A 2-Day Yosemite Itinerary That Admits What Two Days Can Hold

⠿Not the order you want? Drag a stop, or use the arrows beside it. Stops move between days too.

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   Drive from where are you driving from?Tunnel View is on the way in · Drive

   Coming in on Highway 41 puts Tunnel View on your route rather than making it a detour. Fresno is the nearest airport at about two and a half hours; San Francisco is roughly four.

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   Tunnel ViewThe whole valley in one frame · Viewpoint

   El Capitan on the left, Bridalveil Fall on the right, Half Dome at the back. It is a car park rather than a hike, and it is the best twenty seconds of arriving in Yosemite. Early or late; at midday it is full and flat-lit.

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   Lower Yosemite FallPaved, ~10 min from the shuttle · Hike

   The shortest walk to a big waterfall in the park, paved and flat from the shuttle stop. It is loudest in May and June and can be down to a trickle by late August, which is worth knowing before you plan around it.

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   Mirror LakeFlat ~2 mi return · Hike

   A flat walk out to the base of Half Dome, on a paved road closed to cars. It is a lake in spring and early summer and a meadow by August, so the reflection everyone photographs is seasonal.

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   A meadow at last lightEl Capitan or Cook's Meadow · Viewpoint

   The cheapest and best thing in the valley. Stand in El Capitan Meadow or Cook's Meadow in the last half hour of light and watch the walls turn orange from the top down.

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   Night in the valley or El PortalValley beds book five months out · lodge

   A valley room saves an hour of driving on day two but is released five months ahead and gone in seconds. El Portal is about twenty minutes out and Mariposa about forty five, and both are realistic.

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Day 2 of 2

The Mist Trail, then the rim at sunset

Start early at Happy Isles and climb the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Fall: about 2.4 miles return with roughly 1,000 feet of climbing, up granite steps that are genuinely wet in spring. This is the one real climb of the two days and the reason to do it first, while it is cool and before the steps fill.

4 stopsDay two

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⠿Not the order you want? Drag a stop, or use the arrows beside it. Stops move between days too.

1. ⠿↑↓1
   Happy Isles to the top of Vernal Fall~2.4 mi return · ~1,000 ft · Hike

   The Mist Trail climbs granite steps beside Vernal Fall and in spring the spray genuinely soaks you. Start early: it is cooler, the steps are quieter, and it is the only real climb of the two days.

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   On to Nevada Fall, if you have it in youMakes it ~5.4 mi · ~2,000 ft · Hike

   Carrying on above Vernal Fall reaches Nevada Fall, and coming back down the John Muir Trail turns it into a loop with easier footing and a long view back at the fall. It is most of a day, so it trades against Glacier Point in the evening.

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   Glacier Point at sunset~1 hr each way · seasonal road · Viewpoint

   The view that makes the geography click: Half Dome across the valley, Vernal and Nevada Falls below it, and the floor you walked yesterday a long way down. The road usually opens late May and closes with the first serious snow.

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   Drive outFresno ~2.5 hr · SFO ~4 hr · Drive

   Most people leave through Highway 140 along the Merced River, which is the gentlest of the roads out and the one least likely to be closed by snow.

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