Every summer, my family takes a summer vacation. This summer we ventured to central California to knock 3 National Parks off our NP Bucket List. Keep on reading for the perfect road trip itinerary full of hiking, cliff views, & stargazing!
Because my family lives in the midwest, it is not always super convenient to travel and the plan that we come up with may not always be the easiest. For example, we flew to San Francisco out of Minneapolis because of a cheaper flight Because of this it made our travel days before and after the trip veeery looong. We survived... barely (haha). But, you can always adjust to do what is best for your own schedule, budget, and travel comfortability!
<--Yosemite NP entrance sign closest to El Portal
Day 1: Minneapolis to El Portal, California
We landed in San Fransisco around suppertime and after traveling all morning and day we set off in search of the Holy Grail.... In & Out Burger! Midwesterners who travel a lot out West know important it is to stop at In & Out Burger when we can since we don't have access to it at home. Since my fiancee had never been out West before, we had to show him what it is all about!
After eating, we had a 4 hour drive from San Francisco to El Portal, California. The Yosemite View Lodge would be our home for the next 5 nights. I highly recommend the Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal because it is in the closest town to the park, it has a few pools & spas, and it had availability for a decent rate when everything else inside of the park was full or super pricey!
Note: Yosemite National Park requires a lot of planning ahead of time in order to visit! Make sure to visit The National Park Website before visiting any NP to know about park reservations, lotteries, and planning your trip!
Within a few hours of being in El Portal we quickly learned that the area was rather sparse, with only 3 restaurants, not including the few that are inside of the park. This definitely is not a trip for foodies!
Day 2: Hiking Cloud's Rest
It is recommended when traveling to National Parks to do your longest hiking day first, that way you are still energized and you make sure it gets done. We did just that!
Cloud's Rest via Tenaya Lake is a 13.4 mile out & back hike with about 3,000 feet of elevation! We each packed about 3L of water, 2 sandwiches, lots of snacks to fuel, & sunscreen to prepare for the hike- which took us about 7.5 hours! We stopped for an hour or so at the top to take in the incredible view and eat our lunch.
Note: We originally wanted to hike Half Dome on this day, but we were not successful in the lottery. We kept trying throughout our trip with no success. Boo.
We set off early for the Tenaya Lake Sunrise Trailhead, even though we made it to our hotel around 1a.m. the night before. We had to do this because Tenaya Lake is on the east side of the park and is about an hour and half from Yosemite View Lodge. Luckily, we were all eager and excited to hike! (Not much mountain hiking around Iowa!)
We finally reached the trailhead around 8 a.m., which is late for day hiking standards. Usually the earlier, the better. We knew it would take us a long time to complete the hike but we usually hike at a faster pace than we estimate for ourselves. Along the hike we experienced about 1 mile of intense switchbacks, a small pond with grouse babies, & a rock scramble at the top to reach the summit.
Note: The end of this hike is not ideal for those who are afraid of heights! But those who are and still do it say that it is 100% worth it!
The view from the top is a 360 degree view of the park & the Sierra Nevadas in the distance. Being the highest point in the park it also has the best view of Half Dome because you can see the hikers going up the cables. I was super jealous of them, but still happy that I accomplished this Bucket List hike!
<-- Make sure to get a cool group picture with the trail sign like we did!
Exhausted, sweaty, & dirty from the hike, it was time to go in search of a calorie-packed dinner before hitting the hay. We opted for one of the two hotel restaurants, but you could drive into the Yosemite Valley & eat there, too!
Day 3: Driving & Hiking, Driving & Hiking, Driving & Hiking....
The plan for the day is to conquer the more touristy parts of the park, which are shorter and less physically demanding! They are close together so it is definitely feasible to hit them all in one day.
Stop 1: Glacier Point (1 hour drive from El Portal)
To get to Glacier Point, you'll walk about .3 miles along a paved trail from the parking lot. There will be many different view point spots, but once once you arrive you will see that Glacier Point also has an incredible view of Half Dome, but it is the other side of it! This is also a very popular place for stargazing, which we came back to do after watching the sunset.
Stop 2: Sentinel Dome (7 minute drive from Glacier Point)
Driving back the way you came, you'll see signs for Sentinel Dome & Taft Point. These two trails share a parking lot and are both about equal in distance & level. To get to the top of Sentinel Dome, you will take the trail to the right and follow it for about 1.1 miles. It is not paved and a bit more strenuous than Glacier Point.
You will see the dome and follow the trail around the back side of it to where you will go up it! At the top you get 360 degree views of the park and Sierras- similar to Cloud's Rest but about 2,000 ft. closer to the ground. It's also a lot shorter hike to get here: 2.5 miles.
Note: I recommend wearing good shoes on these trails, as they are very sandy!
Stop 3: Taft Point
If you're into hiking or want to keep walking, Taft Point is actually connected to Sentinel Dome via a 2.3 mile trail. This would add about .5 miles to the hike instead of walking back to the parking lot and then continuing to Taft Point to the left. We did not do this because we decided to grab our lunch from the car to enjoy at the end of the hike!
Either way, the walk to Taft Point is similar to the walk to Sentinel Dome- sandy and unpaved! Make sure to bring water and wear good shoes! The view from here faces toward El Capitan and gives a great view of El Cap Meadow way down below. You can walk right up to the edge here, or can stand by the railing like I did! Taft Point is also a very popular spot to watch the sunset and to take engagement pictures- we did both! My fiancee and I watched the sunset while my sister and her fiancee took engagement photos! They turned out incredible and we highly recommend the experience if you are thinking about it, definitely go for it! (contact me for a photographer recommendation!)
Stop 4: Tunnel View (20 minute drive from Taft Point)
You definitely would have seen this on your drive to Glacier Point, but from the opposite direction! I prefer the views coming down because you can see the views revealed before your eyes as you exit the long tunnel. Make sure to stop here to snap some pics & check out the map- it will show you which peaks are which (Cloud's Rest, Half Dome, & El Capitan).
Note: Many people recommend this be your first view of the park for that reason!
Stop 5: El Cap Meadow (30 minutes to hotel)
Heading back toward El Portal, we lastly stopped at the El Cap Meadow to see El Capitan from the ground up. All I can say is, WOW! The pics don't even do it justice!
Because we had engagement pictures scheduled for this night, we had to head back to the hotel to get ready and then returned to Taft Point for photos & Glacier Point for stargazing.
Note: If we had not taken photos, we probably would have reversed this order and ended with Glacier Point for stargazing, rather than going out and driving backward!
Day 4: Biking in Yosemite Valley
After two days of hiking our feet were blistered and sore. Good thing we stocked on Moleskin Blister Patches at the hotel lobby shop. Man, that shop was a lifesaver on this trip! (We had to buy a sewing kit for my sister's dress. The zipper broke the night before pictures!)
Today we wanted to explore the Yosemite Valley, since we hadn't been down in there yet and we could see it from above while stargazing at Glacier Point the night before. It looked like a charming Christmas village! The big thing to do down in the valley is to bike around on the paved trails that wind through the valley, so that's what we did! The bikes were super comfortable and affordable. We rented 6 bikes for a 1/2 day and got to explore everywhere in the valley including: Mirror Lake (more like a puddle in July), the Visitor Center, Lower Yosemite Falls trail (2 mile loop to see a waterfall on a paved trail) and Merced River.
Day 5: The Mist Trail
Our last day in Yosemite NP brings us to our last big hiking day. We saved The Mist Trail for last, with hopes of getting Half Dome permits... to no prevail. So, we sadly did just the Mist Trail without continuing on.
The Mist Trail is one of the most popular hikes in Yosemite National Park! It is about 7 miles out and back or about 8 if you come down via the John Muir Trail, which is what we did! Along the hike we experienced a steep paved incline, two bridges, about 700 steps, two waterfalls, & a beautiful view on the way down of Half Dome. The walk up is rather strenuous because of the steep incline and steps but going down on John Muir was not as bad. Overall, it was a beautiful and fun hike!
We set out a little later for the hike because we knew we only had 8 miles to hike, rather than the 17 we originally hoped for. In total we hiked 9.3 miles and it took us about 5.5 hours. Still enough to make ya tired!
Day 6: King's Canyon NP & Sequoia NP
Our last full day in California takes us out of Yosemite NP and down into King's Canyon NP and Sequoia NP, which border each other and in some things are labeled together! This made it super easy to check both parks off our list. Here's the easiest way to do so!
If you're coming from Yosemite NP down into King's Canyon, you will want to enter through the Big Stump Entrance like we did. The entrance here did not have a KCNP sign, but we did stop to get one with the Sequoia National Forest Sign. This entrance brings you into the smaller section of the park where the world's third largest tree, General Grant, is located (and really the most popular thing to see in KCNP).
We are glad that we saw General Grant (3rd largest tree in the world) before going down into Sequoia to see the #1, General Sherman. The trail to see General Grant is a short, 1 mile paved trail with lots of signage & fences. Make sure to stay on the path as not to destroy the sequoia roots!
After seeing General Grant we got back in the car and headed down toward Sequoia NP. Along the road, General's Highway, we stopped at the viewpoints on the way: Redwood Mountain Overlook & Kings Canyon Overlook. Then we officially entered Sequoia NP. Sequoia is a very convenient park in that you can drive one road through to see all of the popular attractions. We made a stop in Giant's Grove to see the World's Largest Tree, General Sherman and walked the Congress Trail (here you can see other popular sequoias like the President, Chief Sequoia, the Congress, & the House). The whole 2.5 mile, paved walk was incredible and peaceful. We highly recommend continuing past General Sherman to take this trail.
Continuing on we stopped to see Tunnel Log, where you can drive through/under a fallen sequoia. Here we saw a mama black bear with her two cubs. They were so cute playing and running on fallen trees together.
Note: Do not get out of your vehicle to take pictures of the bears. Keep the wild animals wild!
And my personal highlight of Sequoia NP: Moro Rock.
You've got to make a .25 mile climb up about 300 stairs to get to the top of Moro Rock, which boasts the best view in the park.. and for a great reason! The view is incredible and it is less scary than other high altitude views because it has a railing to hold on tight to. At about 6,700 ft. elevation, you can see Sierras in the distance as well as the remainder of the drive through Sequoia NP- a windy downhill road. This drive took us about 45 minutes to complete and by that point we were all pretty motion sick!
We conquered both of these parks in one day with time to make it to dinner in the surrounding town of Three Rivers. We highly recommend the River View Lodge. After the majority of our vacation eating PBJ sandwiches, having a restaurant with a full menu and decent prices was GOLD. Plus the portions were huge and we had a view on their patio of Moro Rock! It was so cool to think that we had just been way up there beforehand.
Day 7: Back to the Midwest
Our final vacation day was completely filled with travel, starting with our 4 hour drive back to the San Fransisco airport. Again, this is not always the most ideal for travelers but you can always change it to make it work for you- flying to Fresno would have been a lot easier. We took a cheap SunCountry flight and just dealt with the extra hours of driving and it was fine! We like to road trip and our vehicle fit all 6 of us comfortable (plus, I read 4 books during this trip!)
Overall, we all were very happy with our itinerary and with how everything on the trip went. We had almost no hiccups or bumps in the road! We are very blessed to have remained safe and to have the opportunity to travel this beautiful world with the ones we loved.
And even though our trips can be tiring & a lot of driving, I wouldn't change my family vacations for the world...
"Checkin' it off the bucket list!"
-Mackensie
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