Yosemite: Sentinel Dome Hike

Wow, I can't believe this last Yosemite post has been sitting in my draft folder for 2.5 months!  This is also my very last post about our honeymoon to California, which was, at this point, over 1.5 years ago.  Talk about time flying by quickly!  Without further ado....

On our second day in Yosemite we chose to hike a few miles farther than on our first day--about eight or nine miles.  I really wish I could remember where we started the hike (I'm trying to dig back in my memory nearly 1.5 years ago now!), but the highlight of the hike was the Sentinel Dome portion.  Before you get to the top you get to hike along trails that have these amazing pine trees called Jeffrey Pines...and they literally smell like vanilla!  Talk about the little things, but I just thought that was so cool!

Anway, the hike to Sentinel Dome is well known for having the most famous Jeffrey Pine of them all, or what's known as the Ansel Adams tree (see his photo).  Unfortunately, drought killed it in the 1970's in spite of people making the hike with water to try to keep the poor tree alive; it eventually fell over in 2003.  But its gnarled, sun-bleached trunk is still a pretty cool sight to see, not to mention the views you get at the top of Sentinel Dome.

The top of Sentinel Dome also provided a wonderful vantage point of Half Dome.

After we completed our Taft Point-Sentinel Dome loop, we hopped in our car and drove to drove over to Washburn Point to get some wide snapshots of Nevada (the upper falls) and Vernal Falls.

Next we drove to the Glacier Point view point/trail head area, from which you have a great view of the Upper Falls of Yosemite Falls (pictured here) and Half Dome.

Finally, our last stop of the day was the Bridalveil Falls Trail, which is an easy 20-minute hike.  This hike is in the valley, which is an extremely popular part of Yosemite (granted, parking can be difficult at a lot of the trail heads, too, if you aren't an early riser), so we opted to take the public transportation to our various stops.

On the hike there's a section that allows you to get relatively up close to the falls.  This means there can be a good crowd here, but it's worth stopping and being patient to get that iconic waterfall shot.  Also, don't forget to take it all in and enjoy the fact that you're standing in such a majestic part of the United States. :)

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