Yosemite National Park: 2-Day Itinerary in Summer

It’s our first time to visit Yosemite, we planned to visit it last year, but because of Wildfire, we cancelled it, but I think it was not meant to be, since we were in San Francisco and it will take a lot of driving going to and back to San Francisco that we would have missed a lot. So here’s our Yosemite National Park: 2-Day Itinerary in Summer.

Yosemite National Park is located at Central California. Yosemite is know for its waterfalls, granite cliffs, streams, lakes, mountains, glaciers, meadows and giant sequoias. Every year, there’s 4 million tourists visits the park. Entrance fee for the park is $35 for a private car or $80 for annual pass.

We arrived and stayed in Fresno overnight, so we are rested before driving to Yosemite as early. Left around 7:30 am and arrived in Yosemite before 10:00 am. The line is not that long when we reached the entrance. They preferred credit cards for the fee..

There’s a lot of zigzag road going to the Yosemite Valley. So be careful!

Day 1

When we get closer and closer, I can see the El Capitan and the Half Dome. We were so surprised to enter the tunnel, and I realized we will see the Tunnel View first, we got so excited! And of course, there’s a lot of tourists too taking pictures, so we waited until we got our spot in the parking lot. And then time for some pictures!

Next is the majestic El Capitan also known as El Cap is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite. I watched how Alex Honnold climbed the El Capitan in just 3 hours and 56 minutes. And it is the hardest or brutal challenge in rock climbing.

As we go along, we saw the Bridal Veil Falls on the right side but we decided to do it the next day as we need to find parking inside Yosemite so we can try the free shuttle in the park.

There will be little chance to have a parking slot in Yosemite Valley, so you might want to check Yosemite Village. We found one directly at one of the bus stop which is stop #7. So it was convenient.

They were doing some survey too regarding on the parking inside the park, so to help, they handed us a GPS thing that we attached in one of the backpacks, for their research to make some improvements.

Their free shuttle bus is a hybrid so it’s Eco friendly. We went first to bus stop #17 to Mirror Lake Trailhead, but as we ride the bus, we saw amazing stops that we need to visit when we get back.

The hike to Mirror Lake is like 20 mins-30 mins. I thought it will be quick, and some were asking if this is the right way to the Lake. And yes, here she is

We went to the stream just to take some pictures, and have no towels at all, so we just wiped our feet with our hands ? . Going back to the bus stop is much easier this time.

The Bus can be so packed, and sometimes they don’t stop at any bus stop, if there’s no one alighting. Next Stop, we went for stop #11 for Sentinel Bridge. To see the half dome from the bridge, and then, on the opposite side are the Lower Yosemite and Upper Yosemite falls.

Kinda late for lunch, but we need to eat. There’s lunch spot in stop#4 called, Degnan’s Kitchen. They have sandwiches, pizza, salads, snacks, drinks and they have Yosemite water, where we filled our tumbler.

And then time to our next stop which is the Lower Yosemite Falls at stop #6. This time, the walk to the falls is not that bad. it’s like 5-7 mins. Some tourist even went closer to the falls, we just went to the middle ? to have our shots.

I guess we’re done for the day. So time to go back to our car in Stop #7. We didn’t stay inside the park instead we opted for AirBnb in Oakhurst, which is like 1 and 15mins from Yosremite National Park.

Day 2

We wake up early and had some breakfast and off our way to Glacier Point. We arrived at Washburn Point after 2 hours. The view is amazing, and I can’t even wait to see the Glacier Point.

On your way to Glacier Point, you will see this view, and you know you’re so close.

Luckily we got a parking spot. Time for sunscreen and off we go ? Oh I forgot, it can get chilly here in the morning so bring your hoodie, just in case.

There’s like some spots where you can take your picture, just choose where, but this spot I guess have a queue, ’cause it’s like you’re in the cliff. It’s hard not to miss, since you will notice it right away.

The view from Glacier Point, from left to right: Tenaya Canyon, Half Dome, Liberty Cap, Little Yosemite Valley, Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall. The Glacier Point for me, is the most spectacular view, it’s just so breathtaking.

Half Dome, is the granite dome and well known for it’s rock formation. There are some story how the dome was formed and it’s popular too for rock climbers.

From that amazing view we went back to see the Bridal Veil View. It’s a short walk too, and we didn’t stay that long, since it’s summer, the water in the falls is not that strong, but I bet, it is beautiful during spring.

Since we’re on our way out, our last stop is the Mariposa Grove. Car is not allowed to go to Mariposa Grove, so we park and then ride the free shuttle. There are some guide on what level of hike you want to take and this can be your guide inside the Grove.

I made a mistake of not pushing to the next hike, we ended up by doing the hike twice, to see the Giant Sequoias. Because I thought, I already had enough of it, but I was wrong.

And so we got our desired pictures. Time to go back, we kinda felt that it was a long way to go back, so we just went back to where we came from. That was so tiring. We didn’t go to Tuolumne Meadows, maybe next time. That’s sum up our Yosemite Adventure. Time to head back to Fresno, and go to our final destination, the Yellowstone National Park.