Tunnel View, Bridalveil Fall (Newly Reopened Trail) & El Capitan Meadow

Located at the western portal of the 1.3-kilometre 1933 Wawona Tunnel on Highway 41 just before the road drops onto the floor of Yosemite Valley, Tunnel View is the most famous national-park viewpoint in the world, immortalised by photographer Ansel Adams and millions of visitors who pull into its two free roadside car parks.

1. Tunnel View (Best Light: Afternoon & Sunset, Not Sunrise)

Because Tunnel View sits at the western end of Yosemite Valley looking due east toward Half Dome: if you arrive at sunrise, you are staring straight into the blinding morning sun with El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall in dark shadow. Come instead from mid-afternoon until sunset, when the western sun shines from behind your back, turning the vertical granite face of El Capitan (on the left), the Three Brothers, Sentinel Rock, Cathedral Rocks, Bridalveil Fall (on the right) and the distant crown of Half Dome warm golden-orange. (Want an even higher view without crowds? Hike 1.6 km or 30 minutes uphill from the back of the Tunnel View car park to Artist Point.)

2. Bridalveil Fall (0.8 km Round-Trip, 20 Minutes, Newly Upgraded Accessible Boardwalk)

Drive two minutes down the hill from Tunnel View into the newly expanded Bridalveil Fall Car Park. Following a major multi-year restoration, a wide, gentle paved trail and new boardwalk viewing platform now lead right to the base of 189-metre (620-foot) Bridalveil Fall, which, unlike seasonal Yosemite Falls, is fed by Ostrander Lake and flows 12 months of the year. In May and June, the roar and swirling mist at the viewing platform feel like standing inside a car wash (wear a rain shell).

3. El Capitan Meadow (Spot 'Big-Wall' Climbers & Hanging Portaledges)

Three minutes further along Northside Drive, pull into the paved spaces along El Capitan Meadow (please stay on the wooden boardwalk paths to protect fragile meadow roots): bring a pair of binoculars (or talk to the volunteer rangers at the 'Ask a Climber' telescope station) to look 500 metres up the sheer 914-metre (3,000-foot) Nose and Dawn Wall of El Capitan, where tiny specks of rock climbers spend 3 to 5 days ascending the cliff and sleeping in hanging nylon cots (portaledges) that glow like tiny stars with headlamps after dark.