Yosemite: Which time is best?
 

We're trying to decide when it'd be best to go to Yosemite: the week before Memorial Day or a week or two after Labor Day? Our main intent is to avoid crowds and really enjoy the park. What are the pros/cons of each time?

The week before Memorial Day should have more waterfall flow than after Labor Day - but it may not be as warm or as available. Either time really is great to visit - and can be debated on an aon - but first make sure you have your reservtions well ahead of time. http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/where.htm

Here's my vote for the week before Memorial Day. The waterfalls are spectacular and things are really lush. The season I spent a week in May it was clear and warm during the day, crisp at night.

As to cons, Tioga Pass will likely still be closed, and maybe Glacier Point. They opened quite early this year due to lack of snow, but don't count on that. Chart to check yearly dates for opening: http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

I went this year the first week of May. It was not too crowded and perfect weather with full waterfalls. For many people May is their favorite month in Yosemite. I've never been in Sept. so can't comment on that.

I like every month except high summer (July/August are just too TOO crowded)

But the problem w/ early Sept is it can still be hot/summery, the waterfalls will mostly be dry, and you won't have the pretty fall colors yet.

So if possible, I'd go in May. But if it is a heavy snow year, where you can go will be limited.

I'm voting for May, too, because of the waterfalls. Be Prepared for both hot, warm and chilly weather, perhaps all on the same day. We were there with the Boy Scouts one year, and were out inthe Valley in 73 degree weather, just lovely, when all of a sudden, it started snowing. It snowed lightly all night, and we woke up in our tent cabin to a gorgeous dusting of snow over Half Dome. We wore every item of clothing we had that morning. The two year looked like the Michelin Man. Wouldn't have traded that weekend for anything.

We went the weekend before Memorial Day in 2010. It wasn't that crowded and we really enjoyed it. Tioga Road, Glacier Point, and Half Dome cables hadn't opened up, but the waterfalls were full blast and we had a great time.

I'm late posting on this one, as I was getting ready to go to Yosemite for the week before Memorial Day! This is more a report and maybe helpful for next year. I was there 5/21-5/26 -- Monday night through Friday night and spent most of Saturday there as well.

The weekdays were just wonderful. Parking available anywhere you wanted to stop. Easy driving, even with the new one lane rule during the bus runs of Yosemite. Saturday, though!, was as if I'd landed on another (overcrowded) planet, and that was after a sudden snow and hail storm on Friday (which brought beautiful storm clearings to photograph that afternoon).

On Saturday, I was on foot, just enjoying the easy paths in the valley, but the car traffic was massive.
There were almost no parking spaces available for stopping anywhere! even if you could move in the first place.

For those headed to the center of Yosemite Valley, the lack of movement of all those cars was so bad that they had to have uniformed traffic monitors spaced about the equivalent of a block apart, directing traffic so that they could have SOME movement.

I was told by hotel staff that Memorial Day weekend is one of the most crowded times all year, vying with the worst crowding of summer.

The following week though, some neat park programs do open up, like the tours to see the stars at Grizzly Peak, etc. Many programs I was interested in did not start until June 1.

Also, I had 3 ultra sunny gorgeous days in a row, but I really wanted clouds as they make for better photographs and, deep within, many of us hope to catch thunderstorms in order to be able to get photographs of some of Yosemite's beautiful "clearing storms" which add such interesting light and color to the mountains and waterfall as seen from places like Tunnel View.

So, on May 25, when we did get a sudden snow/hail storm due to hit that afternoon, some of us went to Tunnel View and waited for hours, hoping to see one of the rightly famous 'clearings.' In a sort of 3D experience, because Yosemite is so about vast spaces, which can't be adequately caught in a 1-dimensional photograph, we still tried to see or capture what we could.

It was so beautiful to me to see a bit of snow on the tops of Cathedral Rocks as seen from Tunnel View and in the cold but clear air of spaces that moving clouds uncovered that I treasured this even more than the 3 sunny days and have not uploaded most of the sunny day photos yet :-)

But if anyone's interested in scenes from a Yosemite clearing storm, you'll see examples of shifting light and visibility of Yosemite Vally as seen late that day from that famous view.

They're at http://bit.ly/clearingstorms

It's more a running commentary on the changes I saw rather than a set of scenic photos, and I hope that some will enjoy the different light from the normal sights I saw the first 3 days.