Taft Point Trail Map

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Map Notes: The golden line will lead you to Taft Point and the Fissures in just over a mile. (While you're at the trailhead, please stop the green hikers and tell them they're pointed the wrong way. You don't want to read a headline like Bodies of Gigantic Green Backpackers Found Miles From Nearest Trail and realize you could have done something to prevent it, do you?)

The red line marks the trail to Sentinel Dome. The purple line shows the section of the Pohono Trail that connects Taft Point and Sentinel Dome. It's got its own memorable views over Yosemite Valley, and lots of hikers use it to combine Taft Point and Sentinel Dome into a single outing.

The Taft Point trail is mostly flat. If you take the purple route to Sentinel Dome, it'll be mostly level for the first two-thirds or so, but you'll experience a fairly strenuous ascent as you circle around the backside of Sentinel Dome, and even more on the last stretch up the dome itself.

The dark stretches on the map show the dropoff from the valley rim into Yosemite Valley. Though the map indicates that the 4,000-foot fall takes place over about a quarter mile of horizontal distance, you'll be inclined to doubt this when you peek over the precipice at Taft Point. We know straight down when we see it.