Yosemite National Park is a treasure. Even when there are over a thousand visitors seemingly everywhere, it is still worth the visit.

But my favorite time to go is winter. The crowds thin out and, if there is snow, the place can seem magical.

There is usually a crowd at Tunnel View. If you take a photograph there, it joins millions of photos from the same spot. For me, that puts a damper on my enthusiasm. But I still stop and enjoy the view. And, once in a while, it still manages to dazzle. Most of the time, though, I just enjoy the view.

That particular photo was not taken on a visit to Yosemite. We were actually headed over to Mokelumne Hill to stay at the Ledger Hotel. A storm was rolling through as we were driving along highway 40, however, and on an impulse I said “let’s go check out Yosemite”. It turned out to be a great idea. We didn’t spend much time there but we drove up to Tunnel View almost immediately. I’ve been there many times, sometimes when a storm was coming through. But I’ve never had the light look quite the same as that afternoon.

Bridalveil Fall

My wife and I visit Yosemite nearly every year. Usually we visit several times. I had been going for years myself but in 2000 I went with my wife for the first time (she wasn’t my wife at the time but it was our first time together in Yosemite).

Back when we started, the weather was already going through strange extremes. One year it was so warm we drove over Tioga Pass on New Year’s Day. To put that in perspective, Tioga Pass is usually closed until almost the end of May.

In 2006 the weather was cold. We spent several days enjoying snow everywhere. In the last few years, snow is rare and seems to melt almost immediately when it does occur.

Bridalveil Fall was completely closed when we visited in February of 2022. There was a project to redo everything; from the parking lot to the service roads and paths. And the entire area was chained up tight with no way to get in. The only place to photograph Bridalveil Falls was from the pull-off on the north side of the road.

But in 2006 we bought some strap-on boot spikes. The trail to the base of Bridalveil can become an ice shoot. There are very few steps along the trail. Most of it is just a sloping, wide dirt path with some large rocks occasionally. It’s fine when the weather is milder. But when it goes below freezing, rain freezes and the gentle slope of the trail becomes dangerous. Without crampons, it is really easy to slip and fall, even with heavy hiking boots. We learned the hard way and found elastic “crampons” in the Yosemite Valley store that make all the difference.

Once you get to the end of the trail, there is a small flat area surrounded by a stone wall and a view looking up at the fall. People tend to hang out, sitting on the wall, taking photos and selfies. It can feel crowded. I hop over the wall and head up through the rocks to get closer to the base of the falls.

On the day I took the photograph above, there was a good breeze blowing and it fanned the falls out. It was one of those times where the name matched what I saw. And the snow around the base was like a lace pattern to finish the concept of a wedding dress.

Merced River

One visit, we were driving around after sunset, on our way out and back to our hotel room. But just before the El Capitan parking area, I stopped one last time and hiked to an area where the Merced River comes around a corner. The light was fading and I used my tripod. When I looked at the photograph later I was surprised at how intense the blue of the evening was while still being enough to see the trees and river. It remains a favorite shot and a good reminder that sometimes, sticking around long after you think “the light is gone” makes for some wonderful surprises.

Vernal and Nevada Fall

My wife and I do not hike as often as we used to. On a visit in 2015 we went in on Thanksgiving and decided to take a hike up to Nevada Fall. That wasn’t very far and the weather was nice, so we continued and headed up to Vernal Fall. It was further and more difficult than we thought it would be. At one point, there was a sign saying the trail was closed. If you continued, you were “traveling at your own risk”. We took that to mean – it was up to us to decide what to do. So we decided to keep going. Along the way, we met a park ranger. He repeated the same warning. He seemed upset that we had gone around the sign. He told us that there were rocks falling on the trail from above. We thanked him and told him there were a lot of people following us. He seemed dismayed. We continued hiking. The last section up to the base of Vernal Fall was very steep. When we finally got to a view, it was worth it. We even climbed to the top of the falls but there wasn’t much of interest to photograph on top. It was a wonderful hike. I do, however, remember being pretty sore the next day.

Yosemite Fall

Lower Yosemite Fall is easy to reach. There is a parking lot for hotel guests just off the road and on the other side there is a clear path to Lower Yosemite Fall that is wide, paved and easy to find and follow. There are always a lot of people coming and going. The trail is mostly straight at first with some nice views of the fall before winding through the woods and eventually coming out at the bottom.

The trail to upper Yosemite Fall is more difficult and has of quite a few switchbacks as it climbs the ridge. I have not done that hike but it is on my list.

El Capitan

As you drive west along Northside Drive, there is a small parking area with the Merced in the foreground and El Capitan off to the left. In the winter, the river sometimes has snow and there are stumps and rocks in the foreground that can help make a nice composition. When the conditions are right, it is also a wonderful place to see the sunset reflected in the water while the late sun lights up El Capitan.

Glacier Point

December 30th, 2011 and, as you can see from the photograph we were able to drive up to Glacier Point. I believe that is the only time we’ve been able to do that in the 22 years we’ve been going there. Like Tioga Pass, the road to Glacier Point is usually only open to the Badger Pass ski area. This was a very unusual year. You can see there is no snow anywhere. It was so warm that year, we drove over Tioga Pass as well.

Wawona and winter streams

In years where we have visited but there wasn’t much snow, we often drive out along the Wawona Road, past Tunnel View and on towards the small town of Wawona. If we keep going we eventually reach Fish Camp and can even head down into Oakhurst. For a while, we enjoyed staying at a place called The Appletree Inn in Fish Camp. There were inexpensive cabins with a small fireplace, balcony and just enough of a kitchen area to make breakfast. But the place was purchased by the Tenaya Lodge and the price doubled immediately. We didn’t think it was worth it, so we stopped going. I noticed it is now up to around 600 a night. For that much I can rent a house in South Yosemite.

When snow has melted everywhere else, there is often still snow and ice in the small Alder Creek stream along Wawona Road. The creek is just up high enough and in a turn where it is sheltered from the sun that the snow doesn’t melt as fast. Of course, it also doesn’t get much light. In 2007, however, there was snow down in Yosemite Valley and up at Alder Creek there was so much the creek was barely visible. It was nice to photograph, even though it was a little challenging to walk around.

We visited again in 2022 and, while it snowed the day before we went there, it was almost all gone by the time we drove in. But the Merced was flowing strongly as we drove up and into the park. And on our last day, I stopped for a while during the morning and took some shots.

Yosemite is best if you can spend some time, ideally with a backpack and a map. Hike in and explore the back country and you won’t be disappointed. There is a great trail that goes along the top of the southern rim with views looking down into the valley. And you can also hike around Toulumne Meadows and the surrounding mountains.

Whether you have time, energy and the endurance to go backpacking for several days or can only do some day hikes or just visit the views that are an easy walk, Yosemite is worth visiting.