To be or not to be a mountain person? If that’s the question, there is no place better to discover the answer than amongst the wilderness of these best hikes in Yosemite.
A vagabond chasing the thrill of an adventure in the envelope of nature or a wanderer in search of grandeur like no other, these Northern California sublime beauty folded in the Sierra Nevada satisfies your quest as an amateur or challenge you as a professional hiker.
Somewhere in the deep, unknown, isolated curves lie a place away from the never-ending hustle-bustle of your mundane lives.
All year long, you will find this Valley full of tourists and rarely making it a place always visited but never completed. Yosemite National Park is covered with surprises that never disappoint.
Interestingly, what makes Yosemite such an iconic traveling route is how the extremes elevations resting around 1800 feet and rising to more than 13000 feet with glacier-draped Mount Lyell, majestically team up with the wildlife amongst the volcanoes and glaciers to carve out a road not to be taken, mammoth with domes and peaks.
It’s a valley that resurfaces memories for a few, substitutes the idea of being on their own for its solo adventurers, and a mountain range like no other for the photographers whose cameras sometimes fail to capture what the eyes can witness.
Its color, imagination, beauty, a place larger than self, and a sensory pleasure that never disappoints you but always leaves you with a craving for more.
How to Reach the Yosemite Valley?
While traveling for the first time or this is one of your frequent trips, getting a little heads-up on how to reach saves time, effort, and money.
In Central California, you will find Yosemite. The surrounding areas are networked with regional airports; the closest are the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, Amtrak, and Greyhound. These places offer services to the park; the regional system operates regional buses.
Whereas, while driving from Fresno, what captures your attention before Yosemite valley is the State Route 41 deposit, dropping you first in the Wawona, followed by Yosemite valley.
And State Route 140 passes through Merced, the northeast region, or the eastern one through State Route 120, which connects with the park’s Big Oak Flat Road and coasts through Groveland.
But, if you are looking for Cathedral Lakes and Owens valley, go through Tioga Road.
Which Is the Best Time to Hike in Yosemite?
As the season changes, so do the breathtaking beauty around Yosemite National Park. Every season opens up the possibility to discover the hidden gems in and around the Valley to make the best hiking trails the place offers.
Preferred months of May and June soak travelers in the cascading waterfalls whose peak reaches in the late spring. A hiking temperature that sets off your journey to witness the blooming dogwoods.
However, in July and August, Tuolumne Meadows hiking trails’ refreshing and peaceful delight is in all their glory. The Valley becomes a mingling place hosting many tourists as the summer sets in.
Until mid-September, Yosemite becomes a crowd-free destination; winters bring with it the joy of skiing in the freezing temperature, a snowy blanket covering the mountain peaks, and November through April knocking in with the temperature challenges. Thus, making hiking more enthralling.
12 Best Hikes in Yosemite That You Should Experience
Do you like trekking and hiking? – If yes, then Yosemite is just your place to visit. Check out these best hikes in Yosemite and choose the ones which are suitable for you the most.
1. Hite Cove
Difficulty: Moderate hike.
Distance: 6.5 miles, round trip.
Hiking Time: Around 3 hours.
An enriching history of the Ahwahneechee people transformed how we see these trails as the first to identify the mining potential in the location.
This place offers the mind-numbing adventurous geek within you a pleasant surprise all around the year except during the summer peak. The summer peaks come with their threats of wildfires and high fire dangers.
During March and April, the surprises that are neatly folded in the fragments of this place are the poppy blooms that explode the hillside with hues of orange. The hike is outside Yosemite National Park but in the Sierra National Forest.
The beginning can be traced to the East side of the town of Mariposa on Highway 140, which is twenty-one miles away from the Sierra National Park but outside Yosemite National Park.
The mesmerizing beauty of this trail is layered with a canyon blossoming with spring lupines, redbud, sky pilot, baby blue eyes, and poppies.
2. Incline Road
Difficulty: Easy hikes.
Distance: 28 miles round trip broken into short sections, each around 2-10 miles.
Hiking Time: 1.5 Hours.
This rewarding and over-the-top experience with the overlooks of Bridalveil Fall and El Capitan requires extra effort. Time changed so did traveling here.
In 1907, the passengers traveled 28 miles through Yosemite Valley Railroad along the Merced River Canyon, followed by a 14 miles buggies and carriage ride into Yosemite Valley.
With time these Railroads were ripped, thus, tying the Incline Road with the Sierra National Forest, enabling the Merced River paving a trail that bends and turns with the river.
For someone who loves long walks with their steering inclines, this path has west access point, including Briceburg, and east access point on Merced’s North Fork at the end of Incline Road and short detours, plenty of sub-trials lead to the River.
This place with rocky aversions and constant bending quirks you with unique viewpoints.
3. Panorama Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous.
Distance: 8.5 miles.
Hiking Time: 4-6 Hours one way.
Along the East End of Yosemite Valley, this circular path that passes by Illilouette, Nevada Fall, and Vernal Falls is an experience that brings hikers this feeling of a larger-than-life experience.
It connects the Half Dome trail with the Little Yosemite Valley, Clouds Rest, and Tuolumne Meadows. What can be more beautiful than witnessing nature in all its surprising shades and awe-inspiring features of Yosemite Valley?
One can reach the top of these trails from Glacier Point via hiking, shuttle arrangement, or leaving a car. Through Happy Isles, you can access Panorama Trail from Valley Floor.
4. Cascade Falls
Difficulty: Strenuous hike.
Distance: 0.25-0.50 miles, round trip.
When entering Yosemite National Park, Cascade makes you feel the liveliness and joy of experiencing nature. In its ordinariness with no sharp edges and cut-out routes in the Western High Country but a series of tumbling waterfalls leading to a dense forest.
Combined with the Tamarack Creek, below the Big Oak Flat Road cascade is the first waterfall one encounters as it gains momentum before feeding the Merced River.
Over time, this waterfall spilled with so much force from the wall, has created river rocks on the valley floor, making it a charming site for its admirers.
The vast swaths are smooth and slippery, like Cinderella’s glass shoe squeaking and clear that one keeps confusing it with glass if the water doesn’t flow.
Walking on them requires high alertness, river hopping, grabbing tree branches to maintain balance, and not tripping and hurting yourself, as there is no definite path.
However, the best way is to follow the trail where the Cascade falls meet the River. The course is not maintained and holds no markings, but the significance is for competent individuals as there is rock scrambling.
Cutting through the trees and climbing the steep path opens to the fall’s east side, where one can look down and see the water cascading.
5. Lower Yosemite Falls Trail
Difficulty: Easy hikes.
Distance: One way to falls – 25 miles, 5-mile round trip.
From Yosemite Village – 2 miles round trip.
Hiking Time: 4-6 Hours one way.
The road most taken ideally summarizes what you can expect in this wheelchair and stroller-friendly space. This quarter-mile paved trail is steeped in the last 75 feet from Yosemite Lodge to Lower Falls.
Hiking in miles by miles, one sees filtering amongst the tall trees the view of Upper Falls, which is 1430 feet.
And that makes up for a 320-foot Lower falls view and Lost Arrow spire in your day hikes. The 2,425 foot is the tallest waterfall in North America, resting twice in its descent.
Springs is the most blossoming time. The cascading waterfall sounds sing joyfully, and the soothing breeze blows away your scarves or hats. The most brilliant feature of this place is the moonlit rainbows spanning over the water called “moonbows” during a full moon.
6. Upper Yosemite Falls Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous.
Distance: 7.2 miles, roundtrip.
Hiking Time: 6-8 hours, roundtrip.
An exciting part of Yosemite is this John Conway masterpiece built in 1873, and the project took him four years to complete.
Passing through Oak Woodland and beginning at Camp 4 along Valley Loop Trial, this beautiful place offers the iconic Yosemite Valley views once you cross the trees and exposed plateaus. Imagine Half Dome Sentinel Rock and Tuolumne’s high scenic blend once you pass Columbia Rock.
The trail is not an easy climb with elevation gain at 2700 feet via 60 switchbacks, and the cherry on top is the granite steps exhausting you completely.
At the top traveling 1.6 miles round trip to the East, you can reach the mesmerizing views of Yosemite Point towards North Dome and Eagle Peak with an added 5.8 miles round trip to El Capitan towards the West. Eagle peak is an interesting choice as it adds up to the perspective of the granite landscape.
With different seasons the hike is blended in the welcoming stage of each. In spring, the waterfall sprinkles you with water and offers you a suitable condition.
In summer, the hot and humid temperature makes the granite slippery, so one needs to be extremely alert on day hikes on the upper Yosemite Falls trail.
7. Vernal Fall
Difficulty: Strenuous.
Distance: 2.4 miles, roundtrip.
Hiking Time: 2-5 hours, roundtrip.
This short trail from the Happy Isles trailhead marks the start of the rainy, beautifully drenching ride of Mist Trail.
One can completely immerse in the experience of soaking in this twenty-minute hike. At the bottom of the Vernal Fall at 317 feet lies a churning exhilaration that wants you to stay and take at the moment.
But continuing on the granite carved staircase will wind you in the amazement of the cliffside. The handrails during peak season are soaked carefully while visiting from April to June.
From the top of Vernal Fall to Nevada Fall, 594 feet tall, the trail continues to Half Dome hike with added extra seven miles, where you need a permit, and adding nine more miles brings you closer to the Clouds Rest.
The best way to reach the start of the Vernal Fall trail is to catch a bus from Curry Village or walk the 20-minute long distance along the road on the parallel dirt path of Yosemite park.
From the footbridge, it’s a 1.6 miles roundtrip to the fall base. And 2.4 miles round trip to the top. A 5.4-mile round trip in total is Nevada Falls and at 2000 feet an elevation gain.
8. Mirror Lake
Difficulty: Easy.
Distance: 2.0 miles, roundtrip.
Hiking Time: 2 hours, roundtrip.
On a paved road and a parallel trail from the Ahwahnee hotel, this one-mile, short one-way hike contradicts its name except in April.
Beyond April, Mirror Lake lake is full of sand amongst the willow trees and Half Dome and Tenaya Canyon mind-numbing views leading to Tuolumne Meadows.
Despite being unfilled with water throughout the year, Mirror Lake is pleasant in all seasons. In spring and early summer, the fresh snowmelt freely flows from Tenaya Lake, and the calming water reflects the outshining cliffs surrounding the lake.
The Mirror lake holds utmost significance as it narrates the story of lake-to-meadow succession along its trails, and the cultural history is beautifully highlighted in the surrounding.
The mirror lake is also famous by the name mirror meadow to the late summer influx of grasses.
While hiking on the south side of the loop and be aware of the shortcut spot across Tenaya Creek, which might seem like a good skip on the entire loop and tempting enough to be a road completely untraveled in the beginning, is ankle deep which becomes steeper with the distance and can become dangerous when one is swept into whitewater or pinned against the rocks.
9. Tuolumne Grove
Difficulty: Moderate.
Distance: 2.0 miles, roundtrip.
Hiking Time: 6-8 hours, roundtrip.
A quarter mile East of Crane Flat is Tuolumne Grove, with one of the giant Sequoias groves, an ancestral heritage of Yosemite.
Located six miles west of Crane Flat is Merced Grove, with twenty trees which can be visited with a round trip hike of three miles. However, the most popular hiking trail, which resides the giant sequoia tree in Yosemite, is Mariposa Grove, with a Grizzly Giant of 209 feet and home to more than five hundred trees.
Tuolumne and Merced Groves are enclosed within a periphery. One can easily walk inside the 50 to 100 feet long California tunnel tree. Still, the Mariposa Grove trail is 40 miles away as they are closer to the south entrance.
With the heavy huffing and puffing, the Tuolumne Grove makes you feel 500 feet of vertical closeness in a single mile, even though it’s downhill. In the Tuolumne meadows, one can find trees with full maturity.
10. Half Dome Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous.
Distance: 16.5 mile round trip.
Hiking Time: 10-12 hour round trip.
With an outstanding scenic beauty that absorbs you in its magnificence, hiking half dome is not for everyone. Still, worth the effort and time one invests along the way, with the unparalleled beauty of Vernal and Nevada Falls, Liberty Cap, and Yosemite Valley mesmerizing.
The elevation gain of 4,800 feet starting from Happy Isles at 4000 feet and climbing 8,839 further. Even with its permit, it is a hosting paradise for tourists from around the globe.
The seasonal dangers are all-time high during winters with heavy snowfall. What makes this trail popular is not the adrenaline rush the adventure sets its climbers, but the solitude one feels in its sublime beauty.
Camping nearly 5000 above the little Yosemite valley is the most preferred method for this long climbit’sit’s one kind of experience with warm yellow fire and a bunch of strangers ultimately sharing these paranormal views, which are 8,800 feet above sea level.
It gets a little tough to climb once the sun sets in, it it’s a struggle down the trail; a flashlight/ headlamp makes the navigation more accessible, and it is advisable to go for day hikes while hiking half dome.
11. Four Mile Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous Hikes.
Distance: 4.8 miles, one way.
With an elevation gain from 4,000 to 7,200 feet, this steep trail starts with a chortling view of Yosemite Falls.
However, the experience is enriched with Glacier point, full of buildings with amenities overlooking the Valley’s East. One can take immense pleasure in Nevada Falls, Yosemite Falls in the distance, and Liberty Cap.
One can choose to continue a route down the Panorama Trail, or you can take a reverse from Glacier Point. As Glacier Point road is temporarily shut until May 2023, it’s advisable to go back down the same lane or walk on Panorama Trail.
Once the road opens its route for visitors, you can park your vehicles at the Glacier Point parking lot or prefer a shuttle down available down the Valley.
You cannot miss the splendid overlook in the park at El Cap, which is 6.5 miles away at Taft Point, where you can hike for 2.2 miles at Taft point once the road is restored or walk down the Four Mile Trail to Glacier point.
You can also take another short hike of 3.4 miles via Pohono to have Taft Point on your hiking trail until the Glacier Point road is restored. Thus, making it one of the best hikes in Yosemite National Park.
12. Mist Trail and John Muir Trailhead
Difficulty: Moderate till the footbridge.
Distance: 1.6 miles to Vernal Fall footbridge roundtrip.
2.4 miles to the top of Vernal Fall roundtrip.
5.4 miles to the top of Nevada Fall roundtrip.
Hiking Time: – 2-5 hours (varies on the route).
Last on the list is the spectacular John Muir and Mist Trails offering close-up views of the giant waterfalls and a new dimension to Yosemite Valley. This one-mile trail beyond the Venal Fall Footbridge, the Mist Trail, and the John Muir Trail DIverge has slippery footing, all credited to the mist, especially in the peak spring and early summer.
When one accesses the Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall through Mist Trail, it makes the complete trip full of divine adventures scattered all along, beginning at the overlook bridge and escalating through the waterfalls covering 900 feet, but the surprise doesn’t end there.
With the view of Nevada Fall, Liberty Cap, and Half Dome back ends this trail from the Muir Trail return segment on a beautiful note, thus making it a path rewarding you all along the way.
However, one needs to be highly cautious while traveling this trail as Mist Trail witnesses the highest number of deaths all over Yosemite National Park. It’s not the cliffs, but the current that looks innocent is the real culprit, as it is too strong to overcome once you fall.
Summing Up
The homophonic Yosemite falls within the abundance of mountains that can make anyone crave to look for larger-than-life experiences, feeling insignificant in the surroundings.
In the company of the pitter-patter climbers, one finds this beautiful hotspot; Yosemite National Park for mountain or not-so-mountain people full of challenges, adventures, and trips that bring your multiple first experiences varying from backpacking to long-distance hikes, as the splendid valley store within it surprises for everyone who takes on these best hikes in Yosemite.
Every walk brings you closer to the serenity of vastness, the joy, and terror of the sublime, the divine magnificence, and every step closer to the feeling of significance for oneself in this vast insignificant world. Someone who has never stepped on the mountain has never really lived.
FAQs
1. Which trek in Yosemite National Park is the best?
Every trek and hike of Yosemite National Park is stunningly beautiful, but out of all, Half Dome via the Mist Trail can be considered the best.
2. How much time does a hike across Yosemite National Park require?
Most people would agree that the work was worthwhile given the potential return. Outstanding views of Liberty Cap, Half Dome, Vernal and Nevada Falls, as well as amazing views of Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra, can all be found along the route. Usually hikers spend ten to twelve hours getting to and from Half Dome, however some spend longer.
3. Is Yosemite difficult to hike in?
Yosemite is a difficult place to hike because of the elevation variation, the enormous, steep granite walls, and the rapidly changing weather patterns.
Last Updated on February 23, 2023 by Janhavi Ramesh Kowligi
