Zion was the only national park we spent more time in than Yosemite. And just like for Sequoia National Park, we were staying more than an hour away from the heart of Yosemite. That meant we had a full day planned inside the park, with a 46-mile drive along the scenic Tioga Road the following day.
We decided to start our morning in Yosemite Valley. I was convinced we were going to do our second big hike of the summer – 7 miles to do the Half Loop Trail (at 11.5 miles, the full Yosemite Valley Loop Trail takes 5-7 hours to complete).
We arrived early enough (and with our entry pass) to find plenty of parking. Over the course of the summer, we had begun to deeply appreciate the national parks that required timed entry passes. While it was a hassle to plan the trip with them in mind (they all have different dates of purchase – some weeks out, others months out), the parks that utilized them were much calmer and felt more like nature spaces, as opposed to amusement parks.
We started our hike near Lower Yosemite Falls and enjoyed our time at the base of the waterfall. We didn’t arrive early enough to photograph the falls without everyone climbing over them, but they were beautiful all the same.
The next part of the trail took us through woods where there wasn’t much to look at. We passed the horse stables and some rock slides, but were grateful when the woods cleared and we were in the open valley.
This part of the hike was definitely my favorite. I’d learned in the other parks that I prefer open vistas and we got that on the valley floor.
We continued our hike going through campsites and crossing the Merced River. We shaved a few miles off our hike by skipping more woodsy sections and sticking to the open valley.
Of course we saw incredible views of El Capitan, but we also passed by other granite cliffs before looping back to Yosemite Falls. There weren’t many people on the trail with us – most seemed to stick around near the falls or near the campsites.
We couldn’t believe how many people were camping in Yosemite Valley. I looked it up later and only Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Yellowstone National Park can host more campers, but their campgrounds are more spread out throughout the parks.
From the valley, we headed up to one of Yosemite’s most famous viewpoints: Tunnel View. Chandler had already been before (over a decade prior), but I couldn’t wait to see it. The overlook provides views of Yosemite Valley, El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall, and Half Dome.
So you can imagine my surprise when I was completely underwhelmed. By late morning, the lighting was terrible and the valley was hazy, making it a lackluster viewpoint. That said, plenty of people recommend sunset and I’m sure we just got mediocre weather conditions. I was almost ready to call it a day, knowing how much time we were going to spend in the park the next day, but instead I doubled down on the viewpoints and we made our way to Glacier Point.
Forty-five minutes away, it was going to add another hour and a half to our total drive time and I worried I’d be just as disappointed at a higher viewpoint closer to mid-day.
I was not disappointed in the least. Glacier Point was everything I was hoping for in Yosemite. I had found spots of beauty in the valley, but nothing could compare to what we were seeing at Glacier Point. While Tunnel View is 4,500 feet above sea level, Glacier Point is 7,214 feet. And for reasons unknown, the views were stunningly crisp.
As we took it all in, I couldn’t help but wonder what this view looks like in the winter. Very few find out as the road is only open from May to October each year. Outside of that, the only way to access the viewpoint in the winter is by cross-country skiing (21 miles round trip!).
I could have spent all day here. Chandler, however, had seen enough rocks and trees for the day.
We did walk briefly along the paved path to take in a few more waterfalls and angles of Half Dome. I can’t recommend this viewpoint enough. It may be an hour away from Yosemite Valley, but the views are really unmatched.
My cover photo was also taken during our walk along Glacier Point. It truly is the most photogenic spot in the park.
By this point, I agreed with Chandler that it was time to call it a day. We would be up exceedingly early the next morning for a packed day! We’d be driving through the park via Tioga Road (also only accessible May-October). I was excited to see the high Sierra Nevada with its alpine meadows, granite domes, pristine lakes, and wilderness areas.
Appealing because it’s supposed to be less trafficked than many other areas in Yosemite, I was also excited for what awaited us on the other side of the park: The tufa towers in Mono Lake.
The next morning we packed up our hotel room and took off bright and early. We were driving through the entirety of the park and would not be returning to our hotel in Mariposa, instead we would continue on to Reno that evening.
We saw more vehicles than anticipated as we avoided Yosemite Valley and made our way north to Tioga Road. It may not see nearly as many visitors as the rest of the park, but with only one entrance on the western side of the park and one entrance on the eastern side of the park, you encounter plenty of other drivers at the start.
We drove for quite a while before our first stop at Olmsted Point. The viewpoint was named after landscape architects, Frederick Law Olmsted (best known for his design of New York’s Central Park) and his son, Frederick, Jr.
The view looks down at Yosemite Valley from the east, including a view of Half Dome, but after the previous day’s stop at Glacier Point, we weren’t feeling too impressed. We pressed on to Tenaya Lake.
This stop did impress! In fact, we parked at multiple spots along the lake. Tenaya Lake is the largest lake in Yosemite’s front country, so we had plenty of options to choose from.
It was freezing to the touch, but also refreshing. The water was crystal clear and gorgeous. Having grown up in Minnesota, I’m a huge fan of lakes, but I admit to be a snob about their quality. Tenaya Lake absolutely passed the test.
We had initially planned to hike around Tenaya Lake, but all of the recent reviews on Alltrails said that the path was still mostly submerged from the winter snow melts.
We continued on to Tuolumne Meadows. We paused to soak in the beauty and considered choosing a day hike here instead, but nothing caught our fancy. We also went back and forth about whether we wanted to leave the car for an hour or two with all of our stuff in it. I now believe everything would have been totally fine, but we were feeling overly cautious and we continued driving along Tioga Road.
We reached the edge of the park at the end of our 46-mile drive and found ourselves in the town of Lee Vining. It didn’t take long at all to make our way to Mono Lake. There are a number of spots you can visit along the lake, but we opted for the South Tufa Area. The parking lot accepted my national parks pass, which was fantastic and I hopped on the boardwalk that would take me to the tufas. Chandler offered to stay near the car because he wasn’t thrilled about the mid-day sun.
Mono Lake is a salt lake famous for its “tufa towers,” which are calcium-carbonate spires and knobs formed by interaction between freshwater springs and the alkaline lake water (which is 2.5 times saltier than the ocean).
The lake covers 65 square miles, so it’s larger than I anticipated. It’s also incredibly old – over a million years. It’s a great spot for viewing migrating birds, but the only thing I cared about were the tufas. Whether viewed on land or on sea, I was obsessed.
Initially, I was worried that I’d be disappointed that we weren’t visiting the lake at sunset. But we still had a three-hour drive to Reno and neither one of us wanted to spend eight more hours at the lake – lovely as it was.
However, it turned out that I had nothing to worry about. The shades of blue reflected in the lake were stunning and it was a wonderfully sunny day with just a few clouds in the sky for emphasis.
While the tufas were incredible, the lake itself was pretty gross once you got off the boardwalk. To view as many tufas as possible, I walked the path along the lake’s edge. The problem is, this area is covered in brine flies – they were hatching everywhere the water touched. They’re great food for the migrating birds, but when you’re walking through a swarm of them, they’re far from endearing!
We got back to the car and started our final drive of the day – or so we thought. As we drove, we discussed the merits of visiting Lake Tahoe. We’d be spending two nights in Reno – not because either one of us had any interest in gambling, but simply because we wanted a break from our long drives.
A friend of ours has visited Reno regularly to see family and she said we absolutely had to visit Lake Tahoe. After loving my views of water both in Yosemite and at Mono Lake, I was inclined to believe her.
Chandler was less convinced, but he said if we were going to go to Lake Tahoe, he wanted to go that day. It would only take us an additional 30 minutes to detour to it, instead of driving for two hours, round-trip, the following day. I thought we’d done enough for one day, but his request seemed reasonable. So instead of heading straight to Reno, we rerouted to Lake Tahoe.
My God, is Lake Tahoe stunning.
We went to Sand Harbor Beach, an incredibly lovely state park on the Nevada side (Lake Tahoe is shared by Nevada and California). We opted not to swim, but I did go in up to my thighs as I explored the busy beach and then walked around to the quieter, rock-filled side.
I’d thought the lakes of our morning and early afternoon were lovely (and they were!), but Lake Tahoe is completely next level. Did you know that Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America? It’s also the third deepest.
The water, the mountains, and the rocks made the views absolutely perfect. I almost wished we’d gone straight to Reno so that we could have come back for the entirety of the next day.
That said, I was grateful for our late afternoon/early evening at Lake Tahoe. And we had truly lucked out with our parking spot! We paid – something we totally didn’t mind – because we saw cars parked along the road for what seemed like miles in both directions. In this part of the US, Lake Tahoe is no secret!
Eventually we had to drag ourselves away to make it to Reno for the night. That is not a city I would recommend to anyone, but it did have two amazing things in its favor:
- An incredible bookstore named Grassroots Books – books without price stickers are $1.99 for kids books, $2.99 for paperbacks, and $4.99 for hardcovers. They also have an outdoor sale that covers an entire parking lot where all books are $1 or less. Needless to say, we bought a lot of books (and not just for ourselves)!
- House of Mexica – a family-owned, vegan Mexican restaurant? Yes, please.
I feel like we really packed in our time in Yosemite and I found plenty to love about this national park and the area around it.
Another thing we confirmed? This Minnesota girl loves herself some lakes! I can see why the Washoe tribe considers these waters sacred. All water is.
Abroad With Ashley 