The guide
Yosemite
California, USA — the Sierra Nevada
Tunnel View, on Wawona Road: El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall in one panorama. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Getting there
The closest airport is Fresno-Yosemite International, about two and a half hours' drive from Yosemite Valley. San Francisco is roughly four hours away and Sacramento about three and a half, and from each you can drive or connect to the YARTS buses that run into the park. Once you are inside, a free shuttle loops around the valley, which makes it easy to leave the car parked.
Famous for
Yosemite Valley's granite walls are the headline act. El Capitan is the giant of the valley — a towering wall of granite that draws climbers from all over the world. Across the valley rises Half Dome, the park's most famous granite peak; the cable route to its summit needs a permit and is famously strenuous. And then there is the water: Yosemite Falls drops 2,425 feet in three tiers, making it the tallest waterfall in North America, at its thundering best in late spring when the snow is melting.
Half Dome from Glacier Point at sunset. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Where to stay & eat
- The valley lodges — a handful of historic lodges and cabins sit right in the heart of the park, steps from the meadows and trailheads.
- Campgrounds — big, sociable campgrounds in the valley and the high country; bring a warm layer even in summer.
- Gateway towns — family-run motels, diners and grocery stops in the small towns outside each entrance, handy for stocking up before you drive in.
What to do
Yosemite Falls in full spring flow. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
- Tunnel View — the classic first look at the valley, just off Wawona Road, with El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall all in one frame.
- Yosemite Falls — stroll the easy path to the foot of the lower fall, or take on the long, steep climb to the top of the upper fall if your legs are up for it.
- Glacier Point — the grand balcony above the valley, looking straight at Half Dome; the road up is open in the warmer months.
- Mariposa Grove — wander among more than 500 giant sequoias, including the ancient Grizzly Giant.
- Watch the wildlife — dawn and dusk in the valley meadows are the best times to spot mule deer and, with luck, a black bear.
A black bear foraging in a valley meadow — the park is home to a few hundred of them. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
The Grizzly Giant in Mariposa Grove. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Animals you might see
The valley is home to some 300 to 500 black bears — despite the name, their coats are often brownish. Mule deer graze the meadows at dawn and dusk, coyotes trot the quiet roads, and the park's 262-plus bird species include noisy Steller's jays and peregrine falcons nesting on the high cliffs. Give every animal space, never feed anything, and enjoy the show through binoculars.
Jess's favouriteDawn in the meadow
Get up early, find a quiet spot at the edge of a valley meadow, and just sit. The mule deer come out first, then the jays start their racket — and if you are very lucky, a bear ambles across the grass like it owns the place (it does). A zookeeper never rushes a sighting.
Good to know: waterfall flow peaks with the spring snowmelt and can dwindle by late summer. This is serious bear country: store all food and scented items in the park's bear-proof containers, never leave food in cars, and never approach or feed a bear. Check nps.gov for current reservation and permit requirements before you go.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (public-domain and Creative Commons licensed).
Parks change: roads, reservations and opening dates in these guides were checked at the time of writing — always check nps.gov before you go.
Read Jess's journal ↓
Jess's journal
Yosemite: granite giants and a bear in the meadow
Summer, eight years ago
We came over the mountains on Wawona Road, and then the road ducked into a tunnel — and when we burst out the other side, Dad just said, “There. That's the one I've been telling you about.” The whole valley was laid out in front of us: El Capitan on the left, Half Dome dead ahead, a waterfall threading down on the right. I'd grown up on his stories about Yosemite's granite walls, but nothing prepares you for the real thing. It's like the mountains are showing off.
The waterfall weather
We walked to the foot of the lower fall the first afternoon, and the spray reached us long before the trail did. Dad used to tell me the falls are tallest in spring when the snow melts — and he was right, because even in summer you could hear it before you saw it, and the mist threw a little rainbow over the rocks. A zookeeper learns to watch water: everything alive arranges itself around it, from the swallows darting through the spray to the deer tracks in the damp sand.
The bear in the meadow
The moment I'll never forget happened at dawn on our second day. We were sitting at the edge of a meadow with binoculars, watching mule deer pick their way through the grass, when a brownish shape detached itself from the tree line and ambled straight across the open ground — a black bear, completely unhurried, stopping now and then to snuffle at something in the grass. It never once looked our way. We stayed quiet and still, the way you're supposed to, and just watched until it melted back into the pines. Later a ranger told us the park looks after a few hundred bears, and that the bear-proof food lockers aren't a suggestion — they're how bears and people stay good neighbours. I loved that: the whole system is built around respecting the animal.
Deer at first light
The mule deer were everywhere once we learned to look early. A doe and a fawn crossed the path in front of us one morning, ears swivelling like satellite dishes, and the fawn stopped to stare at us for a full ten seconds before deciding we were boring. Steller's jays scolded us from the pines the whole way — loud, cheeky, impossible to ignore. We scanned the cliff tops for peregrine falcons the rangers said nest up there, but the falcons were keeping their own schedule that week.
The big trees
On our last day we drove down to Mariposa Grove, and the sequoias stopped all conversation. The Grizzly Giant has a fire-scarred doorway in its trunk you could practically walk through, and standing at its base you feel about the size of a mouse. Dad used to tell me these trees were already old when his grandfather was born, and standing there I believed him completely. Some things you don't measure; you just stand quietly and let them be enormous.
Animals spotted: a black bear (once, never forgotten), mule deer (several, including a fawn), Steller's jays (constantly), coyote tracks on a quiet road. Wild sightings are never guaranteed — we scanned the cliffs for peregrine falcons every day and never found one, which only makes me want to go back.
Story seed
Clarence discovers a park-style “bear box” in the Great Wood and becomes very serious about storing everyone's snacks in it — until Pinafor points out that Clarence himself is the one who keeps nibbling the supplies at night.
Barnaby's note
“You sat still, you watched, and you let the bear be a bear — that is the whole art of it, Jess. The wild doesn't perform on demand, and you never asked it to. You noticed the water, the tracks, the quiet system that keeps bears and people good neighbours. Keep that patience with you. It will serve you well, in the zoo and everywhere else.”— Barnaby
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