Yosemite Advice

[Aearin]

Thank you very much for suggestions guys taking all these on board!

[jdouds]

Originally Posted by fiona88

Things we did in Yosemite:
- Visit The Ahwahnee hotel, we had lunch there in the dining room and it's incredible, you might need to book but we did manage to get a reservation on the day.
- The visitor centres are worth visiting to learn a bit about where you are.
- Search the waterfalls you can visit easily, they might be gone by September, it depends on the rainfall/melting ice over the year. Similarly mirror lake might not be too mirror-like.
- There's a lush river out the back of housekeeping camp just down the road from curry camp, nice to spend a bit of time there to relax
- The Mist trail to vernal falls is amazing, its a bit of a hike with steps but not too long, take water and as long as you're not really unfit you should be fine. We walked a bit further and did vernal falls, nevada falls and back down the john muir trail for anyone else interested in that stuff, took about 6 hours I think including lunch by a lake.
- Mariposa grove of giant sequoias if it survives the fires, I think last I read the fire hadn't gone that far. (if you aren't seeing sequoias on another part of your trip)
- Drive up to glacier point, amazing views of the valley
There are a couple of short walks up near there too, sentinal dome and taft point. I did sentinal dome but didn't go all the way up, just so I could get a decent view of it, I think it's about 1-1.5m each way from the car park.

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Good advice on this . Would add a drive to tioga pass and see half dome from the other side. A must do is of course walk over to El Capitan. On arrival do the valley floor tour , 2 hours main sights on the open coach, great for getting your bearings and a good basic history. As above vernal falls and down the John muir trail, go early and plenty of water as you dehydrate quickly at altitude. Definitely walk over to El Capitan.
Oh and perhaps the films the dawn wall and free solo

[Wordsworth]

Free Solo is an excellent watch but also gave me nightmares, given my fear of heights and and falling from them.

[stanleycamel]

Originally Posted by kirkdalewdw

I have a few days here in October, going to set myself the task of doing the mist trail, upper Yosemite and will apply again for a half dome permit, just in case I get lucky

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Good luck and hope you get the Half Dome permit in the draw. The cables on Half Dome will normally come down on 12th October this year so hope that fits in with your trip.

As your trip is October you shouldn't need a reservation to get into the park as the last date for that is 30th September (although if you get a pass for HD during the time that reservations are needed the fact you have the pass overrides that).

If you don't get the HD pass and the weather is suitable you could consider Clouds Rest instead as no pass needed but a different experience and it is weather dependent.

[stanleycamel]

Just seen reports on the BBC News channel about the Oak Fire near Yosemite - something to keep an eye on if you have visits planned. The notice below has been issued by Yosemite NPS

"The Oak Fire is burning in the Mariposa area, outside of Yosemite National Park. The fire has caused the closure of Highway 140 east (north) of Mariposa. Highways 120 and 41 leading to Yosemite are open, and Wawona Road (continuation of Highway 41 inside the park) reopened this morning. Wawona and the Mariposa Grove remain closed and there is no stopping along Wawona Road south of Yosemite West.
Conditions are very smoky throughout the park, with air quality worsening rapidly. Smoke may pose risk for older adults, children, and persons with pre-existing medical conditions. These individuals should limit time outdoors, avoid exertion, seek medical attention if experiencing symptoms. Check current air quality at fire.airnow.gov/. "

[Wordsworth]

If you have Twitter, you can follow the park for updates.

twitter/yosemitenps/stat...lVyGhKvRoEKgHA