South Rim of Yosemite Valley

[Lumbergh21]

Would this be a good year to do a hike of the south rim of Yosemite Valley with Glacier Point Road closed? Seems like that should really cut down on the crowds of dayhikers. I've been thinking about a short 30 mile hike over a long weekend.

[balzaccom]

See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22098

No camping is allowed east of Bridalveil Creek...so you won't have a place to camp until you get into Illilouette Canyon or Little Yosemite Valley.

[Sierra Miguel]

I haven't seen many dayhikers out there except to Dewey Point. But not having the awful crowd at Glacier Point would be welcome.

[balzaccom]

Note that everything east of Bridalveil Creek is closed to camping this summer. So Glacier Point is a day-trip only. But that doesn't mean you can't hike to Ostrander or other areas. It's just that section from Bridalveil Creek to GP that's closed.

[Wandering Daisy]

"Everything" east of Bridalveil Creek will not be closed to camping! I do not see why you cannot make it down 4-mile trail if you just want an overnight and then camp at the backpacker's campground. Or better, continue to LYV and then next day go down Mist Trail to the valley. Panorama Trail as also part of the "south rim". There is legal camping about 2 mile north of the no-camp zone of Panorama Trail (not really desirable- better to simply go to LYV). A LYV permit is not that hard to get before Half Dome cables are up.

More information on a few posts down, Wildhiker's Jan 19 post.

[balzaccom]

Closed to camping doesn't mean closed to hiking, Daisy. But the Yosemite website specifically says that the entire south rim north of Glacier Point Road and east of Bridalveil Creek is closed to camping. No reason not to explore those areas on your way through, or camp in other areas (like Ostrander or Mono Meadows) but I just wanted to make sure the OP understood that while the road is closed, it's also no OK to camp near Sentinel Dome, Taft Point, Glacier Point, etc., even though there will be almost no people there.

[Wandering Daisy]

Glacier Point Road has always opened fairly early, closing those campsites for most backpackers previously, so I do not see it as much different.

As for avoiding crowds- the Pohono Trail should be considerably less crowded because most of the day-hikers would go one way from Glacier Point to Tunnel View. The panorama trail has always had a number of hikers doing the loop up JMT or Mist, Panorama and then down 4-mile. The one-way hikers would be absent, as well as backpackers permitting from Glacier Point. But overall, I think there would be considerably less crowds.

Another issue will be limited busses; you will have to walk back to Tunnel View (it really is not that bad- about 3 hours).

Had I not done the route last year, I probably would go for it this year. The main issue is getting the permit. What is on the park web site may not be what you can actually do on reserve.gov. It would be lovely to have Glacier Point almost to yourself, for a perfect lunch stop.

[Lumbergh21]

So, does this mean the closure map on the Yosemite website is wrong? I was thinking of starting just west of Bridal Veil and camping near the trail junction to McGurk Meadow on night 1. The map on the Yosemite site shows that as a legal camping area.

[Wandering Daisy]

McGurk Meadow trail junction is east of Bridalveil Creek so should be legal. You need to call Yosemite and get verification if camping would be allowed. I do not see why it would not.

By starting "just west of Bridalveil" do you mean down in the valley? Where would you park? There is not overnight parking at Bridalveil in the valley. Tunnel View has overnight parking.

I just looked at reserve.gov and they are giving permits from Tunnel View for the Pohono Trail. That indicates that you CAN camp west of the bridge on Bridalveil Creek. You can get to LYV from Bridalveil Bridge, go back down 4 Mile trail to the backpacker's campground, or return to Tunnel View. One thing that may be in question is carrying a backpack down 4-Mile Trail if it is designated as day-hike only. Due to construction, you may have a detour to follow to get on the Panorama Trail. The construction factor at Glacier Point is another question to ask.

[Bernard]

Great topic. A couple of months ago, my wife and I did a long-ish day hike to the rim via Phono Trail from Tunnel View to get a sense of the "work" that would be involved; in anticipation of the closure this year. Despite chilly temps (it can be very shady depending on time of day), we found a pretty nice population of pileated woodpeckers about halfway up. Always cool to see those. Cannot say too much more on the topic until we really do it with packs etc. but we are really determined to do an overnighter this coming season. We currently hike regularly the name of being in optimal form for spring and summer 2022 treks - something we have neglected to do in the past.