With some of the most majestic granite cliffs and highest waterfalls than anywhere else on earth, the vast and varied domain of Yosemite National Park’s giant sequoias, alpine meadows and lakes, peaks soaring above 13,000 feet, sparkling streams, and glacial remnants, has been leaving visitors awestruck and spellbound for centuries.
Yosemite’s 1,200 square miles is a shrine to the sheer strength of granite and glaciers in California’s High Sierra, where you’ll discover deep lush valleys, green meadows, giant ancient sequoias, and thick forests teeming with wildlife.
Yosemite National Park is a 3 hour drive from San Francisco, making it an easy overnight trip, and a welcome break from the crowded city.
ITINERARY
Tunnel View Outlook
Yosemite Valley
Bridalveil Falls
Yosemite Falls
Yosemite Valley Village
Half Dome
El Capitan
There are plenty of accommodations within Yosemite Valley, so plan ahead and do not stay outside of this massive national park, but instead stay within the 7 square mile heart of the park that contains many of the most famous sights.
Check-in to your hotel, grab take-out at your lodging, and head straight for Tunnel View Overlook along Highway 41 to witness it’s iconic vista made famous by Ansel Adams.
Take a seat along the rock wall and unpack your picnic lunch as you enjoy the most popular outlook in all of Yosemite, a panoramic view of the majestic Yosemite Valley, complete with bird’s eye views of the park’s most famous sights, including Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls on the right and El Capitan on the left.
This is a great place to shoot aerial photos of these sights, such as Bridalveil Falls.
Tunnel View is a fantastic introduction to Yosemite’s incredible landscape with the valley layout in front of you, and impossible to imagine what this place looked like 500 million years ago when this land was flat and under a sea before the tectonic plates changed the surface area of the western half of North America.
After lunch, drive down into the valley, and stop at Bridalveil Falls, where the wind blowing mist off the waterfall represents a wispy white bridal veil.
There’s a parking lot at the bottom of the waterfall with an entrance to a family-friendly hike to the fall via a paved half mile walkway.
The misty hike through the woods to the sound of water thundering over a 620 foot cliff is one of the most enjoyable experiences in Yosemite.
After a visit to Bridalveil Falls, drive just a few minutes to Yosemite’s crown jewel, the grand meadow-carpeted Yosemite Valley, with uninterrupted views of Yosemite Falls, the 5th tallest waterfall in the world, and the tallest in North America that roars over a 2,425 foot cliff.
From the valley you can see one of the country’s most photographed landmarks, 87 million year old Half Dome, rising 4,800 feet from the valley floor with a 93% vertical grade, making it the sheerest cliff in North America, and the face of Yosemite National Park.
Many of the park’s best views can be seen from your vehicle or paved walkways, which is helpful for anyone with limited mobility, including our family who travels with a disabled child born with a rare genetic condition called Fragile X Syndrome.
Drive back to Yosemite Valley Lodge, an ideal choice due to its close proximity to one of the best hikes in the park, Yosemite Falls, with its glass and wood architecture working in unity with the natural surroundings and floor to ceiling windows that provide remarkable views.
The sequoia trees in front of the lodge’s lobby are gigantic.
Behind the lodge is the entrance to hike to Lower Yosemite Falls on the easy 1.1-mile round trip trail. It’s paved to the falls, but my son wanted to take the more adventurous path next to the paved trail, and soak his sneakers in the process.
We visited during the spring, which is the best time to see the waterfalls as snowmelt causes the water to rage over the cliffs.
Yosemite Falls is one of the world’s tallest waterfalls, and is made up of 3 separate falls: Upper Yosemite Fall (1,430 feet), the middle cascades (675 feet), and Lower Yosemite Fall (320 feet).
As you approach the falls Upper and Middle Yosemite Falls comes into view.
The trail later passes Lower Yosemite Falls.
For the rock climbers at heart, there are endless opportunities to practice scaling large granite walls.
It’s hard to have an appreciation for their size until you climb inside one.
After the mile long hike head back to the lodge with its outstanding views to unwind after a long day.
For dinner grab a table in the Mountain Room Restaurant within the lodge that has astounding views of the nearly 2,500 foot high waterfall you hiked to this afternoon.
The menu offers perfectly cooked steaks, sustainably caught seafood, and delicious vegetarian options.
A warm, creamy, hearty corn chowder was just what we needed after a long day of driving and hiking.
It paired well with fresh Caesar salads, and everyone was refueled.
The forest views from the deck at our room was a perfect ending to this adventurous day.
Rise and shine, and head to breakfast early to catch a glimpse of wildlife that is most active shortly after sunrise.
The self-service kiosks are not only super convenient, but a kid favorite as well.
Thankfully, the breakfast options are quick and filling.
We gobbled up the generous portions and headed out.
After picking up coffee at the on-site Starbucks and one last view of Yosemite Falls from the lodge, we departed for wildlife viewing.
A few minutes after we left the lodge, we spotted a fox as we drove through the valley.
After watching the fox for a few minutes before he ran off further into the woods, we passed the earth’s largest single piece of granite towering over 3,500 feet above the valley floor, making El Capitan the mecca for rock climbers worldwide.
The Miwok people named it “The Chief”, which loosely translated into El Capitan by the Spanish. For a nail biting thriller, I highly suggest watching Alex Honnald become the first in the world to climb it without any ropes in “Free Solo“.
Our last views of Yosemite were of Half Dome, the 8,800 foot towering granite icon of Yosemite National Park, which has more domes than any other place on the planet. The domes were formed ~65 million years ago when molten rock solidified into granite beneath the Earth and was pushed up under pressure to the surface.
Half Dome was never whole, though millions of years ago it was about 20% larger than it is today before erosion from glaciers carrying away some of the cliff face ran its course.
There are benefits to visiting Yosemite in different seasons, as spring is best for raging waterfalls that become a trickle by summer, yet the magnificent high altitude Glacier Point and Tioga Roads are only accessible in summer, meaning you must return to experience Yosemite in all its glory. Go.
