Sacramento—It’s easy to become blasé about Yosemite Valley. Even a touch jaded.
Especially when you live within easy driving distance and have visited countless times and in all seasons. Factor in the crowds and the hoops one must be willing to jump through in order to spend the day marveling at the sheer cliffs and tumbling waterfalls, and it becomes easier just to go someplace else.
Incomparable scenery, albeit with unavoidable hassle.
So for the last five or six years, a period that included a prolonged drought and COVID-mandated reservations, I avoided Yosemite Valley except while passing through to the Eastern Sierra.
This summer, however, both have vanished. Thanks to one of the snowiest winters in California’s recorded history, Yosemite’s world-famous waterfalls are gushing with strength not seen for decades. What’s more, spur-of-the-moment trips are back in the offing now that park officials scrapped the reservation system.
My moment arrived on a Monday morning. I left the house at 7, stopped for gas (and a breakfast burrito) at Chukchansi Crossing and passed through the Mariposa County hamlet of Fish Camp at 8:15. While approaching the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park, signs were posted at various intervals estimating how long visitors will be stuck in line.
I was oh so thankful to sail past the first sign, which indicated a 90-minute wait time. (Gulp.) The same thing happened at 60 minutes and 30 minutes until the line of red taillights finally appeared just inside the 15-minute marker.
Could’ve been worse.
Getting to Yosemite Valley proper wasn’t too bad, despite three short sections where washouts reduced travel to one lane. After picking my way through a traffic jam at the eye-popping viewpoint with El Capitan in one direction and Bridalveil Fall and the Leaning Tower in the other, I parked at the main day-use lot near Yosemite Village. It was just after 9:30 a.m.
My initial impressions after a few years away: Boy, oh boy is there a lot of construction going on. The first heavy equipment and fences I spotted were at Bridalveil Fall, closed for a $15 million “restoration.” The Ahwahnee hotel is covered in scaffolding, part of a $31 million renovation, and a new Yosemite Valley visitor center is going up near the Village Store.
