Yosemite: Short, Easy Hikes

 
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Bridalveil Fall

The fall is a very short walk (only 1/2 mile), leaving directly from a parking lot. It’s the first major feature you hit after reaching the valley floor on Hwy 41 (Wawona Road). While the path is paved, it’s a little steep in places and can be slick from spray in spring and early summer.

  • Parking: Bridalveil Fall parking lot, off Hwy 41 just south of the intersection with Southside Drive

  • Trailhead: Bridalveil Fall

  • Closest bear boxes: Bridalveil Fall parking area

  • Closest bathrooms: in the parking lot

 

May Lake

The trail to May Lake is short and not terribly long or steep: maybe two and a half miles out and back with only a few hundred feet elevation gain. Be warned, the trailhead is at the end of a couple of miles of just miserable road (at least as of September 2016), so if you have low confidence in your car’s clearance, either skip that hike or use one of the unofficial climbers’ trails from Tioga Rd to get up to the main trailhead.

  • Parking: May Lake parking area

  • Trailhead: May Lake

  • Closest bear boxes: May Lake parking area

  • Closest bathrooms: at the parking area and just as the trail arrives at May Lake

 
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Olmsted Point

In addition to the viewpoint, there’s also a short trail out to a granite slab with quieter, less obstructed views of Clouds Rest and Half Dome.

  • Parking: there is a large, obvious parking lot on the south side of Hwy 120 (Tioga Road)

  • Trailhead: Olmsted Point

  • Closest bear boxes: Olmsted Point parking lot

  • Closest bathrooms: pit toilets at the parking lot

 
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Lembert Dome

This one is not so much a hike as a walk up a very big rock. The west face has climbing routes, but off toward the east it’s much more gently sloped, and you can just walk right up it! Good views of Tuolumne Meadows, including Cathedral Peak. Park at Dog Lake trailhead, cross the highway to the north, and follow the signs. Roughly one mile round trip.

  • Parking: Dog Lake parking lot (on the south side of Tioga Road, near the Tuolumne Meadows ranger station), street parking along Hwy 120 (Tioga Road), or if you just want to look up and not hike up it, park at Lembert Dome parking area (just off Hwy 120 on the north side, near the bridge over the river).

  • Trailhead: Dog Lake

  • Closest bear boxes: Dog Lake parking lot

  • Closest bathrooms: Tuolume Meadows wilderness office or Lembert Dome parking lot (no bathrooms at Dog Lake parking lot)

 

Dog Lake

A pretty little lake not far north of Lembert Dome, under three miles round-trip. Park at the Dog Lake trailhead, cross the highway to the north, and follow the signs.

  • Parking: Dog Lake parking lot. Turn south off of Hwy 120, pass the wilderness office and ranger station, and bear left to enter the parking lot.

  • Trailhead: Dog Lake

  • Closest bear boxes: Dog Lake parking lot

  • Closest bathrooms: Tuolume Meadows wilderness office or Lembert Dome parking lot