5 best things to do in Yosemite National Park
America’s oldest protected nature reserve is famed for its soaring cliffs, waterfalls and giant trees. Here’s where to see its greatest hits.
America’s oldest protected nature reserve is famed for its soaring granite cliffs and giant trees. These are the sights you should not miss.
1 Glacier Point
Hands down the best view in Yosemite National Park, Glacier Point delivers a breathtaking geology lesson via 180-degree panoramas of dozens of distant snow-capped peaks. Yosemite Falls is to the left and Nevada and Vernal Falls are to the right, with the unmistakeable silhouette of the granite monolith – Half Dome – smack bang in the middle. Standing at the edge of the lookout, there’s a view to the lush Yosemite Valley 823m below, with the Merced River snaking through its meadows. While an 800m fenced and paved trail loops around the lookout providing plenty of spots to snap photos, the place to sit and ponder this wonder is the amphitheatre (also the perfect lunch venue). Active types should set out on either the Four Mile Trail, or the more strenuous Panorama Trail, to see waterfalls at closer range and towering cliffs, as they descend to the valley.
2 Yosemite waterfalls
There are countless waterfalls that plunge over the granite boulders of Yosemite’s Sierra Nevada range. Several, including the Yosemite Falls, the park’s highest and grandest, dropping 737m over three levels, can be seen from the easy Valley Loop Trail. Others require an uphill hike for the full experience, including mist and floating rainbows. Late spring and June are ideal to witness the full force of the peak snow melt, and while some are dry by late summer, Bridalveil Falls flows all year round. One of the most popular hikes is the Mist Trail as it delivers two waterfalls for the “price” of one. It gradually ascends to Vernal Falls (4.8km round trip) and higher to Nevada Falls (11km round trip). Visitors in mid-February are rewarded with the phenomena known as the “firefall” when, if lit by the sun’s rays from a particular direction, Horsetail Falls resembles a lava flow.
3 Mariposa Grove of the Giant Sequoias
This forest of 500 mature sequoias, the largest tree species on Earth, has easy to moderate walking trails winding past the towering redwoods, including the more notable identities such as the Fallen Monarch, which collapsed onto the forest floor more than 100 years ago. Sequoias can grow to 85m, live up to 3000 years and have a thick, insulating bark rich in tannins that protects them from disease and fire. The Big Trees Loop is the easiest walkway and provides interpretative signs, while the connecting 3.4km Grizzly Giant Loop Trail leads hikers to the oldest specimen in the park (the eponymous Grizzly Giant), estimated to be 2700 years old. The children’s favourite is the California Tunnel Tree, which has a trunk that was carved out in 1865 to allow stagecoaches to pass through.
4 El Capitan
While this massive monolith is not as recognisable as Half Dome, nor the highest peak in Yosemite, El Capitan’s fame is derived from its sheer granite faces, which rise 1100m above the valley floor. Many climbers have sought to conquer this rock since the first ascent in 1958. For scale, El Capitan is 2½ times higher than the Empire State Building and three times higher than the Eiffel Tower, making it the holy grail for what’s known as big-wall climbing. Renowned climber Alex Honnold scaled it “free solo” (without ropes) in 2017; his feat was retold in a documentary in 2018. The less athletic visitor can see El Capitan’s majesty from Tunnel View, a stunning lookout revealed as motorists emerge from a mountain tunnel, and from the El Capitan Meadow and Cathedral Beach, on the Merced River.
5 The Ahwahnee
Built in 1927 to attract the park’s well-heeled visitors, The Ahwahnee hotel stands in the shadow of towering granite walls in the eastern Yosemite Valley. Designed by celebrated architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood (who’d built lodges in Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks), it mixes Art Deco, Native American and Arts & Craft Movement styles. Its position, a short walk from viewing points to Half Dome and the Yosemite Falls, has guaranteed its place as the best hotel in the park. Constructed of stone and steel (some five million kilograms of stone were hauled in to fashion the exterior walls and many internal fireplaces), it has hosted John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama, as well as Queen Elizabeth II. Among its notable interiors are the grand dining room boasting dozens of chandeliers and the mural room featuring a “toile pente” or painted linen mural.
travelyosemite.com
Caroline Gladstone was a guest of Visit California.
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