Yosemite National Park is one of those places where I wish I had accomplished more on my visit. There is so much I want to do and I leave thinking I could have organized myself a bit better. If you’re like me and can only allocate a short visit for your first trip, here are some tips that I think may help you make more of a limited time there.

Do’s:

• Come here for more than a day trip. It’s a long ride, so with all the effort, stay longer.
• Stay in the park. If you’ve got limited time, you may not want to spend time driving an hour or more each day.

• Book your accommodation well in advance if you’re a bit fussier about comfort levels as well as budget. My preference was to stay in the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls (now known as Yosemite Valley Lodge) but it was already fully booked. Yosemite Lodge is a well located hotel in Yosemite Village. The other hotel in the village is The Ahwanee (now called the Grand Majestic Hotel – rather unfortunate name change), which is where I ended up staying, but it costs almost twice as much as Yosemite Lodge. No doubt it’s a  fancier facility but I probably wouldn’t want to pay that premium again for The Ahwanee since I didn’t spend much time in my room anyway. Wawona Hotel (now called Big Trees Lodge), the third hotel in Yosemite, is located further away near Mariposa Grove. For a first time visitor, I think this is not as ideal but still better than staying outside the park. Your other choices are to camp or rent a cabin or structured tent. If you don’t mind camping, you have a lot more choice. The park is building new accommodation so it’s good to check their website.
• Rent a car and drive here. I’ve seen ads for bus tours here but you need your own wheels for more flexibility. You can rely on the Valley Shuttle bus but not if you want to do a sunrise  walk to the top of El Capitan.

 

• Do have dinner at The Ahwanee. If you want to have one decent sit down meal, the steak at The Ahwanee’s dining room is pretty good. It’s also a nice way to visit this historic hotel without paying a bundle to stay here.
• Research which walks you would like to do ahead of time. A full day trek such as the Panorama Trail means that you’d have to take a shuttle bus to the start point at Glacier Point as there would be no way to get back up there to pick up your car if you drove to the start point yourself. You’d need to pay heed to the shuttle bus schedule to make sure you are not stranded on one way walks. Unfortunately, I forgot about  this detail when I was there and ended up having to walk back uphill to get back to our car which we parked at Glacier Point. This meant we couldn’t complete our walk.

• Join or arrange a workshop with the Ansel Adams Gallery if you are keen on photography. This is also a great way to save time on trying to figure out which are the most photogenic angles in Yosemite and where Ansel Adams took his famous photos.
• Make use of the numerous tours, talks and educational walks that the park organizes, some of which are available for free.

Best time to visit?

Probably off season when it’s less crowded and also when there’s enough water to see the full flow of the waterfalls. This leaves a relatively small window in April. I was here in October which was great in that the park was not crowded but unfortunately, most of the waterfalls were dry. I’ve been here during peak season as well (summer) and won’t recommend it, if you have a choice, as the traffic in the valley can be frustrating. I probably won’t mind a winter visit, especially as hotel rates are lower, and there’s always something nice about landscape photos with snow. However, I was told that there hasn’t been that much snow in the valley the past few winters so this seems a bit unpredictable.

How long does it take to get to Yosemite by car?

From San Francisco to Yosemite Village, it should take around three to four hours. From Los Angeles, it will take around five to six hours.  In both cases, it could take longer if you’re stuck in traffic. If you think you’d like to go to Carmel first, keep in mind that it will take around three to four hours (smaller roads) to get to Yosemite from Carmel, even though it looks closer on the map.

Potentially Useful Tidbit:

Yosemite is pronounced yo-sem-mee-tee.

Useful Sources of Information:

The best thing about an established destination is that there is a lot of well organized and detailed information in a singular location. Here are probably the only three sites that you need to refer to.

• National park website: www.nps.gov
• For lodging reservations and activity information: www.nationalparkreservations.com
• For complete info including recommendations on walks: www.liveoncelivewild.com