We drove into the area late Friday night and prepared to spend Saturday and Sunday exploring the valley. We did luck out and stayed at a local friend’s cabin, so I can’t provide lodging recommendations. Also, our friend was happy to be our tour guide so we had some nice connections during the trip. Since we were there off-season, we had to get reservations to access the park. I highly recommend visiting in February because it was perfect weather and less crowds. Unfortunately, some of the sites on my wish list were closed for renovations or winter weather. Another perk of going in February is the Firefall which I’ll go into later. We did both days with an ADA pass and most of the sites were easily accessible for people with disabilities. 

Saturday – 

Because of our cabin’s location, we drove into the valley through El Portal Road. We pulled off the road for our first vista – Valley View. It was a nice overlook, but I was insistent on seeing Tunnel View as well so we had to cross the Pohono bridge and U-turn for that vista. On the way, we ended up pulling over in a field with snow and a nice view of Bridalveil. We had a quick snowball fight before continuing to the second overlook. After several pictures at Tunnel View, we continued down Wawona Road to Bridalveil Falls. The trail to the Falls was closed due to the Rehabilitation Project, but the view is still nice from the road. We continued down Southside Drive towards the Chapel. Since we got a later start, it was past lunch time and the Chapel made a nice picnic spot with a view of Yosemite Falls. After lunch, we crossed Sentinel Bridge to get a closer look at the Lower Yosemite Falls. We parked at the Yosemite Lodge, but I don’t think that’s usually allowed. The trail was flat and paved which allows everyone to get a close view of the falls. If you get it at the right angle, you can get a great view Upper and Lower Falls. 

Now I really wanted to do Glacier Point, Sentinel Done, and Taft Point for golden hour pictures, but the road is closed from November to May. Instead, I settled for Columbia Rock on the Yosemite Falls Trail. This hike is moderate to strenuous with rewarding views of Half Dome. Columbia Rock is 2 miles round trip with a 1,000 ft elevation gain. If you continue another 0.5 miles, you get a beautiful view of Upper Yosemite Falls. We were short on time and I regret not hiking that extra mile for the waterfall. The hike goes on a few miles more if you’re really ambitious and want to get to the top of the Falls. The trail itself was so well maintained. As I was gasping for air, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the design and upkeep. This hike is steep, but honestly doable if you take it slow. Again, we were rushed and had to push ourselves. 

After our hike, we literally ran to Horse Tail Falls for sunset. On rare occasions in mid to late February, the waterfall glows orange during sunset which makes it look like lava. The reservations to enter the park were due to the popularity of the event. Most people reserve spots hours ahead of time. We ran on the road and snapped pictures at each angle which honestly worked. 

Sunday – 

We drove in through El Portal Road and but continued straight through the valley towards Half Dome. The Half Dome cables were down for the season, but this hike is on my bucket list to circle back to eventually. Instead we did the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls. The hike is moderate to strenuous with views of two waterfalls. The Vernal Falls Footbridge is 1.6 miles round trip with a 400 foot elevation gain. Honestly, this was as far as we made it. We tried to go to the top of Vernal Falls, but that section of the Mist Trail was closed for Winter. You can still get to the top using the John Muir trail, but we didn’t have time for that detour. If you keep hiking, you get a view of Nevada Falls. Most of the websites I checked recommended combining the Mist and John Muir trail into a 7 mile loop for both waterfalls. Like I said, we kept it at 1.6 miles. This trail was also paved and doable if you take it slow. We even saw someone pushing a stroller up the slope!

Next stop was Mirror Lake. It’s 2 mile round trip on a paved road to the lake and back. There is an additional 5 mile loop around the lake. Since we were taking advantage of our ADA pass, we drove up to the lake for parking and saved so much time. The lake is best in the spring and early summer when it’s full from melted snow. There’s a beach that offers the best pictures, but we walked a bit further down the lake to find the reflection of the mountains (hence the name Mirror Lake). 

One of the big things on my Must-Do list was climbing El Capitan. It took awhile to find the trail to the base, but we rushed to find it before the sunset. We found a spot to climb and went about 10 ft up for pictures. Not quite as impressive as the full 3,000 ft, but I can officially say that I have climbed El Cap. I just didn’t make it to the summit. 

Again, we literally ran to make sunset. We picked the parking lot across Sentinel Bridge ahead of time. The bridge offered beautiful views of Half Dome glowing from the sun. The parking lot also has a view of Yosemite Falls (Upper and Lower). 

Overall, we saw everything we could and had so much fun! Now I have to go back to see everything that was closed for Winter.