50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity

by Elizabeth Wenk

Overview

50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity leads hikers of all skill levels to some of the most stunning landscapes Yosemite has to offer including: bubbling alpine creeks, smooth glaciated slabs, giant sequoias, deep dark blue lakes, and rock as far as the eye can see. In addition to in-depth hike descriptions, the author has also included information about the parks natural history, complex landscape, and its human history. Additional information includes tips on keeping yourself and your family safe, the park's natural predators, and helpful weather information.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899976310
Publisher:	Wilderness Press
Publication date:	03/27/2012
Series:	50 Best Short Hikes
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,106,073
Product dimensions:	5.58(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.49(d)

About the Author

Since childhood, Elizabeth “Lizzy” Wenk has hiked and climbed in the Sierra Nevada with her family. After she started college, she found excuses to spend every summer in the Sierra, with its beguiling landscape, abundant flowers, and near-perfect weather. During those summers, she worked as a research assistant for others and completed her own Ph.D. thesis research on the effects of rock type on alpine plant distribution and physiology. But much of the time, she hikes simply for leisure. Obsessively wanting to explore every bit of the Sierra, she has hiked thousands of on- and off-trail miles and climbed more than 600 peaks in the mountain range. Many of her wanderings are now directed to gather data for several Wilderness Press titles and to introduce her two young daughters to the wonders of the mountains. For them as well, Yosemite is rapidly becoming a favorite location. Until recently a resident of Bishop, California, Wenk is currently living in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, Douglas, and daughters, Eleanor and Sophia. There she is working as a research fellow at Macquarie Universityand enjoying Australia’s exquisite eucalyptus forests, vegetated slot canyons, and wonderful birdlife—except during the Northern Hemisphere summer, which she continues to spend exploring the Sierra.

Read an Excerpt

1 Lookout Point

Trailhead Location: Hetch Hetchy entrance station
Trail Use: Hiking
Distance & Configuration: 2.8-mile out-and-back
Elevation Range: 4,750 feet at the start, with 560 feet of ascent/descent
Facilities: A water faucet is located to the side of the buildings just to the right of the entrance station, but no toilet is at the trailhead.
Highlights: Fall colors, views to Hetch Hetchy, and a feel for the foothills

Description
This short hike leads to the summit of a small granite dome from which you can view Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and its surroundings—one of the few at this elevation that provides an expansive vista. Take the walk in the late afternoon for the best lighting. Also wonderful are the fall colors: the orange oak leaves and tall yellow grass.

The Route
Departing from the southern edge of the ranger’s compound, locate a small trail disappearing south into a stand of tall incense cedars and Jeffrey pines. Just beyond is an unmarked X-junction where you turn left; straight ahead leads to Lookout Point by a much longer route. Heading left, you now parallel a broad turn in the Hetch Hetchy Road—a little frustrating to watch the cars as you walk, but there is no parking where the trail finally diverges from the road (0.5 mile from start).

The trail switchbacks up a slope that was burned once about 20 years ago, and sections again in 2008; tall black snags dot the landscape, intermingled with black oak trees that escaped. A small stream flows through here in spring, providing moisture for an excellent wildflower display. In fall it is a landscape of tall yellow grass, seed heads, and coloring oak trees.

Where the slope ends, you enter a nearly flat and quite lush valley. The narrow trail continues between burnt trees. Ferns, tall scrubs, and seedlings thrive, all growing rapidly with the forest canopy removed. Soon you reach a T-junction (1.1 miles), where the trail straight ahead leads to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, while you take the left-hand fork to climb up Lookout Point. The trail leads first north and then west to ascend the northern side of the small granite dome (1.4 miles). Like so many of Yosemite’s domes, a beautiful stunted Jeffrey pine emerges from a crack on the summit.

From the summit, especially with late-afternoon lighting, you will be treated to an aerial view of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the granite peaks to the north, a view usually obtained only by climbing difficult-to-reach summits such as Kolana Rock. In spring Tueeulala and Wapama falls will be obvious white streaks on the rock face. It is also simply a nice summit from which to take in the topography and vegetation of low-elevation western Yosemite, for there are few locations with views in this part of the park. When you have finished gazing about, return to your car the way you came (2.8 miles).

To the Trailhead
GPS Coordinates: N37° 53.592' W119° 50.478'
Turn north from CA 120 onto Evergreen Road. This junction is located 1.1 miles west of the Yosemite entrance station at Big Oak Flat and 22.5 miles east of Groveland. (Note the sign with the current schedule for Hetch Hetchy day-use hours to avoid waiting behind a closed gate 15 minutes down the road.) After winding along Evergreen Road for 7.2 miles, you reach a T-junction with Hetch Hetchy Road. Turn right (east) and drive past Camp Mather, beneath a tall gateway, and past a gate that is locked each night. Beyond the T junction, 1.3 miles later, you reach the Hetch Hetchy entrance station; here you are required to register your car. Park your car by the side of the road just beyond the entrance station and begin your walk on the southeastern side of the road.

Table of Contents

Overview Map

Acknowledgments

The Very Best Short Hikes

Introduction

Using This Book

Map Legend

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

1. Lookout Point
2. Poopenaut Valley
3. Wapama Falls

Yosemite Valley

4. Base of El Capitan
5. Bridalveil Falls
6. Upper Yosemite Fall
7. Lower Yosemite Fall
8. Swinging Bridge and Superintendent’s Bridge
9. Mirror Lake
10. Base of Vernal Fall
11. Mist Trail and Clark Point

Glacier Point Road and Wawona

12. McGurk Meadow
13. Taft Point
14. Sentinel Dome
15. Glacier Point
16. Four Mile Trail
17. Panorama Trail
18. Lower Chilnualna Falls
19. Wawona Meadow
20. Mariposa Grove

Tioga Road and Tenaya Lake

21. Merced Grove
22. Crane Flat Lookout
23. Tuolumne Grove
24. Lukens Lake (from White Wolf)
25. May Lake
26. Mount Hoffmann
27. Olmsted Point
28. Tenaya Lake

Tuolumne Meadows

29. Pothole Dome
30. Tuolumne River
31. Lower Cathedral Lake
32. Cathedral Peak Shoulder
33. Elizabeth Lake
34. Soda Springs and Tuolumne Meadows
35. Dog Lake
36. Lembert Dome
37. Lyell Canyon

Tioga Pass

38. Mono Pass
39. Gaylor Lakes and Great Sierra Mine
40. Mount Dana
41. Dana Plateau
42. Bennettville
43. Gardisky Lake
44. Slate Creek Fork of Lee Vining Creek
45. Twenty Lakes Basin
46. Conness Lakes

Mono Lake and Vicinity

47. Lee Vining Visitor Center to Mono Lake
48. Lee Vining Creek
49. South Tufa
50. Panum Crater

Hikes at a Glance

Index

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

"Beginner or experienced hikers alike will appreciate Wenk's tips on keeping hikers and their families safe, the park's natural predators, and helpful weather information." West Sacramento Press March 2012

From the Publisher