Hike Distance: 2 - 4 miles (3.2 - 6.4 km) round trip for a just-to-smell-the-flowers excursion;
9 miles (14.4 km) round trip to Hite Cove
Trailhead Elevation: 1,900 feet (580 meters)
Total Elevation Gain: 100 feet (30 meters)
The Hite Cove Trail winds up the canyon of the South Fork of the Merced River. If you were amibitious and amphibious enough to continue upriver past Hite Cove, you'd eventually cross under highway 41 at the Wawona Hotel in southern Yosemite.
The Hite Cove trailhead is just east of the landslide that's blocked highway 140 and forced the creation of a one-lane detour (street view here).