Yosemite National Park

 

Overview:

The views of a life­time – the won­der of Yosemite has remained unchanged and been mar­velled at over tens of thou­sands of years, with the incred­i­ble rolling glac­i­er carved val­leys of Yosemite – which stretch for more than 750,000 acres – being home to some of the worlds most spec­tac­u­lar tow­er­ing rock for­ma­tions, thun­der­ous cas­cad­ing water­falls, giant sequoia trees, serene and peace­ful mead­ows, beau­ti­ful reflec­tive lakes and sim­ply breath-tak­ing view­points, for one of the most incred­i­ble nation­al parks on the plan­et and a true won­der of the world.

Fol­low­ing the Merced Riv­er, Yosemite, which sits in the east­ern part of Cal­i­for­nia and is backed by the stun­ning Sier­ra Neva­da Moun­tains, was first believed to have been inhab­it­ed by Amer­i­can Indi­ans and has the dis­tinct hon­our of being not only America’s third Nation­al Park, and the park which inspired the nation­al preser­va­tion pro­gram – but also hav­ing been sub­ject­ed to numer­ous pro­tec­tion orders – includ­ing one dur­ing the Amer­i­can civ­il war, which for­bade the log­ging of the nature with­in Yosemite – an act which has helped to ensure this incred­i­ble won­der would be pre­served for future gen­er­a­tions.

It is thanks to these pro­tec­tion orders – and the main­te­nance of Yosemite by park staff, that the famed views of Yosemite are able to be enjoyed by all – with the stun­ning view­points of Tun­nel View, Sen­tinel Dome, El cap­tain and Glac­i­er point offer­ing incred­i­ble views out over the won­ders of Yosemite and rep­re­sent­ing not only the best of this incred­i­ble park, but also one of the most beau­ti­ful places in the world to catch both sun­rise and sun­set – where you can watch the mag­nif­i­cent half dome light up for a tru­ly spe­cial expe­ri­ence.

For those who fan­cy explor­ing Yosemite fur­ther, there’s a series of treks and hikes that will take you through the park and up to many of the incred­i­ble nat­ur­al sights in the park, none more so than the numer­ous loops and trail that take you to the edge of Yosemite’s stun­ning water­falls – with the beau­ty of Bridalveil and ver­nal falls being par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial. As too is one of the high­lights of the park – the mighty Yosemite falls, which is divid­ed into low­er and upper – with these 739 metre falls being one of the largest in Amer­i­ca – and a sim­ply stun­ning sight to wit­ness the pow­er of this cas­cad­ing water­fall, mak­ing it a must see on any explo­ration of Yosemite.

You’ll also find a series of incred­i­ble rock for­ma­tions that dom­i­nate the land­scape and views of the park – with the mighty El Cap­tain – a 3,000 foot rock face being a par­tic­u­lar pop­u­lar spot for climbers and being one of the most tow­er­ing and impos­ing icons of Yosemite. As too is the mighty Half Dome – which itself is steeped in leg­end, and which also dom­i­nates the sky­line of Yosemite, with this unique­ly formed rock for­ma­tion, which fea­tures one per­fect­ly flat side and three round and smooth edges, mak­ing it not only a unique for­ma­tion – and a climber’s favourite – but thanks to its sheer size and impos­ing stature mak­ing it one of the most spe­cial spots of Yosemite.

Half Dome is also home to one of the world’s great­est and chal­leng­ing treks, with explor­ers hav­ing the chance to scale the 2,694 metre rock for­ma­tion in the spring and sum­mer months on a gru­elling full day hike, which takes you through the val­leys of Yosemite, past tow­er­ing water­falls and up the side of Half Dome – with the assis­tance of met­al cables – for an adren­a­line pump­ing and enthralling expe­ri­ence, and which gives you not only the sat­is­fac­tion of con­quer­ing Half Dome but an incred­i­ble view stretch­ing out over the beau­ti­ful val­leys of Yosemite.

Along­side the half dome hike, you’ll find equal­ly stun­ning treks that take you through the won­der of Yosemite, includ­ing the loop trail, the mist trail, the low­er Yosemite falls trail and the Sen­tinel Dome hike – all of which give you a chance to explore this incred­i­ble nation­al park, won­der through Sequoias, gaze at water­falls – and if you’re lucky spot some of the more than 400 species of wildlife – includ­ing the rare black bear that call this incred­i­ble nation­al park home.

A tru­ly sen­sa­tion­al nation­al park, the won­ders of Yosemite, from the glac­i­er carved val­leys to the thun­der­ous cas­cad­ing water­falls and the tow­er­ing and icon­ic rock for­ma­tions, come togeth­er to cre­ate an untouched and awe-inspir­ing mag­nif­i­cent land­scape, and one that is unques­tion­ably a tru­ly beau­ti­ful won­der of the world.

 

Where:

Sat against the beau­ti­ful Sier­ra Neva­da Moun­tains, the great glac­i­er val­ley of Yosemite is found in the east­ern cen­tral of Cal­i­for­nia in the Unit­ed States – with the near­est towns being Fres­no (1.5 hours away by car) San Fran­cis­co (3.5 hours away by car) and Los Ange­les (6 hours by car) – which means that this incred­i­ble won­der is incred­i­bly easy to get to.

Getting there:

A large­ly untouched and pre­served par­adise, the 750,000 acres of Yosemite – and cer­tain­ly the icons of this incred­i­ble park are incred­i­bly acces­si­ble, thanks in large to the incred­i­ble con­nec­tiv­i­ty and trans­port net­works found across the Unit­ed States and Cal­i­for­nia that aim to make this incred­i­ble won­der of the world explorable for all.

So to start with you’ll need to get your­self to Cal­i­for­nia, and the eas­i­est way is to sim­ply fly into of the state’s many air­ports, with the clos­est being Fres­no air­port – a mere 90 minute dri­ve to Yosemite, and the air­ports of San Fran­cis­co (3 hours) and Los Angles (6 hours) also being well with­in the range of dri­ving to the gates of Yosemite and ser­viced by smooth easy to dri­ve high­ways that will take you to the gates of this Nation­al Park.

By Car:

Once you’ve arrived in Cal­i­for­nia, we’d strong­ly advise hir­ing a car and then head­ing out on the high­ways, con­nect­ing with high­way 120 to reach Yosemite. While there are offi­cial­ly 5 entrances into Yosemite, fol­low­ing high­way 120 will take you into the park onto east­ern pass and up and over the incred­i­ble Tio­ga pass – where stun­ning sweep­ing views – includ­ing those found at tun­nel view and out over Half Dome, El Cap­tain and the rolling val­leys of Yosemite will greet you – for an incred­i­ble way to make your entrance into the park.

For those trav­el­ing by Car, do note you’ll need to pay a car entrance fee of $30 in sum­mer and $25 in win­ter – which goes towards the upkeep and main­te­nance of the park, and for those head­ing to Yosemite in win­ter by car we’d advise pop­ping into a local car shop and pick­ing up a set of win­ter tire chains – as the roads in are known to be icy and cov­ered in snow in the win­ter.

By Train & Bus.

For those who don’t fan­cy dri­ving into Yosemite Nation­al Park, it is pos­si­ble to reach the park in the sum­mer months using a com­bi­na­tion of Amtrak and Bus. To use pub­lic trans­port to get to Yosemite, we’d advise get­ting your­self to Fres­no air­port first – either by flight or by tak­ing an Amtrak from with­in Cal­i­for­nia.

Once at Fres­no Air­port you can then jump on the YARTS bus (Yosemite Area Region­al Trans­porta­tion Sys­tem) – which is a dai­ly bus that runs from Fres­no air­pot and will drop you deep with­in the park at Yosemite vil­lage.

A route only avail­able dur­ing the sum­mer months, the com­bi­na­tion of Amtrak and YARTS offers a great way to reach Yosemite with­out hav­ing to dri­ve, and for those who arrive in the sum­mer months with­out a Car, you’ll find a range of options to get around the park to help you enjoy the max­i­mum Yosemite expe­ri­ence.

Getting around:

Yosemite is blessed with offer­ing trav­el­ers a range of meth­ods to get around, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the sum­mer months – with the park ful­ly explorable by foot, car, bike and even by a ded­i­cat­ed pub­lic bus.

For those with a car, hav­ing made your way into Yosemite vil­lage and along the incred­i­ble Tio­ga pass, you are free to dri­ve you car around the entire­ty of the park – with a dri­ve through the loops of Yosemite being a true high­light for many explores, and being a great way to reach many of the incred­i­ble icons and hik­ing trails. Just be sure to come pre­pared with win­ter chains if dri­ving in the win­ter, and take the roads at a slow and gen­tle pace – espe­cial­ly when dri­ving along glac­i­er road – whose famed steeped curves will chal­lenge your dri­ving abil­i­ty.

Along­side dri­ving the roads, for those vis­it­ing in sum­mer, you’ll find the com­plete­ly free Yosemite shut­tle bus – which can take you all around the park, to both var­i­ous lodges, hik­ing trails and view­ing points. In our view a great way to get around – as it comes with­out the has­sle of hav­ing to find a park­ing spot, the shut­tle sys­tem runs on var­i­ous colour cod­ed loops – one cov­er­ing the whole of the val­ley and oth­ers cov­er­ing the high­lights and grid divid­ed sec­tions of the park – mak­ing for a great way to get around.

As well as using the shut­tle, you can also make use of the ded­i­cat­ed bike trails – that run along­side the pedes­tri­an trail in the park. With Bikes hire­able all year round from a series of ded­i­cat­ed rental shops, cov­er­ing the park on two wheels is a fan­tas­tic way to both get up close and per­son­al to the park – and feel the true free­dom of explor­ing Yosemite as you ride ded­i­cat­ed cycling loops past the icons of Yosemite with the wind and sun on your back, in what is a great way to get around.

Final­ly, no jour­ney to Yosemite would be com­plete with­out tak­ing on one of the many hik­ing trails – from the incred­i­ble and test­ing val­ley loop and upper Yosemite falls, to the gen­tler mist trail and sen­tinel dome hike, to one of the great­est and chal­leng­ing hikes in the world in the Half Dome sum­mit – Yosemite is a true hik­ers dream, and each one of these stun­ning trails, as well as the many paved walk­a­ble roads that line the park, will take you past cas­cad­ing water­falls, stun­ning rock for­ma­tions and give you a chance to take in incred­i­ble sweep­ing views of the mag­nif­i­cent val­leys of Yosemite below – for an absolute­ly fan­tas­tic way to get around and explore the won­der of Yosemite.

 

Best time to Visit:

Yosemite is open all year round – with the spring to Fall months see­ing the parks green val­leys at their peak and the incred­i­ble hik­ing trails in full flow, where­as the win­ter months see a blan­ket of daz­zling snow descend over the park – mak­ing for an incred­i­bly pic­tures – if cold – expe­ri­ence in this stun­ning park.

Owing to a com­bi­na­tion of warmth, acces­si­bil­i­ty and of course beau­ti­ful sights, Yosemite has earned a rep­u­ta­tion of being a ‘Sum­mer’ Nation­al Park, with the park receiv­ing more than 75% of vis­i­tors arriv­ing between May and Octo­ber – and stay­ing con­cen­trat­ed in just 6 miles of the park. The peri­od between May – Octo­ber is also peak hik­ing sea­son with­in Yosemite, with the famed and pop­u­lar Half Dome hike offi­cial­ly open dur­ing these months – so for those com­ing in the spring to fall months, while you can expect warm weath­er and green fields and the icons of Yosemite in full bloom – you’ll also find the parked packed with crowds – and ear­ly reser­va­tions and plan­ning is essen­tial to have an enjoy­able trip.

For those com­ing to Yosemite in the late Fall – Win­ter months – you can expect a com­plete absence of crowds, with the open trails and view­points known to be desert­ed and you’ll find

no short­age of accom­mo­da­tion with­in the park – which can make for a much more enjoy­able and relaxed stay – although do be warned there is lim­it­ed pub­lic trans­port with­in the park – and no pub­lic trans­port to get to the park, with the use of win­ter chains essen­tial for any­one mak­ing the dri­ve into Yosemite in the win­ter months, but for those who want to enjoy the incred­i­ble win­ter views and the free­dom of Yosemite – wrap­ping up warm and com­ing in the win­ter months is the best time to go.

For our rec­om­men­da­tion of the best time to vis­it, based on both the crowds, open­ing of trail, weath­er and for the over­all best of Yosemite we’d rec­om­mend vis­it­ing in the months of either May or Sep­tem­ber – where you’ll find the park open, but peak sum­mer crowd sea­son not yet in full flow and you can (hope­ful­ly!) enjoy the ear­ly access to the hikes in the park – includ­ing half dome – giv­ing you the absolute best expe­ri­ence with­in this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.

How long to stay

A tru­ly incred­i­ble and vast Nation­al Park, Yosemite is an explores – and pho­tog­ra­phers par­adise – with the hun­dreds of thou­sands of acres of flow­ing val­leys, cas­cad­ing water­falls, stun­ning view­points and of course the breath-tak­ing hikes giv­ing explor­ers a true chance to get lost in this true won­der of the world.

For this rea­son – and to give you the best expe­ri­ence in Yosemite to cov­er all of the incred­i­ble sights, we’d advise bud­get­ing at least 6 days for an entire trip to Yosemite – which includes a gen­er­ous half day to both arrive and depart.

Giv­ing your­self these extra days will account not only for the occa­sion­al spot of bad weath­er, but will tru­ly you give the chance to explore the full icons of Yosemite and allow you to get momen­tar­i­ly lost in the sheer beau­ty of this stun­ning won­der – so we’d advise as a min­i­mum spend­ing 6 days – but if your sched­ule and bud­get allows then more time spent in Yosemite is always a bonus.

 

Top Tip

Yosemite is tru­ly beau­ti­ful and with so many hik­ing trails, view­ing points, water­falls and rock for­ma­tion to dis­cov­er cov­er­ing all the high­lights of this incred­i­ble won­der can seem daunt­ing, so we’ve put togeth­er some top tip to help make sure your Yosemite expe­ri­ence is as enjoy­able as pos­si­ble and to help you have the best pos­si­ble expe­ri­ence in this incred­i­ble park:

- As a first top tip we’d real­ly advise dri­ving to Yosemite if pos­si­ble. While dri­ving in a for­eign coun­try can seem daunt­ing, the roads in Amer­i­ca and into Yosemite are well main­tained smooth and in an almost one-way direc­tion – mak­ing it easy dri­ving. Along­side this the route into the park along High­way 120 and along the Tio­ga pass is sim­ply stun­ning and this scenic dri­ve – which takes you past some of the icons of Yosemite is undoubt­ed­ly one of the high­lights of the park. More­over, though hav­ing your own car in Yosemite gives you the free­dom to dri­ve around the park and reach a range of trail­heads and view­ing points –

which can real­ly add to a stress free and ease of access when it comes to vis­it­ing this park – so we’d real­ly advise vis­it­ing Yosemite in a car if pos­si­ble.

- A trip to Yosemite can also be made or bro­ken by the time you vis­it – with the noto­ri­ous crowds in the sum­mer months hav­ing the abil­i­ty to real­ly take the edge off any vis­it and caus­ing view­ing points, hikes, roads and accom­mo­da­tion to be con­sumed with traf­fic, real­ly tak­ing the edge off any trip to Yosemite – so it’s essen­tial­ly you plan in advance to arrive out­side of the peak sum­mer months – with our rec­om­men­da­tion being to vis­it in the months of May or Sep­tem­ber – where you can enjoy the warmth of sum­mer but with­out the peak crowd rush.

- We’d also advise stay­ing for at least 6 days in the park – and comb­ing these days with a series of ear­ly starts to wit­ness the incred­i­ble sun­rise (around 6:45am) and a series of sun­sets (7pm) – while rotat­ing your view­ing points between Glac­i­er Point, Sen­tinel Dome and Tun­nel view amongst oth­ers – with trip to these view­ing points at sun­rise and sun­set giv­ing you not only breath-tak­ing sun inspired illu­sions and scenery but also giv­ing you mag­i­cal pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties with­in the park.

- You’ll also need to be aware of the more than 400 species of ani­mals that call the park home – and in par­tic­u­lar­ly the black bears that roman the park – with their being strict instruc­tions not to approach bears – or let them approach you as they are known to be aggres­sive and mak­ing sure that all food and sup­plies are prop­er­ly stored and secured to pro­tect both your­self and your belong­ings from bears.

- Final­ly it’s impor­tant to book some parts of your trip to Yosemite well in advance – includ­ing both accom­mo­da­tion (for those stay­ing in hotels with­in the park) and par­tic­u­lar­ly the half dome hike for those want­i­ng to make the climb – with the pop­u­lar­i­ty of Half Dome now see­ing reser­va­tions required for any­one want­i­ng to take on this hike dur­ing the offi­cial hik­ing sea­son between May and Octo­ber – which is an expe­ri­ence we real­ly rec­om­mend to con­quer and stand atop this true icon of Yosemite and have the absolute best expe­ri­ence in the incred­i­ble Yosemite val­ley.

 

Cost:

Thanks to the ease of access and the range of pub­lic trans­port, com­bined with Yosemite being a Nation­al Park with both camp­ing and hotel options Yosemite is a won­der that can accom­mo­date trav­ellers on a range of bud­gets.

In fact you’re biggest expense will like­ly be get­ting to Cal­i­for­nia – espe­cial­ly for those trav­ellers based out­side of North Amer­i­ca, with fly­ing into the air­ports of Fres­no, Los Ange­les or San Fran­sis­co like­ly to set you back at least $500. For those oper­at­ing on a much tighter bud­get we’d advise you to take the cheap­est flight into the Unit­ed States regard­less of which state you arrive and then assess both flights, bus and Amtrak to see if you can savce on get­ting to Yosemite.

It’s also a great idea to book flights in advance to cut back on costs and the same applies for accom­mo­da­tion as well – with the aver­age hotel price in Yosemite com­ing in at between $50 Usd — $100 Usd depend­ing on the sea­son you vis­it, with sum­mer rooms known to book up fast. You’ll also find camp sites avail­able in the park – which again require a reser­va­tion and can cost any­where between $5 — $20 a night – although of course you’ll have to bring your own tent.

For those who take a car into Yosemite the aver­age car rental is $80 Usd a day – although this can drop to $40 Usd depend­ing on the make of car, and for those trav­el­ling in win­ter we’d advise to hire a nor­mal car and sim­ply buy snow chains from one of the many super­mar­kets or local shops to make things easy and save a cou­ple of dol­lars.

For those dri­ving into the Park also be warned that Yosemite has entrance fees that are paid on your approach into Yosemite, with these entrance fees cost­ing $35 a vehi­cle or $30 for a motor­cy­cle, with the fees from these entrance fees going towards the upkeep and main­te­nance of the park.

We’d also advise set­ting aside some dol­lars for a food bud­get – with Yosemite hav­ing its own restau­rants and super­mar­kets found near the vis­i­tor cen­tre and of course peo­ple advised to bring with them plen­ty of trail snacks and food to ensure they are fit and ready to go to take on the hikes and sights of Yosemite. For this rea­son, we’d rec­om­mend either bud­get­ing $40 a day for eat­ing with­in the park or plan­ning ahead with plen­ty of packed food – in which case you can reduce your food bud­get to between $10 — $40 Usd per per­son.

Bud­get­ing as well an extra $20 a day for activ­i­ties – such as bike hire, muse­um entrance and the occa­sion­al cof­fee, we’d advise set­ting aside $750 Usd as base for vis­it­ing Yosemite and then adding on extra $50 to $170 Usd for each extra day you spend based on your choice of lux­u­ry, food and hotel – mak­ing Yosemite an incred­i­bly afford­able won­der of the world.

Fun Fact:

As well as being a stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful won­der of the world and one thank­ful­ly enshrined with pro­tec­tion to guar­an­tee its beau­ty can be enjoyed by future gen­er­a­tions, Yosemite was also the cat­a­lyst for a series of nation­al park acts that sought to pre­serve Nation­al Parks all across Amer­i­ca – includ­ing the Grand Canyon, Joshua tree and Bryce canyon – mean­ing that such is the beau­ty of Yosemite that not only is this incred­i­ble park one that will be for­ev­er pro­tect­ed but that it helped ensure the same leg­isla­tive pro­tec­tion to oth­er incred­i­ble nation­al parks across Amer­i­ca.

 

Explore / Best photo spot:

With rolling mead­ows, lush green val­leys, and some of the most stun­ning water­falls, hikes, domes and stun­ning nat­ur­al panoram­ic scenery on the plan­et, Yosemite Val­ley is a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream and one of the great­est spots on the plan­et to cap­ture the best of the world’s most mag­nif­i­cent nat­ur­al land­scapes.

Spec­tac­u­lar in both the sum­mer sea­son – where you’ll find the green sun kissed val­leys and mag­i­cal sun­sets in full bloom as well as ‘offi­cial’ access to stun­ning look­outs such as half dome and glac­i­er point for those incred­i­ble panora­ma vista views – and in the win­ter, where the beau­ty of snow sea­son drapes a white blan­ket over the val­ley mak­ing the water­falls, domes and val­leys tru­ly mag­i­cal – there’s tru­ly no bad time to vis­it the won­der of Yosemite to snap incred­i­ble pho­tos.

Yosemite also offers a race chance to cap­ture some of the world’s most elu­sive wildlife, with the val­leys being home to mul­ti­ple species of rare and curi­ous ani­mals — includ­ing fam­i­lies of bears. This unique habi­tat com­bined with the mul­ti­ple beau­ty spots and more than 750,000 acres of incred­i­ble scenery that make up Yosemite can leave explor­ers and pho­tog­ra­phers tru­ly spoiled for choice as the best spots to pick to cap­ture the won­der of Yosemite, so to make things easy we’ve picked out our top pick for the best pho­to spots and moment to allow you to cap­ture the true beau­ty of this mag­nif­i­cent won­der of the world:

Tunnel View Viewpoint

Start­ing with the clas­sic and icon view of Yosemite Val­ley – the view from Tun­nel view – which greets explor­ers as they arrive into the val­ley is tru­ly sen­sa­tion­al and allow you to cap­ture noy only sweep­ing views over the val­leys of Yosemite – but the main and beau­ti­ful spots – includ­ing the tow­er­ing peaks of Half Dome and El Cap­tain, the beau­ty falls of Bridal veil and Yosemite and out over the lush green val­leys and clear blue skies for an incred­i­ble panoram­ic shot.

Often the first view­point that explor­ers arriv­ing into Yosemite val­ley come across, the views from Tun­nel view, as well as being spe­cial offer an overview of the lay­out of the val­ley – and are known to leave explor­ers in awe of the scale and size of both the domes, water­falls and forests – offer­ing an imme­di­ate intro­duc­tion into the lay­out and beau­ty of Yosemite.

A pop­u­lar spot for astrol­o­gy fans – with the clear and unpol­lut­ed skies offer­ing per­fect con­di­tions for astrol­o­gy fans to spot con­stel­la­tions, the views from Tun­nel point are ‘the pho­to’ to take in Yosemite – Tun­nel view comes with its own carpark and pull in – which you’ll find is almost always busy and a hotspot for coach­es dur­ing the day and sum­mer months, there­fore we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the view­point at either sun­rise – where you can watch the val­ley come to life with the ris­ing sun or at sun­set – where the descend­ing sun light up both the val­ley and the rock for­ma­tions and water­falls for a tru­ly spe­cial shot and one that lets you cap­ture the full beau­ty and mag­ic of Yosemite.

Inspiration Point

Tru­ly liv­ing up to its name – inspi­ra­tion point is found just beyond Tun­nel view – with equal­ly stun­ning views but owing to its posi­tion past Tun­nel View com­ing with much few­er crowds – mak­ing for a per­fect spot for those who want to enjoy the beau­ty of Yosemite Val­ley in soli­tude.

A rec­om­mend­ed spot for tak­ing in the clas­sic view of Yosemite dur­ing the day dur­ing the sum­mer months, you can expect the same views out over Half Dome, El Cap­tain and Bridal veil falls from Inspi­ra­tion point, but thanks to the ele­va­tion gain along the road, the view from inspi­ra­tion point will see you perched high­er than those below you at Tun­nel view – mak­ing for in our view an equal­ly if not more impres­sive view of the val­ley below.

Anoth­er fan­tas­tic spot to take in the incred­i­ble Yosemite val­leys sun­set and sun­rise – and anoth­er treat for astrologers and astronomers alike, the view from Inspi­ra­tion point are tru­ly breath-tak­ing – and will no doubt leave pho­tog­ra­phers with true inspi­ra­tion when it comes to snap­ping this immense won­der of the world.

 

Glacier Point (and Glacier Point Road)

Two look­outs for the price of one ! – the incred­i­ble look­out of Glac­i­er Point is reached along the apt­ly named Glac­i­er Point Road, with the views along this stun­ning road requir­ing every explor­er and pho­to­graph hunter hav­ing to pull in to cap­ture the incred­i­ble scenery.

Acces­si­ble by car, bike, shut­tle bus or on a four mile hike, the jour­ney towards Glac­i­er point road is eas­i­ly found from the vis­i­tor cen­tre of Yosemite, and as you jour­ney up it you’ll find your­self slow­ly ascend­ing some 3,200 feet above the val­ley below- and thanks to the sharp U‑turn switch­back you’ll encounter dur­ing the road you’ll be treat­ed to incred­i­ble shot of half dome set against the forests of Yosemite – for a tru­ly spe­cial shot.

Fol­low­ing the road round and you’ll even­tu­al­ly reach the view­point of Glac­i­er Point – which thanks to its high ele­va­tion offers a stun­ning shot direct­ly out over Half Dome – which is set against a series of incred­i­ble water­falls, the sweep­ing val­ley below and the tow­er­ing High Sier­ras for a tru­ly incred­i­ble pho­to shot.

A pop­u­lar spot – and one we’d advise vis­it­ing either first thing or at sun­set for spec­tac­u­lar views of the val­ley glow­ing below you, Glac­i­er point is offi­cial­ly a sum­mer only view­ing spot, with the road being open only between May and Novem­ber – so for those who are for­tu­nate to visist Yosemite between Spring an Autumn we’d advise mak­ing sure you put the incred­i­ble views from Glac­i­er Point on your buck­et list for Yosemite and cap­ture the incred­i­ble views of this true won­der of the world from one of the best spots in the either val­ley.

Sentinel Dome Viewing Point

One of our favourite hikes and views across Yosemite – the views from the top of Sen­tinel dome are tru­ly incred­i­ble – with explor­ers treat­ed to 360 degree full panoram­ic views – which encom­pass views of Half Dome, the Yosemite and Bridalveil falls, el cap­tain and down into the Yosemite Val­ley – for what is one of the most amaz­ing and inspir­ing views and incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties across the whole of the nation­al park.

Requir­ing a brisk and scenic 1.1‑mile hike (one way) to the over­look, which itself is a one of the high­lights of Yosemite, sen­tinel dome is undoubt­ed­ly and under­val­ued over­look – with the com­bi­na­tion of the near­by Taft Point and the require­ment for both a walk and a hike on a Dome, con­tribut­ing to this incred­i­ble van­tage point being blessed with often min­i­mal crowds – which in our book makes it par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial when it comes to snap­ping great pho­tos.

A great spot to get a full fac­ing view of Half Dome – espe­cial­ly if you cross the Sen­tinel Bridge on your way to view­ing potin where you can see the might dome reflect­ed in the Merced Riv­er – for a bonus spe­cial pho­to spot, the views from the Sen­tinel Dome View­ing point are par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial at sun­rise – where you can watch the sun not only bring the val­ley below you to life, but take in spe­cial panoram­ic shots of the morn­ing light light­ing up the whole of the Nation­al Park – a phe­nom­e­non only matched by the glo­ri­ous sun­set that gives the reverse effect, for those who want incred­i­ble views of the beau­ty of Yosemite Val­ley – with (hope­ful­ly !) reduced crowds, then we’d real­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing your cam­era and head­ing up to the top of Sen­tinel Dome for both incred­i­ble views and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.

Taft Point

The more pop­u­lar sis­ter of Sen­tinel Dome, Taft point is equal­ly, if not more so, stun­ning, with access to the point requir­ing a one mile hike this time along the stun­ning Glac­i­er Point Road up past the mes­meris­ing views of half dome to Taft Point – where, thanks to a notice­able absence of bar­ri­ers you can perch on one of the cliff edges of Taft Point and stare out and snap the full beau­ty of Yosemite Val­ley before you.

Often con­sid­ered the most stun­ning spot for pho­tos, the views from the cliff edge are sim­ply spec­tac­u­lar – with the view cen­tred on the tow­er­ing icon of Yosemite El Cap­tain which is backed by the Mer­cer Riv­er run­ning deep into the val­ley below – for a tru­ly great shot.

Accom­pa­nied as well by a series of view­points that are more secure than hang­ing off a cliff edge – for those who want to bal­ance their cam­eras to get the ulti­mate shot – Taft point is like­ly to be pop­u­lar any time of day, so we’d advise com­ing here on hour or before either sun­rise and sun­set – to get a good posi­tion and then sit on the cliff edges and watch and snap pho­tos as the skies over Yosemite turn a deep yel­low and orange and the great El Cap­tain before you reflects the sun – cre­at­ing a mirage of the dome being set on fire – for a tru­ly spe­cial shot of one of the won­ders of Yosemite.

El Captain Meadow

Mov­ing from the panoram­ic ariel views of Taft Point and Sen­tinel Dome over El Cap­tain to the direct on the ground view of El Cap­tain – and pho­tog­ra­phers and explor­ers can cap­ture the full scale and beau­ty of this incred­i­ble 2,308-metre-tall dome from the ground at the beau­ti­ful and serene mead­ows that lay next to the dome – which are apt­ly called the El Cap­tain mead­ow.

Offer­ing a great spot all year round, the mead­ow pro­vides a lush sweep­ing par­adise of green­ery, flo­ra and flow­ers which per­fect­ly com­ple­ments the strik­ing El Cap­tain in the dis­tance – and which makes for a stun­ning pho­to giv­ing you the twin beau­ty spots of the El cap­tain mead­ow against the rock dome.

A pop­u­lar spot in the sum­mer for peo­ple to come and pic­nic – and watch the climbers attempt­ing to scale El Cap­tain, thanks to the impos­ing scale of this icon­ic dome the mead­ows of El Cap­tain are eas­i­ly found and can be eas­i­ly reached on foot, bike or by car – mak­ing it one of the most beau­ti­ful and eas­i­ly acces­si­ble spots in the park and a great place to snap the full won­der of El Cap­tain in all its glo­ry.

Half Dome Peak

Mov­ing from the won­der of El Cap­tain to the won­der of Half Dome, and while you can cap­ture stun­ning views of this incred­i­ble peak from Glac­i­er Point and Tun­nel view – there’s tru­ly noth­ing like the view from the top of this incred­i­ble peak – which is reached by 10–12

hours of trekking and see’s you ascend over tough steep rocks, over moun­tain­ous stairs, through lush green val­leys, past cas­cad­ing water­falls and scale the side of the dome (with the help of adren­a­line rush­ing cables) to the top of this 2,696 metre dome – from where you can look out over the won­der of Yosemite Val­ley below you.

A tru­ly spe­cial view­point – and one that allows you to take the ulti­mate panoram­ic shot of the won­der of Yosemite (with birds eye views of El Cap­tain, Yosemite falls and the mead­ows and the sweep­ing val­leys below you) as well as some tru­ly spe­cial shots on the hike to the top, the ascend to the peak of Half Dome is not for the light heart­ed – with this trek being con­sid­ered one of the most dan­ger­ous and chal­leng­ing day treks on the plan­et.

Offi­cial­ly only acces­si­ble between late May to Octo­ber, where the sup­port cables need­ed to access the peak are in place, the leg­end of sum­mit­ing the peak of Half Dome both for the thrill of accom­plish­ing it and for the beau­ti­ful views on the way and up to the top has meant that a per­mit process is in place to con­trol crowds – so you’ll have to apply well in advance to get a spot to hike to the top.

But for those who make the climb and con­quer half dome you are treat­ed to not only one of the world’s great hikes – but absolute­ly incred­i­ble views from the sum­mit and one of the absolute best views out over Yosemite Val­ley, for the ulti­mate hik­ing, Yosemite and pho­to­graph expe­ri­ence in this amaz­ing won­der of the world.

Bridalveil Falls

Switch­ing from the great val­leys to the water­falls – Bridalveil falls is one of the most beau­ti­ful and spe­cial water­falls across the Nation­al Park, with the sight of this 189-meter water­fall crash­ing down into the val­ley below being not only a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar sight but mak­ing for one of the great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties across the whole of Yosemite.

One of the first of the great water­falls that meets explor­ers when enter­ing into the park, Bridalveil falls is blessed to be open year-round, and while you can snap pho­tos from the spots of Tun­nel View and across the valley’s mead­ows, we’d rec­om­mend get­ting up close and per­son­al to the falls e tak­ing on the half mile Bridalveil Falls trail – or the extend­ed val­ley loop – to reach both an incred­i­ble view­ing obser­va­tion deck and take in the full scale and beau­ty of these spec­tac­u­lar falls.

Snapped well as well from the car park of the Bridalveil Falls trail – where you can get a close shot of the falls against the beau­ty of the val­ley, the Bridalveil falls stand both as a reminder of his­toric glac­i­ers that once cov­ered the park – that have since melt­ed to cre­ate the floor of the val­leys – as well as one of the most stun­ning sights across the whole of Yosemite, and is unques­tion­ably one of the must snap pho­tos in this stun­ning won­der of the world.

Mirror lake

Incred­i­bly well named, Mir­ror Lake offers the ulti­mate reflec­tion pho­to across Yosemite and is a tru­ly spe­cial place to get a mag­i­cal pho­to of the mag­nif­i­cent Half Dome set across the sway­ing trees and sweep­ing val­leys and mead­ows of Yosemite.

Found fol­low­ing a short hike from the val­ley of Yosemite – along the mir­ror lake tri­al, or on the val­ley loop, Mir­ror lake is a pop­u­lar spot – and one where you may have to wait your turn to get the per­fect pho­to, with top qual­i­ty views and stun­ning pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties on offer here hav­ing made the lake both a crowd­ed and must have pho­to spot.

Acces­si­ble all year round – and par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial in ear­ly spring, when the snow and ice slow­ly melt giv­ing the lake per­fect vol­ume – we’d rec­om­mend head­ing to the lake at sun­rise – where not only will the crowds be at a min­i­mum, but you’ll get to see the beau­ti­ful sun­rise reflect in mir­ror lake as it lights up the won­der of Half Dome – for a tru­ly spe­cial shot.

Yosemite Falls (Lower and Upper)

One of the true icons of Yosemite – and also one of the tallest water­falls in Amer­i­ca – clock­ing in at a thun­der­ous 1,647 metres, the beau­ty of Yosemite falls – which is split into the low­er and upper falls is sim­ply breath-tak­ing – and makes for one of the most gor­geous and spe­cial pho­tos across the whole of Yosemite.

Vis­i­ble – and snapped from var­i­ous view­points across the Nation­al Park – includ­ing tun­nel view and glac­i­er point – more atten­tion is paid to the sparkling low­er falls when it comes to explor­ing and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties, in large due to the ease of access, with the hike to the base of the falls being eas­i­ly acces­si­ble on a short hike – and giv­ing you a chance to snap this stun­ning scenery with the falls head­ing down into the pool below backed some of the most pris­tine wood­lands across the whole of Yosemite for a mag­i­cal pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty.

For those want­i­ng to explore – and snap the upper falls – which are equal­ly stun­ning, we’d advise head­ing to the gor­geous fields of Stone­man Mead­ow or to the peak of Sen­tinel Dome – where you can cap­ture the full beau­ty of the falls in full flow, or for those who want to trly stand atop one of the high­est water­fall across Amer­i­ca, you can take on the upper falls trail – which is a chal­leng­ing 8 hour trek to the top of these incred­i­ble falls – and both look down at the thun­der­ous falls below you and look out over the beau­ty of Yosemite val­ley for a tru­ly spe­cial shot.

A mag­i­cal water­fall, we’d advise com­ing to the low­er falls basin both at sun­rise – and if pos­si­ble head to the base of Yosemite falls after dark in spring and sum­mer – where the rare phe­nom­e­non of a rain­bow at night can be vis­i­ble against the back­drop of the falls – which makes for a tru­ly mag­i­cal pho­to shot – and one of the most unknown but spe­cial shot in the whole of this incred­i­ble nation­al park.

Sunset at the overlooks:

As well as vis­it­ing the incred­i­ble over­looks dur­ing the day to cap­ture the full green or win­ter snow nestling over the rocks, water­falls and val­leys of Yosemite – we’d strong­ly encour­age you to vis­it the view­points – espe­cial­ly tun­nel view­point, Glac­i­er Point and El cap­tain at sun­set — where thanks to the com­bi­na­tion of the ris­ing full man and the glow­ing descend­ing sun you are treat­ed to a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar sight and one of the great­est pho­tos of this incred­i­ble won­der.

So spe­cial is the val­ley at sun­set, that if you are lucky enough to look out on a clear day, you’ll be treat­ed not just to a mirage of colour but also the illu­mi­na­tion of the gran­ite rock for­ma­tions – includ­ing the famed Half Dome and El Cap­tain, with the twin effects of the moon and sun cre­at­ing a burn­ing fire effect against the rock – giv­ing the impres­sion that the val­ley is on fire – for one of the most spec­tac­u­lar nat­ur­al effects over the incred­i­ble val­ley.

A tru­ly spe­cial shot – and one that has been affec­tion­ate­ly named ‘The Yosemite Fire­fall’ the leg­end of the beau­ty of this shot has grown – with peo­ple known to park up or hike to the view­ing spots hours in advance – and com­ing pre­pared with pic­nics galore and the occa­sion­al glass of bub­bly.

So for those seek­ing to cap­ture a tru­ly stun­ning shot – we’d advise to be at either Tun­nel Point or Glac­i­er Point at sun­set an hour before sun­rise – and come pre­pared with a cou­ple of snacks and a glass of some­thing spe­cial to drink – and then take in, toast and pho­to­graph the incred­i­ble glow­ing sun­set over the true won­der of the world that is Yosemite Val­ley.