2D1N YOSEMITE ROAD TRIP ITINERARY DAY 1

Carved out of the ground by massive glaciers, Yosemite Valley is one of the most beautiful National Parks in the United States and a must go if you’re in California. Here’s how we spent 2 days visiting Yosemite!

📌 Where To Stay:

We started our journey in a rented car from San Francisco. A 2 hours drive later, we were in the nearby town of Sonora. You can also choose to stay in Merced, Fresno or Mammoth Lakes. We had booked an Airbnb in this town, and we planned to drive into Yosemite every day. There is accommodation available in Yosemite, but they’re super popular so you’ll have to make your reservation months in advance. Once in Sonora, we had an amazing lunch of tacos and burritos, before heading into Yosemite!

🚙Getting there:

To get to Yosemite, you have to first complete a harrowing, hour-long drive up hundreds of hairpin turns before reaching Yosemite Valley. But yes, the view was well worth doing so!

Note: there’s no signal along the way, so you’d need to make sure you’ve downloaded your maps accordingly before leaving! Once at the park, there’s internet and cell service!

There’s a $35/vehicle park pass that’s valid for a week, so get a bigger vehicle and stuff it full of friends!

Once in Yosemite, there are a few places you HAVE to check out. This is how we hit all the iconic spots in two days.

DAY 1:

🏞️ Yosemite Valley - this is where most of what you’d want to see lies. You can dedicate a full day just to hanging out around this area! Tip: If you see a carpark, stop and explore, for there’s definitely something to stop for!

(Fun Fact: The emoji on iOS for “park” shows the view of the Half Dome from Yosemite Valley - 🏞️)

Some landmarks in Yosemite Valley include:

🍃Sentinel Meadow

Our first stop in Yosemite Valley, we stopped here and wandered among the pine trees as El Capitan towered over us. It was a cloudy day, but the clouds made the mountains even more imposing and grand!

💦Lower Yosemite Falls

Near to Sentinel Meadow was the Yosemite Falls, and we hiked up to see the lower Yosemite Falls. An easy hike that took less than 20 minutes on flat ground.

🌉Sentinel Bridge

Along the way to Tunnel View and Glacier Point, we stopped at Sentinel Bridge, where a few people were jumping into the Merced River (think that’s probably not allowed? IDK) A beautiful viewpoint in the relatively still river, see the reflection of the Half Dome in the river.

We left the park around 6pm on the first day - we didn’t want to navigate down the crazy turns in the pitch black night- but we stopped by so many vistas along the way that we ended up leaving after dark anyway - so we drove downhill slowly and stayed extra safe!

Stay tuned for the 2nd Day of the Yosemite National Park Itinerary!

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