Our day hikes are customized to provide unique adventures based on your abilities and personal desires. Discover Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada on a special interpretive day hike; visit the most famous vistas and historical landmarks, explore the most spectacular and remarkable high alpine wilderness locations. Our expertise is knowing the best places to take you, places few people venture for a very unique and extra special experience.
Couples, individuals, families or small groups
Day Hike Rates
$675 for 1-2 guests
$765 for 3 guests
$855 for 4 guests
$945 for 5 guests
$1,035 for 6 guests
Please call us for group sizes of 7 or more people for a custom quote. Larger families or groups are easily accomodated too!
Dates:
Dates are arranged at your request. We will do our best to accommodate your needs!
Yosemite Valley/Glacier Point Day Hike Options:
The Panorama Trail is perhaps the single best hike in the Yosemite Valley area, possibly in all of Yosemite. It actually includes two of Yosemite’s most spectacular hikes with unmatched “up-close and personal” scenic views of many iconic Yosemite landmarks. Additionally, we know of some little known places for some really amazing vistas. As with all of our hikes, transportation is also provided to the start of the hike (at Glacier Point).
An 8.5 mile hike, this usually takes about 6+ hours. If you’re in excellent shape and want a real challenge, add in the visually impressive hike up from Yosemite Valley on the 4-mile Trail (actually adds 4.7 miles)!
Yosemite Falls Trail takes you on a strenuous and very rewarding trip to the very top of the tallest waterfall in North America (7.5 miles, 2,600’ elevation gain to the top and then back down to the Valley). When Yosemite Falls is flowing in all its magnificence, it is unquestionably one of the most breathtaking and fantastic overlooks on the planet. This is a hike for the hearty and well conditioned hiker, it is a challenging workout.
The Mist Trail is a very spectacular hike to a pair of Yosemite’s most famous waterfalls, Vernal and Nevada falls. Also one of Yosemite’s most popular hikes, an early start is highly recommended. To the lip of Vernal Fall is a 1.5 mile hike (3 miles round trip) with an elevation gain of 1,000 feet. Nevada Fall is about 2 miles farther with another 1,900 feet up the trail (7 miles round trip) and virtually all downhill hiking on the return.
The well maintained but at times moderately challenging trail leads to views from the abrupt edge of both waterfalls and provides breathtaking views. The trail follows the Merced River leading you through the spray (mist) of Vernal Fall in spring and early summer, then to grand views of spectacular Nevada Fall for the second leg of this trek, with expansive views along the way of the Merced River Canyon and across to Glacier Point.
Taft Point & the Fissures provides a short hike departing from the Glacier Point Road to the impressive sheer cliffs and huge fissures rising straight above Yosemite Valley. With an absolutely vertical drop to the Valley floor below and a dramatic view directly across to El Capitan, this easy hike with a big reward takes less than two hours over a 1.1 mile trail (2.2 miles round trip).
Update for 2023 - Because of the past closure of Glacier Point in 2022, the road is now open but with delays due to continued roadwork. This hike is only available by a two or three day backpack trip option. Call for more details if interested.
Sentinel Dome can be summated easily from the same trailhead of Taft Point, and allows you to be on top of one of Yosemite’s famous granite domes. The views towards Half Dome, the Yosemite high country, and across to Yosemite Falls (spring/early summer) is quite impressive. This easy hike is 2.2 miles round trip with an elevation profile of about 400 feet up & back.
Update for 2023 - Because of the past closure of Glacier Point in 2022, the road is now open but with delays due to continued roadwork. This hike is only available by a two or three day backpack trip option. Call for more details if interested.
Many other day hikes are also available in both Yosemite Valley and along the Glacier Point Road. Along the Glacier Point Road, some very beautiful meadows and more secluded vistas towering over Yosemite Valley make for great day hike options. Meadow areas are excellent places to view wildlife and for bird-watching, as well some very fine picnicking spots in these less visited locations.
Tuolumne Meadows & Tioga Pass/Alpine Region Day Hikes
Cathedral Lakes/Budd Lake Loop follows a seldom used trail up a beautiful cascading creek with small pockets of meadows dotted along its course all the way to the outlet of a spectacular high alpine lake. The route encircles the base impressive Cathedral Peak, first reaching beautiful Budd Lake and then a little cross country trekking over granite slopes to Upper Cathedral Lake. Both lakes are perfectly set beneath lofty granite peaks towering directly above their shores. This is a moderate day hike of about 7 miles, with outstanding lakeside locations for incredible views, fishing, swimming, or just relaxing and staring in awe at the majestic landscape before you.
Elizabeth Lake resides below the impressive granite precipice of Unicorn Peak. Reached following an easy 2 mile hike up a meandering, pleasantly shaded forest trail, the lake provides many inlets and peninsulas on its grassy shoreline for a wonderful place to spend a day. A great destination for picnicking, wading or swimming, or just basking in the sun, it also contains a healthy population of brook trout for fishing.
Gaylor Lakes is the perfect example of the High Sierra alpine environment. This easy to moderate hike begins with a fairly steep climb on a nice trail to a ridge on the crest of the Sierra Nevada. Once at the ridgeline, the view is incredible with wide open, sweeping views of a classic alpine lake basin and some of the highest peaks in the Yosemite region. With no less than five lakes in this uniquely landscaped region, the distance is about 3 miles round-trip, or a bit longer depending where you choose to ramble. For the bit more adventurous, this hike can also include visiting an abandoned 1890s mine situated at the very crest of the Sierra Nevada, or even a non-technical scramble up a 12,000’ peak at the apex of the range.
Bennetville and the Great Sierra Mine is a step back into history with an easy mile hike from the trailhead leading to the abandoned Great Sierra Mine and historic town of Bennettville. Just past the old mining ruins, the adjoining alpine lake & meadow complex stretches up to the boundary of Yosemite along the crest of the Sierra Nevada, making for a very easy and enjoyable hike despite its remote setting. This is a fantastic place to visit the delicate and rare alpine environment, and take a step back in the remarkable and varied history of Yosemite.
Mono Pass is a trek to one of the highest day hike locations in Yosemite. Not particularly difficult, yet with some gradual steepness here and there, grand views abound on this hike with the grandest reward at the summit of Mono Pass (10,600’ in elevation). This is a 7.5 mile round trip hike that follows streams and meadows, winding through sections of specially adapted high elevation pine forest, ending at the rocky saddle of an historic pass and old mining site. From this viewpoint, your gaze is directed straight down the steep eastern escarpment of Sierra Nevada, where impressive Mono Lake and the sagebrush environment of high desert stretch out thousands of feet far below.