Yosemite Recommendations?

Craig:

How much hiking can you do in a day?  It’s helps in making recommendation as I’d hate to recommend a 18 mile day hike when you may only want to go 8.  For me Clouds Rest is much preferred over Half Dome and Sentinel Dome; Clouds Rest is above Half Dome and has much better overall views and considerably fewer people.  From Cloud’s Rest you get a breathtaking 360-degree view of Tenaya, Tenaya Canyon, Yosemite Valley, North Dome, El Capitan, and Half Dome.

Kenneth,

Thanks that’s exactly the kind of hike I want to hear about.

I’m fine this year upto 26 mile/day. Upto 4000 ft elevation gain. Would like this trip to be more casual so 8-18 preferred. With the higher range only as needed for great destinations.

I agree that Clouds Rest is great and involves far fewer hassles than Half dome. But, going up the cables once is pretty cool.

Bu what about staying in Tuolumne Meadows instead? Fewer crowds, great day hikes. Far more opportunities for going off trail.

p.s. Yosemite Falls is actually a very great hike–especially early in the year. Get a very early start–as in, 5 a.m.–and you’ll enjoy it that much more.

Craig:

What time of year are you going?  The waterfalls are beautiful in spring and early summer, not so much in late summer and fall.  How many hikes do you want to do and how long do you plan on staying? Another option for pulling permits is obtaining a permit outside of Yosemite, say Silver Lakes, taking two days to hike in over Donohue Pass reaching TM and then pretty much having unlimited access to all of Yosemite.   Or pull a permit to the less used Trail Heads in Yosemite and then accessing the more popular sites(except Half-Dome). Sure, the less popular trailheads are not going to be as spectacular, but in a 1/2 day of hiking you can easily be in the best spots.

Last week I hiked out of Agnew Meadows, over Donohue Pass to TM, then took the Shuttle to Sunrise Trail Head(West end of Tenaya Lake) went to Clouds Rest, then camped below Half Dome, then up Panorama Trail to Glacier Point, then took the Four Mile Hike down to the Valley Floor.  Beautiful hike, but the last portion after Half Dome wouldn’t have been as enjoyable if the water falls had not been flowing.

Our favorite Day Hikes in Yosemite:

Clouds Rest

Dewey Point from Sentinel Dome

May Lake & Mt, Hoffman.

North Dome from Porcupine Flat.

Plus all the good stuff in Tuolumne Meadows:  Gaylor Lakes, Pothole Dome, Cathedral lakes, etc.

Permits are pretty easy if you have three days.   The deal is on night one you have to leave at a specific trailhead and head a certain direction.  If there are permits that work for you, great. If not,  day hiking Up to 26 miles lets you take almost any trail head, hit a junction, and start making progress towards your ideal trip,

the new online reservation  system is expensive, but will let you reserve an overnight permit if any are available from your desired trail heads.

Check out white wolf, tuolumne, etc too for look start and end options.

“What time of year are you going?  The waterfalls are beautiful in spring and early summer, not so much in late summer and fall.  How many hikes do you want to do and how long do you plan on staying?”

I just scored cheap plane tickets a couple days ago. I fly in Saturday Morning. Staying July 2-6. I’m expecting holiday mobs. With the lack of time for planning a real backpacking circuit I was planning on leap frogging around to see a bunch of random stuff. I’m expecting any and all reservable permits are long gone. But I’ll double check the lakes since that would be nice.

My recommendations for day hikes are below, assuming you’ve never been to Yosemite and would like to see all the major attractions:

Clouds Rest from Sunrise Trail Head(quiet, few people, fantastic views).  I’d give this the #1 recommendation, you won’t be disappointed.

Mist trail(Happy Trail to Nevada Falls, then Panorama Trail to Glacier Point then 4 Mile Hike to Valley(Mist trail is going to be crowed, lots of tourists).  Beautiful view of Nevada and Vernal Falls.  Easier method, take bus to Glacier Point, then hike down Panorama and Mist Trails).  This route is not the typical remote back-country route, it’s going to be busy, but it has some beautiful views.

Yosemite Falls: After viewing top of falls, head east to Yosemite Point for better views of the eastern end of the valley.

There’s other great hikes out of TM, I’ll let others recommend those hikes.

For permits, you’d be surprise how sometimes they’re available.  In 2014 I pulled two JMT permits at 3PM on July 5 for that day.

Where are you staying?  Not sure if you’ll be able to find a place for a decent price.  If you pull a permit for a remote, seldom used trail head you can use the backpacker’s campsites in the Valley for the day before and the day of leaving.