Taft Point and The Fissures • Hike • California • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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kplumaz

What an enjoyable loop hike! We went counterclockwise to the Sentinel Dome first to get the uphill out of the way, took in the splendor of those 360 degree views from the top of the dome, then headed on to Taft Point. The trail to Taft is mostly downhill, and the views are so spectacular that even Cell towers can't spoil them! Once at Taft Point you realize just how massive this place is! There's a tummy-turning feeling when you're standing at the edge of a 3,000' drop. From there we walked the mile back to the parking lot and headed to Glacier Point via the truck, glad we drove, it would have been a trudge getting back to the parking lot. We ended the day at the iconic Tunnel View overlook. Totally a great day!!

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.

Jun 30 2023

toddak

Guides 13
Routes 38
Photos 1,651
Triplogs 577

60 male

Joined Nov 15 2005
Jackson, CA

The Pohono Trail

The Pohono Trail

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		Jun 30 2023
		toddak • Triplogs 577

Hiking	24.00 Miles	5,300 AEG

Hiking	24.00 Miles	11 Hrs 30 Mns	2.09 mph
	5,300 ft AEG

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Four Mile Trail

West Valley Floor

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Excellent loop hike from Tunnel View: up Pohono then east along the rim, down Four Mile and back on Valley Loop trails, checking off 9 vista points along the way. Great views and water everywhere.

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1 archive

Jul 28 2021

chumley

Guides 94
Routes 840
Photos 22,055
Triplogs 1,993

52 male

Joined Sep 18 2002
Tempe, AZ

Sentinal Taft Loop, CA

Hiking		Jul 28 2021
		chumley • Triplogs 1,993

Hiking	5.83 Miles	1,438 AEG

Hiking	5.83 Miles	2 Hrs 21 Mns	2.63 mph
	1,438 ft AEG	8 Mns Break

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John9L

We arrived in the park at around 8am and after stopping by the permit office in Wawona we drove up the Glacier Point Road. With plenty of time to spend before heading out on our backpacking trip, we opted for this tourist loop to get our feet moving.

We were both shocked to find the parking lot full and lines of cars parked along both sides of the road in both directions. So much for a midweek morning when the park requires reservations just to enter! Perhaps it was the record heat that had pushed many visitors up to these higher elevations?

Regardless, we parked up the road and took a shortcut to meet the loop, climbing to the outstanding views provided by Sentinal Dome. Back down we swung around and followed the cliff edge out to Taft Point. This is another winner. Yosimeteeay Falls would look great from here, if only there was at least a trickle flowing over it. But there wasn't. There's a great view of El Cap, and while the Merced snaking through the valley below looked appealing, nothing looked as refreshing as the bright aqua of the pool at the Ahwahnee. Too bougie for me!

We completed the loop and made a quick trip to Glacier Point for a couple of last minute items from the store there and a quick reminder of the views and all that comes with it.

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I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

Sep 10 2018

Tortoise_Hiker

Guides 1
Routes 148
Photos 9,924
Triplogs 3,652

63 male

Joined Apr 02 2005
Mesa, AZ

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		Sep 10 2018
		Tortoise_Hiker • Triplogs 3,652

Hiking	2.50 Miles	373 AEG

Hiking	2.50 Miles
	373 ft AEG

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John, Kelly, and I were doing a few of the points along Glacier Point Road. Shade about 50% on this one. Good view of El Capitan and good view looking straight down

. The Fissures were interesting.

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Tortoise Hiking. Stop and smell the Petrichor.

Sep 10 2018

trekkin_gecko

Guides 10
Routes 673
Photos 7,281
Triplogs 4,660

67 female

Joined Nov 17 2008
phoenix, az

Glacier Point Road Hikes, CA

Hiking		Sep 10 2018
		trekkin_gecko • Triplogs 4,660

Hiking	5.00 Miles	900 AEG

Hiking	5.00 Miles
	900 ft AEG

no routes

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Washburn Point - Yosemite National Park

Glacier Point - Yosemite National Park

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johnlp

Tortoise_Hiker

after our hike to dewey point, we drove to the trailhead for taft point and sentinel dome
did both hikes out and back
taft point had nice views and the fissures were interesting
sentinel dome was the best of the bunch, with a high point and 360 degree scenery
kinda fun to look across and see four high points we've been on:
half dome, clouds rest, mt. hoffman and north dome
domes are

we spent some time there looking around
stopped at washburn point, which had a nice perspective of half dome
finished with glacier point
good view of both nevada and vernal fall, then john spotted illilouette fall, which we'd never seen before
fun touristy day with some solid hiking - earned some of the views
a good overview of the park from a different angle
on the way out we saw our second bear of the trip
this one near mcgurk meadow feasting on a dead deer, causing a minor traffic jam

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Benchmark

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Bridalveil Fall Clouds Rest Half Dome Illilouette Falls Nevada Fall Upper Yosemite Falls Vernal Fall

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hazhole

4 archives

Sep 10 2018

johnlp

Guides 1
Routes 14
Photos 7,202
Triplogs 5,208

68 male

Joined Mar 16 2008
chandler,az

Glacier Point Road Hikes, CA

Hiking		Sep 10 2018
		johnlp • Triplogs 5,208

Hiking	5.00 Miles	900 AEG

Hiking	5.00 Miles
	900 ft AEG

no routes

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Washburn Point - Yosemite National Park

Glacier Point - Yosemite National Park

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Tortoise_Hiker

trekkin_gecko

A couple shorter hikes and stops at view points. Sentinel Dome taking first prize.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Nevada Fall Taft Point Vernal Fall Yosemite National Park Yosemite Valley

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“Good people drink good beer.” Hunter S Thompson

Oct 01 2017

Lucyan

Routes 1
Photos 29,225
Triplogs 1,447

45 female

Joined Jan 18 2011
In the Wild

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		Oct 01 2017
		Lucyan • Triplogs 1,447

Hiking	2.50 Miles	680 AEG

Hiking	2.50 Miles
	680 ft AEG

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Sep 18 2015

Crzy4AZ

Guides 31
Routes 135
Photos 2,699
Triplogs 615

52 female

Joined Apr 02 2007
Scottsdale, AZ

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		Sep 18 2015
		Crzy4AZ • Triplogs 615

Hiking	2.25 Miles	517 AEG

Hiking	2.25 Miles
	517 ft AEG

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no photosets

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GI Jones

We were the first car in the parking lot for Sentinal Dome-Taft Point loop (not really a loop) - more like a barbell or dumbbell hike if you looked at GPS route from overhead.

Sentinel Dome beautiful and fun little scamper to the top. Taft Point underwhelming to me. Fissures kind of neat I guess. The bright green wolf lichen was the most cool thing on Taft Point trail.

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Jul 20 2014

ddgrunning

Guides 3
Routes 632
Photos 8,235
Triplogs 604

54 male

Joined Apr 13 2011
Gilbert, AZ

Taft Point - Sentinel Dome Loop, CA

Hiking		Jul 20 2014
		ddgrunning • Triplogs 604

Hiking	6.15 Miles	2,067 AEG

Hiking	6.15 Miles	3 Hrs	2.05 mph
	2,067 ft AEG

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Washburn Point - Yosemite National Park

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To kick off our father-son, coming-of-age trip, we drove up to Yosemite via Bakersfield, where we had spent the night to break up the travel from Phoenix. Although our accommodations for the coming night were near the NW entrance to the Park at Hodgdon Meadows Campground, we elected to take the scenic route through the southern Wawona Road entrance and explore Glacier Point Road.

Rather than just driving up the road, we wanted to get out, stretch our legs, and "experience" the views by getting our feet on the soil. Taft Point and Sentinel Dome fit the bill.

As we drove into the park and up Wawona Road, it was raining, which made everything green and vibrant and enhanced the beautiful, clean smell of the forest. Luckily, by the time we hit the Taft Pt/Sentinal Trailhead, the rain had stopped, so there was no need for ponchos, etc.

Although the parking area was full, most of our hike out to Taft Point was in solitude, which we enjoyed very much. Of course, there were folks out near the point, but not overwhelming crowds. Our first real views of Yosemite Valley opened up at Taft Point, including views of El Capitan and Yosemite Falls. The sheer 3,000+ ft. drops to the valley floor are just jaw-dropping. "Wow" is all I can say. We took photos and breathed in the majestic views before backtracking a bit to the Pohono trail, which skirts through the forest and along the edge of the cliff and then circles back up to Sentinel Dome. Sentinel is one of the highest points in the park and offers 360 degree vistas, including of Half Dome, and Nevada Falls.

After soaking in these views, we returned to the TH and finished our drive up Glacier Point Road, taking in dinner at Washburn Point and then finishing out the daylight at Glacier Point itself. Then, made the hour+ drive in the dark to our camp for the night at Hodgdon Meadow.

A fabulous start to our Yosemite adventure.

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] El Capitan Taft Point

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Jul 13 2014

Randal_Schulhauser

Guides 71
Routes 98
Photos 9,967
Triplogs 1,009

65 male

Joined May 14 2003
Ahwatukee, AZ

Yosemite National Park - day trip, CA

Hiking		Jul 13 2014
		Randal_Schulhauser • Triplogs 1,009

Hiking	11.11 Miles	1,050 AEG

Hiking	11.11 Miles	10 Hrs	1.11 mph
	1,050 ft AEG

no routes

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Glacier Point - Yosemite National Park

Four Mile Trail

Panorama - Mist Trail

[ checklist ] El Capitan Half Dome Nevada Fall Vernal Fall Yosemite National Park Yosemite Valley

East Valley Floor

West Valley Floor

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Yosemite Valley & Glacier Point - Yosemite National Park
Sunday July 13th, 2014
FitBit totals = 11.11 miles, 1050 AEG (105 floors)

BACKGROUNDER
Have done Mt Whitney and some of the Pacific Crest Trail in the high Sierras, but never been to Yosemite before. Got out my Ansel Adams photo books for inspiration

https://www.anseladams.com/yosemite-gallery/# Maybe a visit to the Ansel Adams Gallery in the Yosemite Village located between Visitor Center and Post Office? Some pre-trip research to consider;
YOSE

https://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm

Map of Yosemite Valley
Map of Glacier Point

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/ ... rhikes.pdf
Washburn Point (near Glacier Point) view

[ photo ] The HPP image location plus my flipping thru Ansel Adams photo books put this as destination number one.

Yosemite NP waterfalls

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/waterfalls.htm

Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/ ... mgrove.pdf And HAZ

[ Mariposa Grove Trails ]
Grizzly Giants in Mariposa Grove

[ Grizzly Giants - Mariposa Grove ]

With a planned business trip to 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino CA (see

[ photo ] ) and a base-camp to be established at Courtyard Cupertino Marriott, 10605 N Wolfe Rd, Cupertino CA, 95014 ( see

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-p ... cupertino/ ), thought I'd "front-end" the trip with some exploration of Big Sur and Yosemite with a goal to capture long exposure dusk image of Bixby Bridge ( see

https://parkerlab.bio.uci.edu/pictures/ ... bridge.jpg ) and an Ansel Adams-like shot of Yosemite Valley (see

https://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/four ... _point.jpg and [ photo ] ).

Google maps indicated travel distance from Cupertino base-camp to Yosemite Village was 200 miles with 3 hours 45 minutes travel time.

THE TREK

Arrived back at the Cupertino base-camp just after midnight Sunday morning from exploring the Big Sur Coastline (see

[ photoset ] ). Had a 5am wake-up call and after fueling up on the in-room caffeine, hit the road for Yosemite via CA120 entrance by 6am. I arrived at the park entrance about 10-ish where my NPS annual pass comes thru once again allowing me to bypass the backed up line of vehicles tallying-up their entrance fee.

The arrival into Yosemite Valley reminded me a lot of Zion NP - pass thru a couple of tunnels and voila, there's the spectacular valley, except it's not sandstone, it's granite this time!

When you cross the Merced River, all the traffic veered left towards Yosemite Village. I veered right climbing up CA41 to the Glacier Point cut-off. From the intersection of CA41, the sign indicated 16 miles to Glacier Point. The tight curves and smooth road and sudden elevation changes had me pining for something more than my Nissan Maxima rental (maybe borrow one of the R8's or McLaren's from yesterday's Bixby Creek Bridge encounter?). First stop Washburn Point followed by Glacier Point. I had some time to explore the upper reaches of Four Mile Trail and Panorama Trail (a little note to self - if you want to escape the bus tour crowd at Glacier Point, check out these trails). Upon return I treated myself to lunch at the Tourist Shack beside Glacier Point - a Hagen Das plus the requisite purchase of a Yosemite Falls & Half Dome frig magnet. After my fill of Yosemite Valley eye-candy, I had the Sentinel Dome to Taft Point loop hike on the "to-do" list. Sentinel Dome was exhilarating - maybe saw a dozen people the entire time I lingered up on the dome for about an hour. I wasn't expecting solitude in Yosemite on a summer weekend, but truthfully there were far less people than I imagined there would be. Once again, all was right in the world.

As the afternoon progressed towards dinner time, I went down to the valley floor for some mini-explorations. This is where all the people were...

With the 6 o'clock hour ticked by, I had a choice - sunset back up on Glacier Point or go checkout the giant sequoia in Mariposa Grove. My mind voted for the giant sequoia, so I drove down CA140 following the Merced River towards the town of Mariposa...

Some final thoughts - hitting Glacier Point first was a good call. Having that initial overhead view of the entire Yosemite Valley is jaw-dropping. It put the entire landscape into context for me. Starting off from the valley floor probably would have hidden too many places. At least the view from above allowed me to pick and choose what I wanted to see down in the valley. Taking in a sunset from Glacier Point or Sentinel Dome is surely a treat - maybe next time...

Also, Mariposa Grove isn't anywhere near town of Mariposa CA. Missed out on giant sequoia trees, but did get to explore Merced River via CA140 - nice drive, complete with landslide

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 238394.pdf
( not a recent slide, happened in 2006... ). Fish Camp and Oakhurst on CA41 are the closest towns to the giant sequoias for future reference....

THE HAZ DESTINATIONS

HAZ Washburn Point

[ Washburn Point - Yosemite National Park ]
HAZ Glacier Point

[ Glacier Point - Yosemite National Park ]
HAZ Sentinel Dome

[ Sentinel Dome Trail ]
HAZ Taft Point

[ Taft Point and The Fissures ] and [ Error H NAME ]
HAZ East Valley Floor

[ East Valley Floor ]
HAZ West Valley Floor

[ West Valley Floor ]
HAZ Panorama Trail (from Glacier Point)

[ Panorama - Mist Trail ]
HAZ Four Mile Trail (from Glacier Point)

[ Four Mile Trail ]
I'll post some photos when I get the chance. Enjoy!

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

Wildflowers Observation Moderate

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May 06 2013

jdnevi

Routes 1
Triplogs 76

40 male

Joined Nov 29 2012
Phoenix, AZ

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		May 06 2013
		jdnevi • Triplogs 76

Hiking	2.20 Miles	250 AEG

Hiking	2.20 Miles	45 Mns	2.93 mph
	250 ft AEG

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Clouds rolled in and it started to snow. Very little visability at the rim. Once we got back to the car the clouds parted

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Aug 27 2012

trailzrus

Routes 69
Photos 3,135
Triplogs 1,853

72 male

Joined Jul 24 2009
Mesa, AZ

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		Aug 27 2012
		trailzrus • Triplogs 1,853

Hiking	2.64 Miles	680 AEG

Hiking	2.64 Miles
	680 ft AEG

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Great views.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mormon Fritillary Butterfly

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Jun 28 2012

John9L

Guides 6
Routes 183
Photos 5,612
Triplogs 1,647

male

Joined Mar 12 2004
Scottsdale, AZ

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		Jun 28 2012
		John9L • Triplogs 1,647

Hiking	2.60 Miles	400 AEG

Hiking	2.60 Miles
	400 ft AEG

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After hiking Sentinel Dome, I had some time to check out Taft Point. I started from the main parking area along Glacier Point Road. I tried doing this hike just over two years ago but there was so much snow, I could not safely follow the trail. This time there was nothing holding me back. I hit the trail and made quick time heading in. You hike through the forest and there are only sporadic views at best. There are a few nice views of Sentinel Dome but you have to turn around to see them.

I continued hiking west and the trail makes a slight turn to the north and starts heading downhill. You come out of the forest and can see the lookout off in the distance. I didn't realize Taft Point covers a large area. Imagine roughly 300 yards in a rainbow arc with epic views along the entire length. That describes Taft Point in a nutshell. And don't forget your over 3,000 feet above Yosemite Valley.

As you approach the edge, you first come to The Fissures. Think of a 4 foot slice in the rock that slants down and then drops thousands of feet. I'm not scared of heights but these fissures looked intimidating. I was able to safely walk out a little way to the edge of one of them for some pics.

From The Fissures, the main viewpoint has a railing. I got some great pics of the people on the railings looking out over Yosemite Valley. It makes me think how little we are in this world. I took my time enjoying the views and then went over to the railing. Obviously the views are epic! Yosemite Falls sits across the valley and El Capitan looms to the west. I was absolutely blown away! I continued along Taft Point and made sure I walked just about the entire area. I could spend all day here but with Cheryl back at the car I turned around made the return.

Taft Point and The Fissures is another area that anyone can hike to. It's a short 1+ mile hike to the viewpoint. There is a mild downhill near the viewpoint and besides that the trail is level for the most part. From here, we headed over to Glacier Point and then returned to Curry Village. One more day to go in Yosemite.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Common Raven

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] El Capitan Taft Point Yosemite Falls

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May 08 2012

AZLOT69

Guides 177
Routes 249
Photos 10,213
Triplogs 2,215

74 male

Joined Feb 12 2002
Gold Canyon, AZ

Sierra Nevada, CA

Hiking		May 08 2012
		AZLOT69 • Triplogs 2,215

Hiking	7.25 Miles	1,350 AEG

Hiking	7.25 Miles	4 Hrs	1.81 mph
	1,350 ft AEG

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