Yosemite road trip map

Yosemite Road Trip

Days 1-2: On the Road

Activities

  • Driving
  • More driving!

The Plan: Just passing through with stops in  Springfield, Illinois and Wichita, Kansas. Downtown Wichita sounds fun! Four breweries within walking distance of our hotel?

Drive from home

Stay at Country Inn & Suites (Springfield)

Stay at Hotel at Old Town (Wichita)

Get around by driving

Days 3-5: Santa Fe

Activities

  • Sightsee in Santa Fe and Taos
  • Take the high road and low road to Taos
  • Meow Wolf

The Plan: We’ve never been here — or to New Mexico — and it’s a bucket list item.

Drive from Wichita

Stay at Silver Saddle Motel

Get around by driving

Days 6-8: Sedona

Activities

  • Hike the Bell Rock Pathway and Courthouse Butte Loop
  • Uptown Sedona
  • Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village
  • Other hiking?

The Plan: We were here briefly on our way back from the Grand Canyon to Tucson back in the 1990s and have wanted to come back, spend more time, and do some hiking. 

Drive from Santa Fe

Stay at Sedona Village Lodge

Get around by driving

Days 9-10: Death Valley

Activities

  • Sightseeing
  • Maybe some hiking

The Plan: It’s sort of on the way — about as close as we’re likely to get. We’ll only have one full day here but that should be enough time to see some highlights. 

Drive from Sedona

Stay at Stovepipe Wells

Get around by driving

Days 11-15: Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks

Activities

  • Scenic drives
  • Congress trail
  • Tokopah Falls trail
  • Zumwalt Meadow Loop trail
  • General Grant and General Sherman trees
  • Other sights and overlooks 

The Plan: It’s near enough to Yosemite that why not? We have friends in Visalia that we’ll visit while in the area. 

Drive from Death Valley

Stay at Sequoia Resort

Get around by driving

Days 16-23: Yosemite National Park

Activities

  • Mist trail to Vernal Falls
  • Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls trails
  • Sentinel Dome and Taft Point trail
  • Lembert Dome or Cathedral Lakes
  • Sightseeing and scenic drives

The Plan: This is a bucket list destination. We don’t yet know exactly what we’ll do here but there’s a lot. We’re actually spending more time in the Valley than originally planned because I goofed up the reservation and decided to let it stand. Then we’ll spend one night in Wawona for easier access to Glacier Point. 

Drive from King's Canyon National Park

Stay at Curry Village Cabin and Wawona Hotel

Get around by driving

Days 24-26: Eastern Sierra

Activities

  • Explore Mono Lake
  • Eastern side of Yosemite
  • Devil’s Postpile and Rainbow Falls
  • Bodie State Historic Park

The Plan: Mono Lake has always fascinated me and we should have easier access to the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite from this side of the mountains. 

Drive from Yosemite National Park

Stay at Alpenhof Lodge

Get around by driving

Days 27-29: Salt Lake City

Activities

  • Great Salt Lake

The Plan: We’ve been to southern Utah but not this part so we planned a stop for the Great Salt Lake and surrounding mountains. 

Drive from Eastern Sierra

Stay at Little America

Get around by driving

Days 30-32: To home

Activities

  • Driving

The Plan: Just passing through Cheyenne, Wyoming and Des Moines, Iowa.

Drive from Salt Lake City

Stay at Cheyenne Guest Inn

Stay at Stoney Creek Hotel (Des Moines)

Get around by driving