The 1.5 mile trail to Sentinel Dome begins on the opposite side of the viewpoints for Half Dome, when starting from Glacier Point. Yosemite Glacier Point Hike: The Trail to Sentinel Dome After exploring the different vantage points of Half Dome, we were ready to move away from the crowds and begin our hike for the day. The experience was one we will never forget as we sat, completely alone, both excited for what we had accomplished and nervous about the remaining journey ahead of us.įour years later we found ourselves at the same viewpoint, but this time we were far from alone as hundreds of tourists and fellow hikers flocked to the freshly opened destination. We arrived at Glacier Point just as the sun was beginning to set, taking in the majestic beauty of Half Dome and it’s surroundings, before heading back to the valley in the dark. We started off planing to hike to Vernal and Nevada Falls before deciding on a whim, to hike the entire Panorama Trail through Glacier Point and down the Four Mile Trail. In January 2014, Julie and I embarked on our first trip to Yosemite, and my first visit overall. We quickly parked, threw on our backpacks, and walked over to enjoy the views. Despite the traffic jam at the entrance to the parking lot, there were plenty of spots. and so we knew we were in for a busy day. As a general rule, we try to stick to our philosophy of arriving to popular destinations prior to 9:00 a.m. and as expected, the parking lot was busy. This makes the idea of doing a day-trip, much more palatable than when we lived in SoCal and the drive was 6.5 hours.Īfter a brief stop for gas, we arrived to Glacier Point at 10:00 a.m. On the flip side, one of the best things about living in the South Bay is that we are just 3.5 hours from Yosemite Valley, and about an extra hour from Glacier Point. the car was packed and we are on the ready, headed for Yosemite. Undeterred, we decided to forgo the additional hour of sleep and start getting ourselves ready to go. One of the bigger problems we have experienced in our short time living near the Santa Cruz Mountains, and a creek, is the abundance of skunks, particularly when the temperatures warm up. Yosemite Glacier Point Hike: An Early Startįriday night, we set our alarms for 5:00 a.m., but we rudely awakened an hour earlier thanks to the smell of skunk wafting into our apartment. After a few minutes of discussion, we made the plan official, and began prepping for an early morning trip to Yosemite. On Friday evening, we started to throw around the idea of going to Yosemite as a day-trip for the opening day of the road to Glacier Point. With summer just around the corner, Julie and I have started to ramp up our training regime in preparation for making the leap from day-hikes to backpacking. Often, this means extensive time in the car as we travel to different outdoor destinations where we can stretch our legs with a good hike. In the little over one year that we have lived in Northern California, we have made every effort to get out and explore our new surroundings. Working full-time jobs means we live for the weekend, and more importantly, our weekend adventures. Written by Brian Callender | Photography by Julie Boyd & Brian Callender
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