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| View from Glacier Point |
After a full day of hiking and cycling the day before, it was time to take a nice relaxing scenic drive up to Glacier Point inside Yosemite National Park. Our final day exploring the park would see us playing in the middle of the road, climbing glacier cliffs and another picnic lunch with a view. Welcome to my second instalment of 2 Days In Yosemite National Park.
It's about a 2 hour drive from Groveland to the Glacier Point parking lot, the roads are damaged and full of hairpin corners and be careful of little squirrels that want to run out onto the road in front of your car! From Glacier Point Lookout you will have those cliche panoramic views of Half Dome, Nevada Falls and the surrounding valleys below!
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| View From Glacier Point |
Be sure to use the turnouts on the way up to Glacier Point. There is a famous viewpoint called Tunnel View along the way with views of Yosemite Valley and El Capitan.
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| Tunnel View |
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| Tunnel View |
Another famous photo opportunity is just before Glacier Point, as you're driving another one of those sharp corners you'll get a clear view of the road and Half Dome in the background! Pull into one of the turnouts if you can and get a photo here! Also a great spot to stop for a picnic lunch which is exactly what we did after Glacier Point!
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| Glacier Point Road |
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| Lunch At Glacier Point |
There is plenty of parking at Glacier Point, we got there at around 10am and it was busy, but not over crowded. You can easily get your photos with no other tourists in the background. We spent about an hour up here, taking it in from a few different angles. There is a viewing platform and then to the right is a big flat solid granite area where you can safely sit down and look. To the left is a famous (but very dangourous) photo opportunity on top of a cliff with a rock that sticks out over the valley. Aaron was game enough to climb the barrier and get his photo taken 10,000 feet above.
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| Glacier Point |
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| View Of Half Dome From Glacier Point |
You should know that in 2011 Yosemite National Park had 17 fatalities, which is a lot higher than it's yearly average. But it goes to show you need to be careful in this natural wonder. After spending time up at Glacier Point we stopped by the valley floor again on our way back to Groveland. We wanted to take one last look at the beautiful meadow that lies in the middle of the park before driving out.
What did we miss? We got to see A LOT of the park in just 2 days here. I would love to come here and actually stay in the park. You could complete way more hiking trails this way and I would love to see Glacier Point at sunrise. There are so many hikes on the Glacier Point side of the park that we could not do because of limited time.
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| View From Glacier Point |
Tip: Plan ahead! Don't just think you can show up and start hiking and see it all. Know where the trail heads are, know what hikes you want to complete and the sights you'll see on these hikes. A website I found to be really helpful was
yosemitepark.com so start reading up if you want to get the most out of your time here!
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| Driving To Glacier Point |
You can find some more in depth information on Yosemite in my guide:
2 Days In Yosemite National Park which is available for download from the
Create Trips app.
Other helpful sites:
Google images (helpful in getting an idea of what you'll see when you get there)
Tripadvisor
National Park Service
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