Yosemite National Park Hiking- Yosemite Valley Floor

Yosemite National Park is in the top 20 largest National Parks, ranking number 16. You could spend an entire summer just hiking all the trails in Yosemite. It’s huge! There is a lot of hiking and there are many other things to do there too such as fishing, rafting, rock-climbing, swimming, etc. It’s a fascinating park to adventure to with so much diversity you are bound to find something you enjoy or you may be attracted to everything there, who knows?!? 

Could you image hiking up Half Dome?!?

I am narrowing this article to the Yosemite Valley Floor. This is a popular hiking destination offering spectacular views of the valley, rivers, waterfalls and the towering peaks around it. Half-dome is located here with the option to hike one of the most dangerous hikes in the world, or hiking near-bye to get great views of it. This is also where the John Muir Trail starts/ends, right at Happy Isles, where the trail weaves around and through the sierras for 214 miles!

Popular Hikes: ( Quick Facts, descriptions down below). Not in order from highest to lowest in popularity.

Lower Yosemite Falls: Easy-1 mile loop, paved, with views of lower and upper Yosemite.
Upper Yosemite Falls: Difficult- 7.2 miles RT (round-trip) with steep elevation. Tallest waterfall in park.
Glacier Point: Easy- by car (hour drive from valley floor). Great Viewpoint of Half Dome, Falls,  and High Sierra Country.    Difficult- walk from Valley floor (4-8 miles RT depending if you have transportation once reach the top. Offers same view-point. Just walking there instead of driving.
Panorama Trail: Difficult-8.5 mile trail one-way. Great views of Half Dome, falls, mist trail, high country.
Mist Trail: Moderate- 3 miles RT. Views of Emerald Pools, Vernal and Nevada Falls.
Half Dome: Very Strenuous- 14-16 mile RT. Rivers, waterfalls, cable system to get to top, views.
Sentinel Dome: Easy, 1.1 miles. Views of waterfalls, Half Dome and High Country.
Taft Point: Easy, 1.1 miles. Offers view of the falls, Half Dome and El Capitan.

Upper Yosemite Falls: 

I have to hike all the way up there?!?

The Upper Yosemite Falls TH is located near camp 4 or shuttle stop number 7, or El Capitan shuttle stop E2. This hike takes anywhere from 6 to 8 hours RT. Bring lots of water. I underestimated how much water I needed to bring, but I also hiked the peak on top of these falls (Eagle Peak.) The trail is very steep! One of the steepest trails I have ever been on. Its basically stairs for 3 miles going straight up-hill.

When get to the top, you can approach right near the falls.

The Falls are Right There! Don’t go over!

As soon as you stop ascending, there will be a sign to the right, just look for it, it may be .1 or .2 miles away when you reach the top.

Right where the falls go over!

The trail spits between left and right. Left you can go to Yosemite Point.

It is .8 miles away from that point, so 1.6 miles RT. There is also a bridge not far from the sign where you are based on top of Upper Yosemite Falls and you can swim. Just make sure you stay clear away from the ledge! People have fallen off!!!

Narrow Steep Stairs!

If you turn right at the sign, you get to look at an overlook of Yosemite Valley. When you approach what you think is the end, it keeps going. If you are looking right out into the valley, keep walking, not straight off the cliff, but go a bit left. You will soon see stairs leading you down. These are steep narrow stairs that will lead you right up to the point where the falls go over. It’s pretty neat, and just a little scary!

Eagle Peak: 

Literally climb all the way up here from the Valley Floor!

So tired it was hard to smile! Very tough hike!

If you have the energy, and for this hike you need a lot of it, you can continue up past Upper Yosemite Falls. Eagle Peak takes another few hours so only go if you are prepared and have time.

But then you make it to the top and all you do is smile!

When you reach the top you have great views of Half Dome, the falls, and the High Sierra Range. If you do not have the time or do not want to hike this far, don’t worry about it. You can get a lot of these views from other points of the park that are more easily accessible.

El Capitan: 

You can reach El Capitan by this TH also. When you walk toward Eagle Peak, there will be a sign and you will go right toward El Capitan. This is going to bring you for a very long hike if you are attempting this in one day. It is another 4 miles RT from the sign of Eagle Peak. There is backpacking up here. So if you want to explore a lot of these trails, try backpacking, even for one night. That way you won’t kill yourself trying to see all these places just in one day.

Glacier Point: 

This is a great viewpoint of the park, and you can see this view for as little or as much work as you want. If you have a car, a will to hitchhike, or don’t mind paying money for the bus to shuttle you to this point, it is a very easy hike. This point is an hour or more drive to the top depending on what transportation you are taking. The free shuttle buses on the valley floor does not go here but tour buses do. That is who you would pay to get you up there if you do not have your own transportation.

You can also walk to this point from the Valley floor. It is 4 miles one-way. You can do an 8 miles RT hike or you can try and find transportation once you reach the top. Or if your in a real sense of adventure, but you need all day and some strong legs to do so… You can take the 4 mile trip up to Glacier Point and then hike the Panorama Trail down to the Valley Floor. It will be about a 13 mile round-trip. But you will see a lot! Make sure you take the Mist trail when you start approaching the bottom! This will be a very cool day!

Panorama Trail:

At fist get views of Half Dome and Yosemite Falls, but then go into other areas which is cool.

You can reach the Panorama Trail at the same parking lot as Glacier Point. This is an 8.3 mile trail.

This is a one-way trail so you want to arrange how you can do this trail. I found another hiker that wanted to do this trail and we worked together to accomplish this trail by parking one of our cars at the starting and ending points. This trail gives you a panoramic view of Half Dome, North Dome, the upper/lower falls, and you can make this trail go through the mist trail which offers Vernal and Nevada Falls.

Sentinel Dome: 

This hike is one of the easiest hikes you can take to see optimal views of the area. It is 1.1 miles long and you can hike on top of the dome for 360 degree view of the park. This TH is located on the way to Glacier Point. The signs are well parked.

Taft Point: 

People slack-lining!

This is another easy 1.1 mile hike and is located right where Sentinel Dome is located. The TH is the same, its just Sentinel Dome goes right and Taft Point goes left. You only need a few hours to hike both these trails. It is not uncommon to see people slack-lining here. There were about six people slack-lining across a the valley floor. It was pretty intense just to watch, yet alone being on that slack-line.

Mist Trail:

The Mist Trail is a moderate hike. It doesn’t start off too bad but the stairs will come :).

It is very pretty though. You get to see Emerald Pools, Vernal and Nevada falls. There are water fountains and there are a couple restrooms going up this trail. Prepare to get a little misty and the best time to go is in the Spring when the Falls are in full affect!!!!

This photo of the falls is for sale. You can simply click on the photo and it will bring you where you need to go. User friendly and reasonable prices. You can choose your size photo and everything!

Half Dome: 

Half Dome is one of the most dangerous hikes in the world! And after doing it, I couldn’t agree more! It was fun, but if you are afraid of hikes, this really is the challenge! Most people day hike to this area. You need a permit! And if you do not have one, you will get ticketed, most likely. Unless you go off-season or so early you are hiking at night.

Me stupidly taking selfies up on one of the most dangerous hikes there is!

Anyway, to day hike this, it is based on a lottery system because so many people want to do this. You can apply for this lotto system on recreation. gov.  Here’s the link right to the cable system. http://www.recreation.gov/unifSearchResults.do

Look out below!

Another way to do this is to backpack. You can go to the wilderness permit building right by the visitor center and try to get in on Half Dome by backpacking.

Oh My Gosh!

There is a campground not far from Half Dome equipped with a fresh water source and bathrooms. There is high bear activity here so be prepared to see one. I did. But don’t worry. There has never been even one fatal bear attack in the entire state of California. Pretty good statistics right!

This hike is no joke! Get ready to hoist yourself up this hike!

Even if you are doing it this way and you are at peak season, you may get lucky but for a better chance, show up at the wilderness permit building at 6:00 am or even before. I showed up at 5:30 am and still was the seventh one in line. The permits are by head, so if one party shows up with 10 people that is ten passes and you might not make the cut. It isn’t easy hiking Half Dome, even just trying to get the permit, in most cases. Sometimes you can walk right up and get one. It all just depends on the day and the hour.

If your planing on doing a lot of long hikes or backpacking, I would suggest to get a topo map of the area. If your coming more for day-hiking, this map shows the best short hikes of the area.

I made it up half dome!

Yosemite Valley Floor:

The Valley Floor has a lot to offer. There are bike trails, hiking trails (and these trails are nice and easy and flat.) You can rent tubes to go down the rivers here! They charge a lot though. Like 20 or more a person. There are even tours if you would like to become a little more educated on the park. And the driving/roads can be a little confusing at first.

The best quick advice I can give on navigating the valley floor:

1. You can not drive right up to the visitor center like most parks. Be prepared to either walk or take the bus to get there.
2. The roads are set up like a figure 8 loop. There are just one-way roads with roads to cut across in the middle. So when you are driving South on the valley floor and you need to turn around, you cant. You need to keep going and make a loop.

John Muir Trail (JMT): 

The John Muir Trail starts/ends at happy Isles which is the farthest bust stop before you enter the Yosemite Wilderness. This is the same TH as the Mist Trail and Half Dome. So when you are hiking Half Dome, a part of it you are on the JMT. Pretty cool! You are in Yosemite National Park through Half Dome all the way to Tuolumne Meadows. It is very hard to pronounce this word if you are not from the area. You pronounce it as two-wala-me. From the TH, it is 22 miles to Tuolumne Meadows. It is a very pretty hike, and when I say hike I mean you need to backpack this area. Make sure you bring bug spray and a bug net. It is crucial! Especially if you are staying at Sunrise Camp or Cathedral Lakes! You can get a map of the John Muir trail here! The whole John Muir trail starts or ends here and goes all the way to Mount Whitney (the tallest mountain in the lower 48.) The John Muir trail is roughly 210 miles.

Even got some night hiking in! It was amazing! Go night hiking in Yosemite! Its EPIC!!!

Hope you enjoyed this article! This area is so beautiful! And this is just a very small area of Yosemite National Park. There is soooooooo much more. This is just one area of the park! This place is HUGE!

Here is your bird Joyce!

Thank you for reading!

Sincerely,

Shelly/Livingonthedirt