Yosemite

Date: 28 August - 1 September 2014

Flight time:

Activities:

Friday, August 29 2014

• El Capitan Bridge and Meadow

• • Location: 37.7240N 119.6314W

  • How to get there: El Capitan Bridge and Meadow are at the west side of Yosemite Valley, at the junction of Northside Drive (the road leaving the valley) and the short crossover road that connects Northside with Southside Drive (the eastbound road entering Yosemite Valley). That means you can get here as you enter the park by making the first left off of Southside Drive after passing the Highway 41 (Wawona/Fresno, Tunnel View) turn, or as you exit the park, by driving about two and a half miles beyond Yosemite Lodge on Northside Drive. You'll find parking on both sides of the bridge, and even more along the meadow to the west.

• Sentinel Dome Trail

• • Location: 37.7233N 119.6242W

  • How to get there: Eastbound on Southside Drive from Bridalveil Fall, just beyond the left turn that loops you back toward the park exit, look for the Cathedral Beach sign on your left. If the road is closed, park at the gate and walk in—it’s only a couple hundred yards.

• Valley View for sunset Sunset?

• • Location: 37.7182N 119.6611W

  • Trek: 0.25 miles (0.4 km) round trip

  • How to get there: To find Valley View, drive west on Northside Drive (the only way to exit Yosemite Valley); about 3/4 of a mile beyond the Bridalveil Fall view (not to be confused with the Bridalveil Creek viewpoint described earlier), look on your left for a paved parking area with a dozen or so diagonal parking spaces; pull into an open space and the view is right in front of you (no hiking required).

• Cascade Creek

• • Location: 37.7276N 119.7130W

  • How to get there: Approaching Yosemite Valley on Big Oak Flat Road, look for the creek on your left, not long after passing through the first tunnel and immediately after crossing Tamarack Creek. Exiting the valley, the creek is visible on your right not far beyond the second tunnel. You'll find paved parking areas on both ends of the bridge, and a sidewalk for viewing on both sides. Be careful on the bridge--while there are sidewalks on both sides, cars whiz by, and the concrete railing is lower than it should be.

• Mono Lake (21.8 mi – about 29 mins)

• • Location: Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore, U.S. 395, Lee Vining, CA 93541

  • Trek: 1 mile (1.6 km) loop

  • How to get there: The trail is along the south shore of Mono Lake, roughly 22 miles from Yosemite's eastern entrance:

    • From Yosemite's Tioga Pass (eastern) entrance, take the Tioga Road 12 miles (19 km) east until it ends at Highway 395.

    • Turn south (right) on 395 and drive just under 5 miles (8 km) to the Highway 120 turnoff. (Yes, Tioga Road, which you departed 5 miles back, was also Highway 120. The eastern and western legs of Highway 120 were clearly not surveyed by the same people who built the transcontinental railroad.)

    • Turn left onto 120 east and drive another almost-5-miles (almost 8 km) to the turnoff for the South Tufa trail. From here it's one mile (1.6 km) to the trailhead; the last 0.9 miles of the road are unpaved.

    • The turnoffs are all well-marked and shouldn't be hard to find.

• Tuolumne Meadows

• • Location: Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center Tioga Pass Rd Yosemite National Park, CA 95321

  • Trek: 1.5 miles (2.4 km) round-trip; 1 hour

  • How to get there: Begin at Lembert Dome parking area (shuttle stop #4) Walk along the gravel road and pass the locked gate (signed Glen Aulin and Soda Springs). Soda Springs—carbonated, cold water bubbling out of the ground—is protected within a log enclosure. Historic Parsons Memorial Lodge offers exhibits (limited hours—see Yosemite Guide for schedule). A path winds to the bridge below and continues on to the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center.

• Teneya Lake

• • Location: 37.8308°N 119.4583°W

  • Trek: 2.5 miles (4 km) loop around the lake

  • How to get there: From Yosemite Valley, take highway 120 ten miles (16.8 km) to the Crane Flat turnoff onto Tioga Road, then take Tioga Road 31 miles (50 km) east to reach the lake, which is right beside the road and impossible to miss. From Yosemite's east entrance at Tioga Pass, drive 15.5 miles (25 km) west to reach the lake.

• Olmsted Point Sunset?

• • Location: 37.8116N 119.4866W

  • Trek: 0.25 miles (0.4 km) round trip

  • How to get there: To get to Olmsted Point, drive east (exiting Yosemite Valley) on Highway 120, toward Tuolumne Meadows. Olmsted Point is a wide, well marked, paved parking area on the right about an hour's drive east of Yosemite Valley. If you reach Tenaya Lake, you've gone too far. You can photograph from the parking area, or take the five minute walk down the stairs and along the trail to the nearby granite dome that hosts Olmsted Point itself. Note that 120 east of Tuolumne Grove isn't plowed in winter, so Olmsted Point is only accessible from June through October (give or take a few weeks)

Sunday, August 31 2014

• Sentinel Meadow & Cook's Meadow

• • Location: 37.7459N 119.5924W

  • Trek: 2.25 miles (3.6 km) round trip

  • How to get there: The trail's in Yosemite Valley, so follow the crowds and you'll end up in the neighborhood. Once you're in the valley, follow Southside Drive east (the only direction you can go on that road) until you see the sign for the Swinging Bridge. From here, anyplace you can find a parking spot will serve (if you haven't found one yet by the time you reach the stop sign at the intersection with Sentinel Bridge, turn left and cross the bridge). See the trail map for more information.

• Lower Yosemite Fall

• • Location: Lower Yosemite Fall Trail, CA 95389

  • Trek: 0.5 miles (.8 km) round trip from trailhead; 1.5 miles (2.4 km) round trip from Yosemite Village

  • How to get there: From Yosemite Village, walk half a mile west to the trailhead. The falls are visible from much of the valley, so finding them should not be a problem. The free shuttle buses, which cover most of the eastern half of the valley, stop at the trailhead.

• Sentinel Bridge

• Best Views: They aren't always from the very end of the trail, which is near the base of the falls. During the spring runoff, there's so much mist whipping off the falls that the only people who'll go there are small children who've been ordered by their parents to risk their tiny, expendable lives to pose for pictures. Here are a few alternatives:

  • From Southside Drive: If you drive a few hundred meters past the parking lot (going east), you'll reach the El Capitan Vista, where cars will be careening off to the shoulders on either side of the road or just pulling to a stop in the middle of it. (It's marked with a pink balloon on the Bridalveil Fall trail map.) Though it's El Capitan, off to the north, that's causing all this erratic behavior, you can get good views of Bridalveil Fall here, too, and this is also where the alternate trail to the falls begins. The trick is to wander around until you find a spot where the falls aren't blocked by too many trees.

  • From the Tunnel View: Thanks to the tunnel view, about a mile west on Highway 41 from the Bridalveil Fall parking lot, Bridalveil Fall is Yosemite's most photographed waterfall. Can three million people a year be wrong? Of course they can! Just look at how many copies of, for instance, the single "Billy, Don't Be a Hero" got sold. They're not wrong about this, though. Bridalveil Fall from the Tunnel View is a stellar shot. The biggest issue is elbowing enough people out of the way to find one of the spots where trees aren't obstructing the scene.

  • From the Gates of the Valley: Here you get a view similar to the one from the tunnel view, but from a lower elevation and with the Merced River in the foreground. If the falls are your target, you may want to elevate yourself so that the trees block less of the falls. Ansel Adams, you might be inspired to learn, built a viewing platform onto the top of his SUV to solve this problem.

  • The Gates of the Valley are on Northside Drive, west of Bridalveil Fall. Look for the red balloon on the trail map.

  • From Northside Drive: This is similar to the view from Southside Drive, except that (no, really!) it's a little farther north, on the opposite side of the Merced River. The pullout here is on the bank of the Merced (look for the green ballon on the trail map), so you can fit the river into your photos if you're so inclined.

• Tunnel View sunset shot

• Location: 37.7158N 119.6174W

• How to get there: To get to Tunnel View from Yosemite Valley, drive about two miles up the hill from Bridalveil Fall—when you see the tunnel, pull into the parking area on your right or left. Coming from Fresno on Highway 41, when you exit the Wawona Tunnel (the only tunnel on Highway 41 in Yosemite) you'll see first hand how Tunnel View got its name.