Death Valley travel advice

SFIND · May 19, 2021

Amy said: ↑

If you are doing Sequoia/Kings Canyon, skip the 4 mile round trip hike at Mariposa Grove in Yosemite unless you have time to kill. The Glacier Point Road drive is awesome. I did it my last day but kind of wish I had done it my first day because the view from Glacier Point would have helped orient me. I wish Tioga Road had been open. It looks wonderful. Start your days as early as you can. It’s crowded. Hopefully the shuttles in the Valley will be running in June. Driving around looking for parking at various sites was a pain. Yosemite is amazing but I was a little overwhelmed by it. I think the crowds were a bit of a psychological shock, after a year plus of not seeing many people and coming directly from the very quiet Sequoia and even quieter Kings Canyon. Don’t plan on getting supplies at the market in the main valley area. Every time I went in, the checkout lines out were crazy long. I think more food options will be open in June so maybe those lines won’t be as bad. I did lots of unnecessary driving in circles between not realizing where things were and not finding parking. At least I was doing it when traffic wasn’t bumper to bumper, like it was in the afternoons over the weekend plus the scenery was always great. Plan your Yosemite itinerary better than I did.

Death Valley was fantastic. Do it on another trip.

I think my Yosemite experience was also colored by two of my dogs being sick the entire time I was there. It didn’t sound serious but was unusual, plus one is 14 and the other had been seriously ill last summer so I’m paranoid. Even knowing they were each with a great caretaker, I didn’t sleep much worrying about what was going on at home.
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Thank you for all of that Amy, especially re: Mariposa Grove. That was on the list, but we are going both to Kings and Sequoia after and have the Sherman and Grant groves on the list among other stops.

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Death Valley travel advice

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Death Valley travel advice

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