Must-see attractions in Yosemite & the Sierra Nevada

  • October 9, 2014: Visitors gather at Glacier Point with the Half Dome mountain in the background.

    Yosemite National Park

    Yosemite & the Sierra Nevada

    Yosemite means "killer" in the Indigenous Miwok language, and in today's parlance it's indeed an impressive, awesome site. Everywhere you look in Yosemite…

  • Earthquake Fault on Minaret Road near Mammoth Lakes California

    Earthquake Fault

    Mammoth Lakes

    Mammoth Mountain is the product of millions of years of volcanic activity, so it should be no surprise that the region surrounding it is full of…

  • General Grant Grove trees

    Mariposa Grove

    Yosemite National Park

    With their massive stature and multi-millennium maturity, the chunky high-rise sequoias of Mariposa Grove will make you feel rather insignificant. The…

  • Half Dome and the Yosemite Valley viewed from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park

    Glacier Point

    Yosemite National Park

    If you drove, the views from 7214ft Glacier Point might make you feel like you cheated – superstar sights present themselves without your having made…

  • Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

    Yosemite & the Sierra Nevada

    Joined by a high-altitude roadway bisecting a national forest and contiguous with a number of wilderness areas, these two parks combined offer vast…

  • Eagle View

    Sequoia National Park

    Jaw-dropping spectacular view of the Sierra Mountains. It's reasonably easily accessible via a 1-mile walk along the High Sierra Trail from Crescent…

  • Woman hiking through forest, rear view, Mineral King, Sequoia National Park, California, USA

    Mineral King

    Sequoia National Park

    A scenic subalpine valley at 7500ft, Mineral King is Sequoia’s backpacking mecca and a good place to find solitude. Gorgeous and gigantic, its glacially…

  • Half Dome and the Tenaya Valley

    Half Dome

    Yosemite National Park

    Yosemite's most distinctive natural monument, Half Dome is 87 million years old and has a 93% vertical grade – the sheerest cliff in North America…

  • El Capitan

    Yosemite National Park

    At nearly 3600ft from base to summit, El Capitan ranks as one of the world’s largest granite monoliths. Its sheer face makes it a world-class destination…

  • Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite National Park.

    Bridalveil Fall

    Yosemite National Park

    At the southwestern end of the valley, Bridalveil Fall tumbles 620ft. The Ahwahneechee people call it Pohono (Spirit of the Puffing Wind), as gusts often…

  • Man looking up at a giant redwood in Sequoia National Park.

    Giant Forest

    Sequoia National Park

    This 3-sq-mile grove protects the park’s most gargantuan tree specimens. Among them is the world’s biggest, the General Sherman tree, rocketing 275ft into…

  • Converse Basin Grove

    Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

    Tragically, Converse Basin once contained the world’s largest grove of mature sequoias, but it’s now an unsettling cemetery for tree stumps. In the late…

  • Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sierra Nevada, California, United States of America, North America

    Yosemite Falls

    Yosemite National Park

    West of Yosemite Village, Yosemite Falls is considered the tallest waterfall in North America, dropping 2425ft (740m) in three tiers. A slick trail leads…

  • Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center

    Yosemite National Park

    Built by the Sierra Club in 1903, this small, rustic, granite-and-wood lodge offers a glimpse of a relatively unknown chapter of California architecture…

  • Olmsted Point

    Yosemite National Park

    This ‘honey, hit the brakes!’ viewpoint, midway between the May Lake turnoff and Tenaya Lake, is a lunar landscape of glaciated granite with a stunning…

  • Moro Rock

    Sequoia National Park

    A quarter-mile staircase climbs 350 steps (over 300ft) to the top of Sequoia’s iconic granite dome at an elevation of 6725ft, offering mind-boggling views…

  • Crystal Cave

    Sequoia National Park

    Discovered in 1918 by two parks' employees who were going fishing, this unique cave was carved by an underground river and has marble formations estimated…

  • General Grant Grove

    Kings Canyon National Park

    This sequoia grove off Generals Hwy is astounding. The paved half-mile General Grant Tree Trail is an interpretive walk that visits a number of mature…

  • Inspiration Point

    Yosemite National Park

    Some of Yosemite's best vistas are granted to those who hike the steep, 1.3-mile trail up to this viewpoint. Inspiration Point used to be a spot along an…

  • Chilnualna Falls

    Yosemite National Park

    Chilnualna Creek tumbles around 2200ft over the north shoulder of forested Wawona Dome in an almost continuous series of cascades. The largest and most…

  • Crescent Meadow

    Sequoia National Park

    Said to have been described by John Muir as the ‘gem of the Sierra,’ this lush meadow is buffered by a forest of firs and giant sequoias. High grass and…

  • Sentinel Dome

    Yosemite National Park

    The hike to Sentinel’s summit (8122ft) is the shortest and easiest trail up one of Yosemite’s granite domes. For those unable to visit Half Dome’s summit,…

  • General Sherman Tree

    Sequoia National Park

    By volume the largest living tree on earth, the massive General Sherman Tree rockets into the sky and waaay out of the camera frame. Pay your respects to…

  • Main Meadow

    Yosemite National Park

    Stretching nearly 3 miles from Pothole Dome in the west to Lembert Dome in the east, Tuolumne’s main meadow is beautiful to behold, especially at sunset,…

  • Redwood Canyon

    Kings Canyon National Park

    More than 15,000 sequoias cluster in Redwood Canyon, making it one of the world’s largest groves of these giant trees. In an almost-forgotten corner of…

  • Tenaya Lake

    Yosemite National Park

    Just east of Olmsted Point, the shiny blue surface of Tenaya Lake (8150ft) looks absolutely stunning framed by thick stands of pine and a series of smooth…

  • Hospital Rock

    Sequoia National Park

    The Potwisha people, a band of Monache (also known as Western Mono), originally lived at this site. When the first white settler, Hale Tharp, arrived in…

  • Giant Forest Museum

    Sequoia National Park

    For a primer on the intriguing ecology and history of giant sequoias, this pint-sized modern museum will entertain both kids and adults. Hands-on exhibits…

  • Ansel Adams Gallery

    Yosemite National Park

    Few know about it, but original Ansel Adams photographic prints are shown at Yosemite Valley's Ansel Adams Gallery. A number of walks and classes are also…

  • Chicago Stump

    Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

    The 20ft-high Chicago Stump is all that’s left of the once-mighty, 3200-year-old General Noble tree. The 285ft giant was cut into sections and transported…

  • Roads End

    Kings Canyon National Park

    Six miles east of Cedar Grove Village is the end of the road for cars. A seasonal ranger station issues wilderness permits, sells maps and hiking guides,…

  • Roaring River Falls

    Kings Canyon National Park

    A five-minute walk on a paved trail (0.3 miles) leads to one of the park’s most accessible waterfalls, a 40ft chute gushing into a granite bowl. In late…

  • Grant Grove Village

    Kings Canyon National Park

    About 3 miles northeast of the park’s Big Stump Entrance, Grant Grove Village is the park’s main tourist hub year-round, with lodge and cabin…

  • Yosemite Museum

    Yosemite National Park

    The Yosemite Museum has Miwok and Paiute artifacts, including woven baskets, beaded buckskin dresses and dance capes made from feathers. Native American…

  • Soda Springs

    Yosemite National Park

    Above the north shore of the Tuolumne River, carbonated mineral water burbles silently out of Soda Springs, a small natural spring that turns its…

  • Panoramic Point

    Kings Canyon National Park

    For a breathtaking view of Kings Canyon, head 2.3 miles up narrow, steep and winding Panoramic Point Rd (trailers and RVs aren’t recommended), which…

  • The Ahwahnee Hotel

    Yosemite National Park

    About a quarter-mile east of Yosemite Village, The Ahwahnee is a picture of rustic elegance, dating back to 1927. You don’t need to be a…

  • Hope Valley Wildlife Area

    Yosemite & the Sierra Nevada

    Panoramic Hope Valley, ringed by Sierra Nevada peaks that may remain dusted with snow even in early summer, is home to wildflowers, meadows and burbling…

  • Buck Rock Fire Lookout

    Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

    Built in 1923 and staffed during the wildfire season, this fire lookout is one of the finest restored watchtowers you could ever hope to visit. A total of…

  • Lembert Dome

    Yosemite National Park

    Prominently marking the eastern end of the main meadow, Lembert Dome towers about 800ft above the Tuolumne River. Its summit, which chalks in at 9450ft…

    • placement: fullWidth
    • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
    • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250], [320, 50], [1, 1],
    • targeting:
      {
        "position": "superzone"
      }