My 2 day winter itinerary for Yosemite Valley
What worked and what didn’t, for a first timer!
Important Tips
- Almost certainly check the National Park Service (NPS) website before you travel. And keep checking it for super important updates about weather, road closures, trail closures, food, and timing updates. accordingly. During my trip, Tioga Road and Glacier Point Road were completely closed for the winter.
- Driving conditions vary. You may be required to carry snow chains or snow cables with you, even if you have an all-wheel drive/4-wheel drive. AutoZone has a 30-day return policy if the cables/chains are unused, so my recommendation would be to buy a pair if you don’t own them. If you do end up using them, the conditions are probably severe enough that you need them for safety. If you don’t end up using them, great, you can just return them and get your money back.
- Pack food if you can — it’s often find to hard food in Yosemite Valley. There are dining options within the park but timings and openings vary seasonally. We ate lunch at Degnan’s Deli the first day. The next day at lunch time, we arrived at Base Camp Eatery only to see it was closed even though based on Google and the timings written outside the restuarant, it should have been open at that hour. We walked over to the Mountain Room Lounge, which by then had run out of food. Finally, we made our way back to Degnan’s Deli, which by now had an incredibly long line of people waiting to order.
Getting there:
We left SF in the afternoon. Google Maps says SF to Yosemite valley can be done in ~4 hours, but it takes a bit longer than that in reality. We encountered post-work traffic (which can probably be avoided by timing your departure from SF accordingly), stopped for food, gas, and to buy snow chains. Additionally, the sun sets early in winter (between 4:30–5:00pm) and night time driving was slower than that during the day.
We stayed at Yosemite West Condo, which we booked through Airbnb. This was within the park and quite convenient!
Day 1:
Yosemite valley is comprised of one big loop with a few connecting roads in between. Some people in the group had some work till noon so we couldn’t get an early start. The earlier you leave, the better it is — the sun sets early in the winter so you probably want to maximize the hours you get in daylight.
Tunnel View (frames an A1 sight)
- To enter Yosemite Valley, one has to drive through this fairly long tunnel, and the view that you see from as soon as you exit is absolutely amazing. The best picture from my trip was probably from this point.
- We stopped right before entering the tunnel but honestly the view after the tunnel is just as good, if not better since you can see bridalveil falls too!
- Park immediately after exiting the tunnel (its both to the left and right)
- NPS Link
Bridalveil Falls
- It’s a short walk from the main road to the bottom of the falls which give you a better view. The trail is an easy 20 min hike, approximately 0.5 miles round trip.
- When we went, however, the trail was closed off due to ice accumulation. There was a ‘off-road’ path next to the road that we walked along anyway to get a bit closer to the waterfalls. Didn’t manage to get too close and the paths were quite slippery so wouldn't recommend that to everyone.
- NPS Link
Sentinel Bridge
- We missed this spot, but apparently from this bridge, you get hype photos of half dome over the Merced river. Let me know how it is!
- NPS Link
Swinging bridge Picnic Area
- After missing Sentinel, we stopped at Swinging bridge instead. Contrary to what all of us thought, this bridge does NOT swing. We saw one guy go for a swim in the freezing cold water though so that was interesting.
- The picnic area was probably iced over, but this spot was pretty cute with some sick views of Yosemite Falls over the Merced River.
- NPS Link
Yosemite Chapel
- This spot is supposed to give some good views of Yosemite Falls but we were going to see enough of it this trip so it was like meh. Also, unsure if you’re supposed to go to the chapel but it was closed when we went.
- NPS Link
We then stopped in a random large open area filled with snow and took photos with Half Dome (We missed Sentinel so we didn’t have any photos with Half Dome in the background yet!). It was a random place that probably doesn’t have a name so can’t even add the link here :P
Visitor Center
- Customary pit stop to pick up a map, talk to the Park Ranger to see what hikes are open, and what they recommend!
- Parking isn’t immediately next to the center.
- Other cool spots close to this include the Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite Museum, and the Indian Village of Ahwahnee. There’s also a grocery store in the same area!
Lower Yosemite Falls
- Easy 15 minute hike to the base of the falls!
- Not even a hike per say, it’s a paved path
- NPS Link
After that, we exited and drove back to the condo!
Day 2:
Sunrise at Tunnel View
- Almost no crowd
- Definitely very pretty
- But also not something you can’t miss since the sun really doesn’t come up from in between the tunnel view. Rather, the sun light falls on the tip of Half Dome and El Capitan and slowly increases downward over time.
Columbia Rock Hike
- Takes about 2–3 hours round trip, and is a moderately difficult hike
- This is the demo version of the MUCH longer Upper Yosemite Falls trail and gives you a view of Yosemite Valley. You can’t actually see the falls from Columbia Rock, but you could continue on the same trail for 20–30 mins more to see Upper Yosemite falls from a distance (keep going for like 3 more hours and you can actually make it to the top of the falls but also be careful, it’s icy)
Yosemite Museum, Yosemite Theater, Indian Village of Ahwahnee
- Every 30 mins, the Yosemite Theater shows a 30 min long orientation film, The Spirit of Yosemite, which, as you can guess, is about Yosemite and its spirit.
And then headed back (after driving around for an hour between the food joints in Yosemite because they all were closed/out of food for some reason).
Other things we thought of doing but couldn’t do:
- Mist TrailHead ( jumping off point to other hiking trails)
- Vernal Falls hike (2 miles to footbridge, 1.5 more miles after that to top of Vernal falls)
- Ansel Adams Gallery (highly rated)
- Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias (If exiting via the south)
