The guide can make or break the tour, our guide was awful. We asked to see the giant sequoia trees in Mariposa Grove. We were told there aren't any large sequoias remaining. We asked to stop at the gift shop, he drove right past it. Instead of doing what we wanted, we saw the same climbing rock three times, from three different angles. We heard tons of stories about Alex the climber, all stories from the movie Free Solo. Half hour into the tour, we were sick of listening to the monologue and BS stories about conversations the indian tribes had in the 1800s. It is obvious that our guide was giving us a book report rather than a tour. We also learned where our guide got married, how fun his reception was (37 years ago), his in-laws quirks, his dogs haircut schedule (and photos of his dog), his sons little league career, his current height & weight, his rock climbing adventures, his political views, his dislike for the Sierra Club, his dislike for San Francisco, his retirement plans, the day his foundation will be poured for his new house and of course his burial wishes. I have never in my life had a stranger share their burial wishes with me, this man is odd. Eight hours of listening to him talk about himself and his indian pals from the 1800s. He never once even asked us our names or anything about us. The photo with this review is the 3rd time we saw the same rock, fifteen minutes of staring at it, he found another family that would listen to his stories. We politely let him know we were ready to move on but he continued to chat with the family who WASNT on the tour. I had two teenagers with me and they were bored out of their minds, they missed the beauty of Yosemite because they spent the entire time on their phones complaining about the tour guide & asking when it was over.
The tour could have been amazing, Yosemite is a beautiful park. The guide made it miserable and incredibly irritating. Sadly, I wouldn't recommend this tour unless the company does a better job of matching families with guides or at least hires guides who know how to do a tour. Richard the tour guide needs to check his ego before punching the time clock. Sad that we missed out on what should have been a fun day of seeing natures beauty. We feel ripped off and I guarantee we aren't the only ones, Richard complained about a family he took on tour, that family questioned his BS stories and alternative facts. I say alternative facts because the informational signs posted by the parks service, we were told they are not true. We were given alternative facts and told that Richards facts were true.
I don't advise booking this tour without first calling the company and asking about the guides. Do not ask for Richard unless you want an 8 hour monologue of bull.