Glacier Point Road: Glacier Point Overlook, Sentinel Dome & Taft Point ('The Fissures')

Branching off Highway 41 at Chinquapin (18 kilometres south of Tunnel View) and winding for 26 kilometres across the high southern rim of the park at 2,199 metres (7,214 feet) elevation, Glacier Point Road (open seasonally after snowploughs clear it in mid-to-late May or June until the first November snowstorm) leads to the single most dramatic high-altitude viewpoints in Yosemite.

1. Washburn Point & Glacier Point Overlook (Free Parking, 1 Hour's Drive from Yosemite Valley)

As you approach the end of the road (or ride the twice-daily Glacier Point Tour Bus from Yosemite Valley Lodge), stop at both overlooks:

• Stop 1, Washburn Point (1 km Before the End of the Road): do not drive past this car park. Because Washburn Point faces south-east up the Merced River Canyon, it is the #1 viewpoint on the road for looking straight down onto the stacked twin waterfalls of Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall and Illilouette Fall.
• Stop 2, Glacier Point (2,199m, 975 Metres Above Curry Village): walk 300 metres on a flat, wheelchair-accessible path from the car park to the stone amphitheatre and historic Geology Hut at the cliff edge. Across the chasm at eye level rises the sheer 600-metre north-west face of Half Dome, to the left thunders 739-metre Yosemite Falls, and 975 metres below sit the tiny tents of Curry Village.

2. The 2-in-1 Hike: 'Sentinel Dome + Taft Point Loop' (3.5 km Each or 8 km Combined)

Three kilometres back down the road from Glacier Point sits the Sentinel Dome and Taft Point Trailhead, where two gentle forest trails lead to opposite viewpoints in 30 minutes each way:

1. Right Fork, Sentinel Dome (3.5 km Round-Trip | 140m Gain | 1 Hour): a short climb up a smooth granite dome to 2,476 metres, higher than Glacier Point, with a full 360-degree view from El Capitan to Half Dome and the High Sierra.
2. Left Fork, Taft Point & The Fissures (3.5 km Round-Trip | Almost Flat | 1 Hour): walks gently through forest to an unrailed granite cliff edge sliced by narrow, 100-metre-deep vertical rock cracks called 'The Fissures', looking straight down 1,000 metres onto the Merced River and across at El Capitan (bring a torch for sunset).