of the fall colors to come, with the occasional red leaf of a Dogwood or pale orange of an Aspen adding a pop of color to an already stunning landscape:

Unfortunately, there was a casualty in this first day: my glasses.

After splashing around near Cathedral Creek, I decided to take off my hoodie. I set my glasses down on the roof of my car so they wouldn’t fly off when removing said hoodie. You know how this is going to end, don’t you?

Yep, I pulled out of the turnout and drove off. After about half a mile, I heard this faint sliding sound on the roof, and after an eternal few seconds, I remembered I'd left my glasses there. In a panic, I turned around and drove back. In what has to be some kind of miracle, I saw them lying there in the middle of the lane, NOT CRUSHED by any of the 6 or 7 seven cars I know had driven that way.

They got very scratched up, and the progressive lenses are now useless for anything but reading.

The rest of the drive was gorgeous, though, and thankfully uneventful aside from the ceaseless beauty. I stopped for a snack at the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River and grabbed this photo:

By mid-afternoon I was heading down Tioga Pass towards Mono Lake, and then over to Mammoth Lakes.

That’s about it for today! The adventure is just beginning and I’m grateful you’re here to share it with me.

Until next time: take care, and take care of each other.