As the Christmas season rolls in, there are many places that can give the Winter Wonderland experience, but nothing compares to Yosemite National Park.

From Fresno, it takes about an hour and a half to drive to the south gate and 45 minutes to an hour to drive to the Yosemite Valley floor. Once you get into the park, the Tunnel View is about a 15-minute drive from the entrance. When you come out of the long tunnel you see the majestic, sunlit Half Dome. While you are driving to the valley, you see hundreds of trees – many have replenished after the 2022 fire. 

In the park, there are plenty of things to do. You can walk the wooded trails or stroll through the pathways in the meadows while mountains surround you. There are also many different hikes to choose from and many feature waterfalls. Some of the hikes are closed during this time of year so check the Yosemite website before you go.

All throughout the park you can see wildlife. The best time to be on the lookout for creatures like deer is at dusk. This is when many animals roam around. Visitors can stop for pictures and picnics throughout the park. Yosemite also has several campgrounds. It might be a little chilly at this time of year, but in the summertime Yosemite is a great place for camping and spots fill up quickly. 

The rarest thing you can see in Yosemite is the giant Sequoia trees. They only grow in a certain region of the world – the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Three groves of these trees live in Yosemite. The Grizzly Giant is one of the trees in the park that stands 209 feet tall and is two thousand years old.

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Giada Gilmore Young