5 Days in Yosemite: A Journal from the Valley Floor to Glacier Point
Day 1: Arrival and the First Time You See El Capitan
Drove in from San Francisco. Four hours on Highway 140 through Mariposa — stopped for gas ($5.89/gallon, fill up here, it's worse inside the park) and sandwiches at Pioneer Market ($8-12, you'll thank yourself later).
Entered through Arch Rock at 3 PM. Timed entry reservation: confirmed, because I learned from that one disastrous trip without one. The road follows the Merced River, winding through a canyon that gradually opens up and then...
El Capitan. Three thousand feet of vertical granite, and nothing prepares you for the scale. I pulled into El Capitan Meadow and lay in the grass with binoculars, trying to spot climbers on the wall. Found two — tiny colored dots inching up a crack system that from the ground looked like a scratch on the rock face. They'd been climbing for three days. They had maybe two more to go.
Checked into Curry Village. Tent cabin, $150/night. It's a canvas tent on a wooden platform with a bed, a heater, and shared bathrooms. Not glamorous. But you step outside and Half Dome is right there, filling the sky. Hard to complain.
Dinner at the Yosemite Valley Lodge food court. Adequate burger ($14), fine beer ($8). Ate on the outside deck watching the last light on the cliffs.
Day 2: Mist Trail and Getting Absolutely Soaked
Up at 6 AM. The valley at dawn is a different place. Mist rising from the river, the granite walls turning from grey to gold to white as the sun clears the rim. Took the shuttle to Happy Isles (Stop 16) and started the Mist Trail at 6:45.
The trail to Vernal Fall is 1.5 miles and 1,000 feet of climbing. The last section is a granite staircase carved into the cliff face alongside the waterfall. In June — which this was — the waterfall is a beast. The spray is a solid wall of water. I was soaked through within minutes. Rain jacket: essential. Phone in a ziplock bag: the one piece of advice I actually followed.
Vernal Fall from the top is 317 feet of roaring water. I sat on the warm granite above the fall, ate a granola bar, and watched the rainbow that forms in the mist every morning.
Pushed on to Nevada Fall — another 1.4 miles and 600 more feet of elevation. Steeper, less crowded, and the view of Nevada Fall from the John Muir Trail junction is arguably more dramatic than Vernal. Total round trip: 5.4 miles, 4 hours with breaks.
Afternoon: collapsed at Curry Village. Swam at the pool (one of the few permitted swimming spots). Read half a book. Ate pizza at Degnan's Kitchen ($12-16 for a personal pizza, honestly pretty good).
Day 3: Glacier Point at Sunset
Morning: took the shuttle to Yosemite Falls (Stop 6). The Lower Falls trail is flat, paved, 20 minutes round trip — and in June, the falls are an absolute wall of noise. 2,425 feet of total drop. The spray from Lower Yosemite Fall soaked the trail and everyone on it. Children were screaming with joy. Adults were pretending to be dignified while also screaming.
Drove to Glacier Point in the afternoon. The road is open roughly May through November depending on snow. At 7,214 feet, the viewpoint offers a 3,200-foot vertical perspective straight down to the valley floor. Half Dome is at eye level. The Sierra Nevada high country stretches forever.
I understand now why people call it Yosemite's best viewpoint. Tunnel View is the postcard. Glacier Point is the experience.
Stayed for sunset. The light turned Half Dome orange, then pink, then purple. The valley below filled with shadow while the peaks held the last light. Temperature dropped from 75°F to 50°F in an hour. I was wearing everything I'd brought and it wasn't enough.
Drove back to the valley in the dark. Deer on the road. Drove 25 mph with high beams. The stars through the windshield were absurd.
Day 4: Mariposa Grove and the Oldest Living Things I've Seen
Morning shuttle from the South Entrance to Mariposa Grove. Mandatory in summer — no personal vehicles. The shuttle runs every 10-20 minutes and it's free.
Five hundred mature giant sequoias. The Grizzly Giant is estimated at 1,900 years old, 209 feet tall, and has a base circumference of 96 feet. I stood at its base and felt the appropriate insignificance.
The 2-mile Grizzly Giant Loop is easy and hits the highlights. The 7-mile full grove trail goes deeper and gets progressively emptier. By mile three, I was alone among trees that were already ancient when Rome fell.
There's a fallen sequoia — the Fallen Monarch — that you can walk through. The tunnel is tall enough to stand in. The tree has been on the ground for an estimated 300 years and shows almost no decay. Mariposa Grove sequoias wood contains tannins that resist rot. These trees are eternal in every meaningful sense.
Afternoon: drove back to the valley. Stopped at Bridalveil Fall — a short walk from the road, a 620-foot waterfall that catches the wind and sprays sideways. In late summer it's a whisper. In June it's a shout.
Dinner at The Ahwahnee Dining Room. Splurge: prix fixe dinner, $65 per person. The dining room has 34-foot ceilings, massive granite pillars, and floor-to-ceiling windows. The food was... fine. The elk tenderloin was cooked well. But you're not paying for the food. You're paying for the room, and the room is extraordinary.
Day 5: One More Dawn, Then Departure
Set the alarm for 5:15 AM. Walked to Sentinel Bridge in the pre-dawn quiet. Half Dome reflected in the Merced River, perfectly still. Two other photographers, no one else.
The sun hit the top of Half Dome at 6:23 AM and the granite went from grey to gold in about ten seconds. I took forty photos. The good one — the one I'd frame — was the one I almost didn't take, after I put the camera down and just looked.
Breakfast at Degnan's Deli. Coffee and a bagel. Packed the car, returned the bear-proof food locker key, and drove out through the valley one more time.
Passed El Capitan. The climbers were still up there. Different ones, probably. Same crack systems. Same impossible vertical.
Would I go back? I'm already looking at the reservation calendar.
What I'd change: Skip the tent cabin and camp at Upper Pines ($36/night) — closer to the trailheads and more connected to the park. Book The Ahwahnee for one night and camp the rest. Bring warmer layers for Glacier Point. And come in late May for bigger waterfalls.
