Glacier Point

From Yosemite Valley or Wawona, it’s about 30 miles and an hour each way. This is a destination to build into the day, not a quick spur between Valley stops. On busy days, visitors report traffic and full parking that can add time; other visitors find parking without much trouble, so leave yourself a cushion rather than counting on a quick turnaround.

Glacier Point Road usually opens from late May into October or November and closes after the first significant snowfall. In winter, the view is still reachable by cross-country ski: about 10.5 miles one way from mid-December through March, when conditions allow.

A 300-yard paved switchback trail leads from the main parking area to the overlook. The route to the view is wheelchair accessible, with designated accessible parking. There are restrooms and a bottle-filling station nearby. The snack bar and gift shop make this a useful place for a quick bite; visitors report snacks, drinks and ice cream.

For a photo that shows the scale, keep some of the Valley below Half Dome in the frame instead of isolating the summit. The drop is a big part of what makes this view feel different from the Valley floor.

The small Geology Hut near the overlook was completed in 1925 and was the national parks system’s first trailside museum. Its exhibits make a good stop after the panorama: Yosemite’s most recent valley glacier was here about 20,000 years ago, and as it retreated around 15,000 years ago, tributary streams were left hanging high above the Valley floor. The waterfalls you can pick out from the rim are part of that story.

The overlook is accessible, but the Geology Hut itself isn’t wheelchair accessible; its paved approach is steep.

Before the road, visitors came up James McCauley’s toll trail. Innkeeper Charles Peregoy opened the Mountain House here in 1873, and the Glacier Point Hotel followed in 1917. From Camp Curry far below, the glow of campfire ashes pushed over the cliff looked like a waterfall of fire. That view began Yosemite’s Firefall tradition. The hotel burned in an electrical fire in 1969, and the historic Glacier Point Firefall ended with it.

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt joined John Muir on a three-day trip through Yosemite that included Glacier Point. Buffalo Soldiers from the Ninth Cavalry escorted the president. Muir and Roosevelt used a supposed trail-clearing job on the Four Mile Trail as cover to slip away from their escorts and talk around the campfire about protecting the forest.