Yosemite National Park is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the state of California and is one of the most beautiful places in the USA.
For access to the park, a fee of $30/car is paid (the ticket is valid for 3 consecutive days starting from the day of arrival and you can enter and leave the park as many times as you want, without paying another fee). Tickets can be purchased both online (from recreation.gov) and at the park entrance. During this period the number of visitors has been reduced and reservations are required (we made reservations 3 months in advance).
After a 4 hour drive from San Francisco we arrived at the park entrance where we paid the fee and were given a guide with routes and sights. To visit the whole park you need a few days, maybe even a week, but we were just passing through and only saw a small part in one day. I mainly drove through the park to get from one objective to another faster, but also followed a few hiking trails.
The best time to visit is spring, when the flowers and trees are blooming, nature is coming back to life, and the waterfalls are at their peak after the snow and glaciers melt. In August, when we visited Yosemite Park, the waterfalls were almost dry and visibility in some places was reduced due to fires.
We spent a good part of the day in Yosemite Valley where the most beautiful sections of the park are found: El Capitan, Half Dome and the Yosemite waterfall. Also here are some restaurants, the tourist information center and Yosemite Village.
Tunnel View is a must-stop for any visit to Yosemite Valley. From here you can see El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall. The view from this vantage point changes with each season, but the best times are in early spring, when Bridalveil Fall is in full flow, and in winter, when the beautiful granite domes are covered in snow.
Tunnel View este o oprire obligatorie pentru orice vizită în Valea Yosemite. De aici puteți vedea El Capitan, Half Dome și Bridalveil Fall. Priveliștea din acest punct de belvedere se schimbă cu fiecare sezon, dar cele mai bune momente sunt primăvara devreme, când Bridalveil Fall este la debit maxim și iarna, când frumoasele cupole de granit sunt acoperite de zăpadă.
El Capitan (914 m) is one of the park’s most notable landmarks, the granite monolith with nearly vertical walls being 2.5 times the height of the Empire State Building. El Capitan is located in Yosemite Valley, accessible year-round and waiting for visitors as majestic and photogenic in all seasons.
The area around Sentinel Meadow and Yosemite Chapel is another great place to stop, especially to view Yosemite Falls. In the spring and early summer the meadows are green, the wildflowers are blooming and the waterfall is “roaring” in the background.
Our last stop was at Olmstead Point – another viewpoint that offers spectacular views of Yosemite Park. Half Dome, Tenaya Canyon and Lake Tenaya can be seen on clear days.
After a long day we headed to our accommodation, because the next day we were going to another equally impressive location: Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.
(Yosemite – August 2021)
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