Day 4: Yosemite Valley
Adventures:
- Lower Yosemite Falls—1 mile depending on where you park. We parked at Yosemite Village. You can walk from here or take a shuttle to stop (#6).
- Easy walk along a paved path. Beautiful waterfall. Scenic leisure walk.
- Cook’s Meadow Loop-1.1 mile
- Easy walk with beautiful views.
- Easy walk with beautiful views.
Highlights: Views of Yosemite Falls (spectacular) and Half Dome. Meadows are very pretty.
- Use Gypsy Guide app to explore the rest of the park during the day.
- El Capitan viewing
- Stop along Northside Drive. Walk into the meadow across the street and get the best view of this massive sheer rock formation. If you’re lucky, you can watch the rock climbers. We could see them even without binoculars.
- Bridal Veil Fall viewing
- Stop along Northside Drive as you leave the valley. View is spectacular.
Tips:
- May can be unpredictable in the West. I followed the weather before we traveled, which showed moderate temperatures. A cold front came through and we had temperatures in the 30’s. Cold. The upside is it wasn’t crowded at all. Be prepared for temperature swings.
- Plan ahead and make reservations if necessary
- We knew Tioga Road could be closed due to weather but didn’t expect Glacier Point Road to be closed for road work. This impacted our trip since we were not up to strenuous hiking to get to viewpoints and see Hetch Hetchy Valley.
This means only one thing. We’ll be going back!
Enjoy!!
Bonus info:
If you like having more detailed information while traveling the national parks, you can download and install the National Park Services (NPS) free park app. The NPS app has more than 400 national parks nationwide. Check it out.