50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity

From childhood, 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. Wanting to explore every bit of the Sierra, she has hiked thousands of on- and off-trail miles and climbed nearly 500 peaks in the mountain range.

Overview Map


Acknowledgments


The Very Best Short Hikes


Introduction


Using This Book


Map Legend






Hetch Hetchy Reservoir





Lookout Point
Poopenaut Valley
Wapama Falls
Yosemite Valley



Base of El Capitan
Bridalveil Falls
Upper Yosemite Fall
Lower Yosemite Fall
Swinging Bridge and Superintendent’s Bridge
Mirror Lake
Base of Vernal Fall
Mist Trail and Clark Point
Glacier Point Road and Wawona



McGurk Meadow
Taft Point
Sentinel Dome
Glacier Point
Four Mile Trail
Panorama Trail
Lower Chilnualna Falls
Wawona Meadow
Mariposa Grove
Tioga Road and Tenaya Lake



Merced Grove
Crane Flat Lookout
Tuolumne Grove
Lukens Lake (from White Wolf )
May Lake
Mount Hoffmann
Olmsted Point
Tenaya Lake
Tuolumne Meadows



Pothole Dome
Tuolumne River
Lower Cathedral Lake
Cathedral Peak Shoulder
Elizabeth Lake
Soda Springs and Tuolumne Meadows
Dog Lake
Lembert Dome
Lyell Canyon
Tioga Pass



Mono Pass
Gaylor Lakes and Great Sierra Mine
Mount Dana
Dana Plateau
Bennettville
Gardisky Lake
Slate Creek Fork of Lee Vining Creek
Twenty Lakes Basin
Conness Lakes
Mono Lake and Vicinity



Lee Vining Visitor Center to Mono Lake
Lee Vining Creek
South Tufa
Panum Crater


Hikes at a Glance


Index


About the Author