One of America’s greatest national parks, encompassing some of California’s wildest and most beautiful landscapes, has endless sights to discover.
Stretching down the eastern side of the state of California, Yosemite National Park is a regular contender for being the best national park in the United States. Its landscapes range from towering granite rock formations and crystal-clear lakes to ancient redwoods and thundering waterfalls. It is home to bears, deer, bighorn sheep and bobcats, along with a huge variety of bird life. The park is popular with visitors from across America and around the world, who enjoy the range of outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling and camping on offer.
Yosemite is a National Park, meaning visitors pay a fee to enter. This is around $35 for a standard vehicle or $20 for those entering on foot, and this pass allows entry for up to seven days. There are a few hotels within the park, including the famous Ahwahnee and Yosemite Valley Lodge. There are also multiple campsites which allow visitors to set up tents or connect RVs for the duration of their stay. The most convenient way of travelling around the park is via the shuttle buses that operate in Yosemite Valley, which stop at campsites, the visitor centre and trailheads frequently, allowing visitors to make the most of everything on offer.
Tunnel View is one of Yosemite’s most famous and popular viewpoints, as it doesn’t require any hiking and can be easily accessed via the road which runs through the park. For most visitors who arrive from the west entrance, the small carpark just after the Wawona Tunnel exit will be the first viewpoint that shows the true scale of the park. Yosemite’s most famous structures are visible from this spot, including Half Dome, El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall. As the car park is small, this vantage point often gets crowded, so it is recommended to arrive early.
Other viewpoints that can be reached by car include Glacier Point, Valley View and Olmsted Point, however, Glacier Point Road is currently closed to vehicles due to rockfall, although it can still be reached via a 4-hour hike.
Yosemite National Park has around ten waterfalls, along with many smaller streams, rivers and creeks. Yosemite and Bridalveil are the most iconic and well-known falls in the park, both of which can be seen on short hikes. Bridalveil Fall is a 620ft high waterfall, which can easily be seen from Tunnel View, however, it also has a dedicated hiking trail on the valley floor. Yosemite Falls is the most accessible waterfall in the park and is the highest waterfall in North America, standing at almost 2,500 feet high. To reach the base of the falls, visitors can walk a short one-mile flat path, or alternatively, there is a more difficult 7.6-mile climb which leads to the top of the falls.
Yosemite Falls is open year-round, but other waterfalls in the park often dry up in the hot summer months, therefore, the most popular time to visit is in spring or autumn. Other popular waterfalls include Horsetail Fall, which is Yosemite’s most popular winter waterfall. In February, it experiences the ‘firefall’, in which the sun illuminates the water to make it seem as though the waterfall is on fire. This is an extremely popular time to visit the park, both for photographers and tourists, and permits are usually limited during this period.
The massive granite rock formations of Half Dome and El Capitan are two of the most instantly recognisable sights in Yosemite National Park and are particularly well known to climbers. Many people choose to admire Half Dome from one of the many viewpoints within the park, however, it is also possible to hike to the top, although permits are required due to the danger of hiking the ‘cables’ at the top of Half Dome. The hike is extremely strenuous, as Half Dome is around 5,000 feet high, and the trail is approximately 15 miles. Average hikers complete the hike in 12 hours, making it one of the longest in the park.
El Capitan is arguably even more famous and is considered one of the world’s best climbing spots by both amateurs and professionals. Gear and permits are required for those wanting to scale the face of El Capitan. However, visitors can hike the El Capitan trail instead, which takes between 8 to 10 hours and also rises steeply to around 5,000 feet. The above hikes are considered two of the most difficult in Yosemite, so visitors should come prepared with the correct equipment and supplies.
Tuolumne Meadows may be one of Yosemite’s most well-known and beautiful sights, but it can only be visited during summer. The meadows can be reached via park shuttle or by driving along the Tioga Pass in the east of the park, which remains closed between November and April due to heavy snowfall.
The meadows sit at around 8,000ft elevation and are far less visited than the more popular sights in Yosemite Valley due to their remoteness. The expansive meadows are ideal for backcountry hiking and encompass many scenic areas, such as Olmstead Point, which offers views across the park; Tenaya Lake, a large lake surrounded by pine forest; and Soda Springs, which are carbonated pools reached via a short hike.
Although the Tioga Pass, also known as Highway 120, is simply a road within Yosemite National Park. Its high elevation, along with a large number of panoramic viewpoints and attractions along the way, means it is a popular excursion in itself. The Pass is closed each year between November and April due to heavy snowfall; however, before this, the Pass climbs high into Yosemite, offering a viewpoint in reverse to Tunnel View, snaking through miles of thick forests, passing lakes, creeks and the aforementioned Tuolumne Meadows along the way.
The road stretches through the Eastern Sierras, reaching almost 10,000ft at its highest point, which makes it the highest pass in the state of California. Stops on Tioga Pass include Tuolumne Grove, which features a number of giant sequoias, the above-mentioned Olmstead Point and Tenaya Lake, as well as the Glen Aulin Trail, which is part of the famous Pacific Crest Trail.
A wide variety of wildlife can be seen in and around the park. On the valley floor and by many of the central car parks visitors will see the local mule deer roaming many of the meadows. There are also plentiful rabbits, squirrels and bird life on the hiking trails within the park. Yosemite is designed for the protection of the many wild bears which live there, as well as the protection of visitors. Although it is rare to see bears, it is recommended never to leave food outside or in vehicles. Bobcats, foxes and mountain lions are also less common, as they stay away from humans, but visitors will likely see many species of butterfly, rodents such as squirrels, and bighorn sheep at higher elevation.
