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Tioga Road Trifecta: 1-day itinerary
Olmstead Point, Tenaya Lake, and Tuolumne Meadows5 miles (8 km), more or less
If you don't like hills, this is the tour for you. The Tenaya Lake and Tuolumne Meadows trails are almost entirely flat, and Olmstead Point has very little vertical - how much can you fit into a quarter mile, after all?
If you not only don't like hills, but don't even like walking at all, this is also a good tour for you: you can see all these attractions without getting out of your car. Though this would be akin to getting Super Bowl tickets and then watching the game on the TV monitors in the concourse. Once you see these places, you'll want to get out and explore.
You can readily complete this tour in an afternoon, especially if you don't do the full hikes. But Tuolumne Meadows in particular is a place where a lazy walk, not a brisk hike, is in order. If the weather's good, give yourself a full day to wander about.
Stop 1: Olmstead Point
This is one of the shortest hikes in Yosemite. But despite that, most visitors don't even bother to walk the quarter mile (0.4 km) to Olmstead Point; they're content to soak in the views from the parking lot, which are arguably as good as the views at Olmstead Point itself.
This is one of the shortest hikes in Yosemite. But despite that, most visitors don't even bother to walk the quarter mile (0.4 km) to Olmstead Point; they're content to soak in the views from the parking lot, which are arguably as good as the views at Olmstead Point itself.
Stop 2: Tenaya Lake
If you're feeling lazy or you don't want to ford the lake's outlet at its western end, you can skip the 2.5 mile (4 km) lake circuit and just hang out on the beach at the east end of the lake. The best views, however, are looking back east across the lake from the western beach.
If you're feeling lazy or you don't want to ford the lake's outlet at its western end, you can skip the 2.5 mile (4 km) lake circuit and just hang out on the beach at the east end of the lake. The best views, however, are looking back east across the lake from the western beach.
Stop 3: Tuolumne Meadows
We recommend leaving Tuolumne Meadows until the end of this tour so you can spend sunset wandering through it. It's worth it.
We recommend leaving Tuolumne Meadows until the end of this tour so you can spend sunset wandering through it. It's worth it.