Yosemite
Just like pretty much every National Park, this place was breathtaking. I only got to spend 2 days within the park and will definitely be needing to take a trip back to see more of the park. The first day I dropped my friends off at the half dome trail at 5:30am and they set off on a crazy hike. I then made my way to the Yosemite Valley view point to take pictures of the sunrise with the Merced River and a view of Yosemite valley with El Capitan and Bridalveil falls. I loved watching the sunrise and taking photos; it’s my happy place. Afterwards I drove to Bridalveil falls and hiked a little closer to the falls. There was a good view of El Capitan here as well.
I then went back and parked at Curry Village and used the shuttle to get around. See shuttle info here. The shuttle is wheelchair accessible. I first stopped at lower Yosemite falls, stop 6 for the shuttle, skipping the Visitor Center and the Ansel Adams gallery but would definitely like to go back to see the gallery. At stop 6 I did the loop for Lower Yosemite Falls, a mile hike. The route is paved and wheelchair accessible. I took a little bit of a break after this hike to give my feet a rest, but then headed across the street to do Cook’s Meadow Loop, about another mile hike. I really enjoyed the views from the middle of the Meadow. You have a great view of Yosemite Falls and Half Dome. I also took some pictures at Sentinel Bridge. Anywhere you go in Yosemite will be beautiful, just wander and take in the beauty around you. In my opinion, anywhere along the Merced River makes for great photos, but I’m a sucker for water and reflections.
I then look the shuttle to El Capitan Meadow, stop 9, and had lunch there. It’s a great view of El Cap and it was fun trying to find the climbers scaling the wall. When I got back on the shuttle after spending a couple hours reading and eating near El Cap, there were a lot of people and many had to stand. I decided to be done with the shuttle and ended up taking a nap for a while ( I had only gotten two 1.5hr naps the night before). If I was to do this day over, I would have rented a bike and seen more of the park from the comfort of a bike at my own pace (also saving my feet) instead of depending on the shuttle. There are 12 miles of paved trails you can take on a bike, including part of the mirror lake trail and lots of miles along the river. There are several places you can rent bikes in the park, check out this page for more bike information for the park!
After my car nap, I hiked part of the John Muir trail to the Vernal Falls Footbridge to be able to meet my friends on their way back down from their grueling 18- mile hike. You can take the shuttle to stop 16 which drops you off very close toe the John Muir trail, and it’s about a mile to the vernal falls footbridge. It was a steep climb to the bridge. I can’t imagine doing that 5000ft of elevation gain that my friends did. If you have it in you to keep going another half a mile, you can make it to Vernal Falls, which I’m told is definitely worth it. I was really grateful my feet were not awful today, allowing me to do more hiking then I’ve done in years even if I wasn’t able to make it all the way to the falls.
The next day we went to Glacier Point and did more driving around. The road had been closed for a while due to construction and had opened up about 2 months before we got there. We were stoked to be able to travel down this road and see the beautiful viewpoints. Our first day was a beautiful sunny day, hot in the valley. The 2nd day was in the 50s and rainy. Driving to Glacier Point was very eerie (I loved it) with lots of fog rolling through. I love barely seeing the trees through the fog. We entered at the south entrance where the Mariposa Grove Welcome Plaza is. If we had had more time and if it wasn’t so crowded (Saturday of labor day weekend), we would have done the Big Trees Loop trailhead to see the giant sequoias. Park at the welcome plaza and take a shuttle to get to the hike. The hike is only a 0.3 mile accessible loop. The path is paved and some wooden planks. There are additional trails that can be explored in the area with varying degrees of difficulty.
On our way to Glacier Point we stopped at the Sentinel Dome hike. This is a 1.8 mile roundtrip hike that brings you to the top of Sentinel Dome with a supposedly great 360 degree view. However, we were in the fog and rain and could barely see anything. Oh well, still a fun hike! To make this a longer hike, you could add on a hike to Glacier Point instead of driving, making for about a 5 mile rountrip hike.
We kept driving and also stopped at Washburn Point right before Glacier Point. You get pretty much the same view at Glacier Point, but you can also see Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point. There was a long line of cars waiting to get into the Glacier Point parking lot so if you’re short on time, skip Washburn Point and go straight to Glacier Point to get even more views. Glacier Point has a Museum, Ampitheater, and Gift Shop. There is a shuttle that can take you from the Yosemite Valley Lodge to Glacier Point, allowing you to hike down to Yosemite Valley and not have to hike all the way back up to get your car. The shuttle wasn’t running in 2023 when we were there so always check the national park website to see what shuttles are running and what roads are open/closed.
To end our day we drove back into Yosemite Valley for one last look before we headed home. We stopped at Tunnel View for that iconic view of the Valley. We were even blessed with a rainbow. We exited the park through the central gate on El Portal Rd, making a full loop getting back to our Airbnb. We had decided to stay outside the park to save some money and to have a hot tub. We stayed here. This Airbnb was absolutely perfect for what we needed. It was very comfortable and had an amazing deck that we thoroughly enjoyed having our meals on and we enjoyed the hot tub and grill. It did take about 1 hr 20 min to get to Yosemite Valley from our Airbnb without entrance gate traffic. I think if I were to do it again, I’d spend the extra money to stay within the park to give us more time to enjoy the park itself. My next time I’d love to explore Tioga Road and the northern part of the park. Until next time Yosemite!
