Greetings from NY. We are booked to stay at the Yosemite Valley Lodge from Saturday-Saturday in late August 2007. Is this too much time to be spending at this location? We went to Yellowstone a few years ago and enjoyed traveling around the park and staying in different locations. After reading a bit on posts such as these, it seemed most recommended staying in the Valley but I am wondering if seven days won't be too many. Any suggestions? Any recommendations for ways to diversify our itinerary if one week is too long in the Valley? Should we strike out to other areas/parks in the region or focus on different parts of Yosemite with some of those days?

By way of background, we are flying into Fresno's airport.

Thanks for any advice you may be able to give.

Best regards,
adventuredays

What if you spend some time in the eastern Sierra say Lee Vining, June Lake or Mammoth. There is certainly enough to see there if you run out of stuff to see in Yosemite.

North of Lee Vining is Bodie a preserved Ghost Town. Just south of Lee Vining you can visit Mono Lake. (visitor's center is south of lee vining)
There are many lakes to visit in the June Lake Loop.
South of June Lake Obsidian Dome
Mammoth Lakes:
Devils Postpile
Rainbow Falls (easy hike)
Lake Mary, Twin Lakes, Lake George and the very interesting Horseshoe Lake.
Bike Park
Gondola to the top of the mountain for sight seeing
South of Mammoth:
Hot Creek
Rock Creek Canyon and Lake

I think it depends on if you like to hike. If so, that is probably not too long. (although I would definitely go to other areas of the park in that time). We spent 5 nights there and just touched the surface. If you want, since you are flying in and out of Fresno, you could take a couple of days at the end and explore Sequoia and Kings Canyon. We went to Yosemite (about and hour and a half north) from Fresno, and back through Fresno (exploring Wawona and Mariposa Grove on the way to Sequoia/Kings Canyon (about another hour and a half east of Fresno).

If you click on my name, I did write trip reports in May 2004, which may help you get started.

Thank you Suzie and Maj. I have just started investigating flights into Reno and out of Fresno to allow us to drive over the Tioga Pass and stay a night in the Toulumne Meadows before heading to the Valley. I thought we could stop a night in Wawona as we leave the park to catch our flights back from Fresno. This may allow us to see more of Yosemite.

Another option would be what Maj suggested in visiting Kings and Sequoia. If you had your choice of the above itinerary or fitting in a visit to King's and Sequoia, which would you choose having been to all?

Suzie, I am not familiar with the areas you mentioned in the eastern Sierra. I plan to do some research straight away.

Once again, thank you for your suggestions. It is such a relief to be able to bounce trip ideas off people in the know. I really appreciate it.

Best,
Lisa

If you want to see both Yosemite and Sequoia you can do the following:

If you fly into Reno and drive down 395, right after you leave Bridgeport you can look for the turn off to Bodie. After you visit Bodie you can drive further south on 395 to the Mono Lake Visitor’s Center and check out Mono Lake. Then stop in to the Whoa Nellie Deli that is located in a Gas station right at the junction of 120 and 395. Spend the night in Lee Vining.

Next day you can do Tioga Pass and hike around Tuolumne Meadows. Spend three nights in Yosemite Lodge in the valley. Spend the next couple of days hiking around to the various places and sights you planned to see. On the morning after your last night in the valley, drive to the south end of the park and see Wawona and the Mariposa Grove. You can spend the night in Fish Camp, Oakhurst or if it’s still early Fresno.
The next day you can drive to Sequoia and spend 2 nights before driving to Fresno to fly out.

Suzie's itinerary sounds good to me. We didn't have the luxury of knowing if Tioga Pass would be open when we went in mid-May. Luckily for us it opened the day before we arrived so we were able to drive over Tioga Pass, but since nothing was open yet we only spent the afternoon there.

We found that you don't want to double back any more than you have too -- and her itinerary will avoid that. Also, by staying in the valley, you save time driving back and forth. Glacier Point is not far and not to be missed while you are staying in the valley.

This is making me want to go back!

Thanks so much Suzie and Maj. I love your suggestions. It seems like a great way to have a more broad sampling of all that the area has to offer without having to double back in all of that traffic during peak season. I am getting excited and it is still almost one year away!

By the way, in answer to Maj's question, we are avid hikers!

Many thanks to you both,
Lisa

Here's a link to info on hikes in Yosemite.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/trip/valleyhikes.htm

Definitely plan to do Vernal Falls and Panorama Trail. Do Taft and Sentinal from Glacier Point unless you are afraid of heights. :0

This is not a list of all the hikes in Yosemite so do more research!

Oh if you are going to be in Yosemite during the Perseid Meteor Shower 8/12/07 (peak) you can get a great view of this on top of Taft or Sentinal or anywhere high and dark. Of course the best time to see it will be after midnight but even before then it might be a sight to see.

Me again Suzie. I can't find too much information on Lee Vining outside of webpages on the weather and accomodation. Can you tell me a little bit about it? Did you stay overnight? Would you recommend the place you stayed?

Thanks so much,
Lisa

Lisa,

If you are avid hikers, I suggest you spend at least a couple of nights in Tuoloumne Meadows before heading down to the Valley. The hiking in the high country is wonderful, and very different from the hikes starting in the Valley. We try to spend 5-6 days in Tuolumne each August and it's never enough. We camp, but the Tuolumne Lodge has tent cabins that are quite comfortable.

Lakeview Lodge in Lee Vining is nice. Also here's a link to pictures of lodging in Lee Vining. I would say that the pics are quite accurate. We go through Lee Vining every summer.

http://www.leevining.com/motels.htm#murphey's

Lakeview Lodge and Murphys would be my choices but others may have other recommendations.

Be sure to have dinner at the Mono Inn if you stay overnight in Lee Vining. And take the nature trail down to the observations platform by the lake, just at dusk. There's an amazing assortment of waterfowl, and signs indicating the progress of the lake level, thanks to the efforts of the Mono Lake Committee.