Day Trip to Yosemite

Yosemite National Park is one of the west coast’s most popular attractions with about 4 million visitors per year. Here is an itinerary with options for how to spend a day in the park!

When to visit.

Yosemite is open all-year-round, however, snow in the winter makes it difficult to travel to with many road closures in the park. Road closures would also mean you couldn’t drive up to some notable vista points, like Glacier Point and Taft Point.

The busiest time for tourism in the park is generally June through August. I would recommend going in early May when the roads re-open to avoid the crowds. May is also a great time to go because the snowpack has begun to melt and make its way through the numerous waterfalls of Yosemite. September is another month I recommend to go if you want to avoid the busy season, but note that the waterfalls might not be flowing. If you do end up visiting in the summer when it’s busy, I recommend getting in as early as you can to avoid crowds. The earlier, the better.

Getting there.

For coming from out of state, travel to Yosemite involves flying into either Fresno, San Francisco, or Sacramento airport and renting a car. Fresno would be the closest airport. From there, it’s about an hour-and-a-half to drive to Yosemite.

I happen to live in Central Valley, so my family frequently takes day trips to the park by car. It’s about two hours from the Modesto area, and then an additional half hour or so from the ranger station at the park entrance to the valley floor. We usually leave around 6AM to get into the park early.

Itinerary.

I always start with Bridalveil Fall. This waterfall is one of the first things you’ll encounter when you get into the Yosemite Valley, and is an easy sight to see. It’s a short five-minute walk to the waterfall from the parking lot. Bridalveil is one of the more prominent waterfalls in Yosemite, and drops from a height of 617 feet.

On the drive just after the Bridalveil Fall parking area, is a great view of El Capitan. We always pull over to stop and take pictures (make sure it’s a part of the road with parking spots alongside it). This rock formation is about 3,000 feet from base to summit and a popular attraction for rock climbers. It’s also the subject of the Oscar-winning rock-climbing documentary, Free Solo.

• 

• 

• 

The Mist Trail/Vernal Falls. This is by far my favorite hike and an easy one to tackle on a day trip to the park. After driving through the valley floor, we park either at Curry Village or Happy Isles Nature Center to get as close to the trailhead as possible. There’s no dedicated parking area for the trailhead, so Happy Isles would the closest parking lot, or take the shuttle to the Happy Isles stop. The Mist Trail goes to Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls, and eventually Half Dome. I have only done the hike to Vernal Falls and back, which is just under 3 miles and about 3 hours roundtrip. (I do take a lot of breaks though, so you can definitely accomplish it in closer to 2). You want to get started on this trail before 9AM if you want to avoid the crowds. You can hike just to the footbridge, which has a view of Vernal Falls from a distance, or you can continue on for .3 miles to get to the top of the waterfall. Keep in mind the .3 is almost all stairs. I always forget how little cardio I do when I have to climb them (there are over 600 stairs). Take breaks as you go and enjoy the views as you climb up!

• 

• 

• 

• 

You can of course continue on with this hike to reach Nevada Falls (5-6 hours) or Half Dome (10-12) and make a day out just the Mist Trail, but in the interest of time I have always opted to go see more of the park instead.

After finishing this hike, I’m always ready to eat lunch. It’s a short drive over to the village store, where there are plenty of food options (Village Grill, Degnan’s, etc) and the village store is basically a small grocery store with everything you could need (plus a gift shop). There’s plenty of picnic tables to eat at outdoors and a short walk away is an area with a visitor center, theater, photography gallery, and museum. I usually bring a sandwich in a cooler with some snacks for my lunch and eat around this area.

After finishing lunch and doing all my souvenir shopping at the village store, we take a drive over to Yosemite Falls. Our last trip was in late September so the falls were unfortunately not running. When the waterfalls are running, however, it’s one of the main sights to see in the park. There’s parking on the street and a parking lot not too far away (as well as Shuttle stop 6) and it’s an easy, flat walk to the Lower Yosemite Falls (about ten minutes).

After seeing Lower Yosemite, walk across the road to Cook’s Meadow. This area is a nice, short walk and has great photo opportunities and views of Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, etc. The boardwalk goes across the meadow, and you can loop around for a mile-long walk if you choose to follow it around.

• 

• 

• 

• 

At this point, you have a few options on how to spend the rest of your day:

You can drive for an hour to a view like Glacier Point, Taft Point, or Sentinel Dome, which are all fantastic views of Yosemite from high up above the valley. Here is the view from Sentinel Dome, which is an hour drive + a short hike (2mi roundtrip) that delivers perfect views:

Another option you have for the afternoon is to do another hike from the valley floor. If you’re up for something a bit strenuous, you can hike up to Columbia Rock, which is 3 mile round trip from the Lower Yosemite Falls trailhead. This hike has a great view of Half Dome, and the option to continue further up for a view of Upper Yosemite Falls, or to reach the top of Yosemite Falls! I don’t recommend trying to do the top of Yosemite Falls if you’re starting this in the afternoon though, as the roundtrip hiking time is roughly 6-8 hours.

If you aren’t down for Columbia Rock, you can certainly do an easier scenic walk like Mirror Lake. For this, you would park back at Happy Isle or Curry Village like you would for the Mist Trail (or Shuttle Stop 17). It’s a flat walk that’s under 3 miles to the lake and back, or 5 miles to do the path around the lake. Mirror lake gets its name from the way it shows Half Dome and the neighboring rock formations in its reflection. This is a nice view and relaxing place to set a blanket down and picnic, but please note that the lake is only full during the spring. The rest of the year, it’s referred to “Mirror Meadow” as there is no water where the lake typically is.

After one of these options for the afternoon, it’s typically time to head home and grab dinner along the way. Following this itinerary, you can get some good hiking in, and a nice sampler of the Yosemite Views. I hope this post helped you in planning a trip to Yosemite!