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| Stunning Images - The Breathtaking Yosemite Valley In Winter |
Your hiking and driving options are limited in Yosemite in the wintertime, but the crowds are much smaller. The low winter light and snowy vistas are photographer-friendly, there are lots of winter activities to keep you happy, and lodging is much easier to find. For various reasons - but especially that one about the crowds - Yosemite can be more fun in winter than summer.
The Tioga Road, which reaches 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) in elevation, is closed altogether in the winter, and the Glacier Point Road, with an average elevation of around 7,000 feet (2,100 meters), is closed to automobiles fives miles in (at Badger Pass, Yosemite's alpine ski area) and transformed into a cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trail. Yosemite Valley, though, at an altitude of 4,000 feet (1,220 meters), is open year round and fairly temperate by High Sierra standards. It gets enough snow to spawn the occasional Calvinesque snowman, but not so much that you would practically use showshoes or skis (or not often and not for long, at any rate).
The Sierra snow gods typically don't get really busy until January; chances are about 50-50 that you'll have enough precipitation for snow activities in December, and it's not unheard of for you to have to postpone your snow jones until late January.
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| Stunning Images - The Breathtaking Yosemite Valley In Winter |
Most of the non-camping options in Yosemite Valley and southern Yosemite are open year round - even the unheated tent cabins in Curry Village. Accommodations inside Yosemite usually require reservations months or even years ahead for summertime stays, but can often handle walkup traffic in the winter. It's best to get reservations anyway, though, since they can fill up in advance for winter events - the Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley's celebrated luxury hotel, often fills up for the Vintners Holidays and the Yosemite Chefs Holiday Series, for instance. (See the Yosemite Lodging section for more details on finding a place to stay in Yosemite.)
Hotels in the towns surrounding Yosemite are open year round, too, and it's much easier to find reservations and bargain rates in the winter. Mariposa, Midpines, and El Portal are especially fit locations for winter lodging, since they're on Highway 140, the lowest (and usually least icy) winter route into the park. Avoid Lee Vining and other towns on the eastern slope in the winter - Tioga Road, the eastern entrance to Yosemite, is closed from November through May, give or take a week or two.
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| Stunning Images - The Breathtaking Yosemite Valley In Winter |
Most of Yosemite's campgrounds close for the winter, but four remain open year round for hardy travelers, all on a first-come, first-serve basis (even the ones that require reservations during the summer). In Yosemite Valley, Upper Pines Campground and Camp 4 are available. Camp 4, a famed hangout for climbers, is tents only (no RVs allowed). The other two are the Wawona Campground, near the Wawona Hotel in southern Yosemite, and Hodgdon Meadow Campground, near the Big Oak Flat entrance (Yosemite's northwest entrance) on Highway 120. You can also camp in the wilderness in the winter; as in the summer, a wilderness permit is required - see the park service's winter wilderness page for more details. Additionally, cross country skiers can stay at the Glacier Point Ski Hut (starting at $120) and the Ostrander Ski Hut ($15 - $55), a cabin at Ostrander Lake. Reservations are required for both the Glacier Point and Ostrander Ski Huts, and you'll have to win a lottery to get reservations for the Ostrander Hut.
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