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Exploring Yosemite National Park

photo of the week for Friday, 2009, October 9
Photographer: Kurt Repanshek

Yosemite National Park is much, much more than the Yosemite Valley. Head to the high country that's accessed via the Tioga Road and you enter an entirely new realm, one characterized by granite domes and peaks, pocket lakes, and thick forests.

This lake, Gaylor, is quickly accessed via a trail that starts just inside the park's Tioga Entrance.

On the Web: www.nps.gov/yose

Comments

Submitted by Kim (not verified) on October 13, 2009 - 1:35pm.

I always come yearly to capture the diference and change of the seasons. I will return in the srping. I just came back from camping on oct 6th-9th, it was cold 40degrees at night and 76 in the day. WOW what a difference!

Submitted by Tom Taber (not verified) on October 13, 2009 - 2:25pm.

Yosemite Valley is less than one percent of Yosemite National Park. There is so much more to see. The valley is best from about mid-May until the end of June because that's when the waterfalls are at their best. Yosemite Falls usually dries up in August. My favorite place in the park is Tuolumne Meadows, which is nearly 9,000 feet elevation (about 5,000 feet higher than the valley), so it usually still has snow until July. Tuolumne Meadows is at its best from mid-July until late-September (when the temperature can drop below freezing). My wife and I spent six wonderful days of camping at the Tuolumne Meadows campground mid-August. Some of the best stargazing anywhere can be enjoyed out on the meadow on moonless nights.