Hello. I am new to these forums and Yosemite national park in general. I've never been there but want to try and plan a day visit and hike for my buddies and I. We're camping off site at Silver lake (near Inyo national forest) and we were planning on driving to yosemite for one day either june 9, 10, or 11. Tioga road is the only road we could take from Silver Lake but so far caltrans and nps.gov say the road is closed for now. Last couple of years the road opened by late may - june 5th. With the showers and potential snowfall, does anyone think tioga road 120 will be open between June 9th-11th?
I sincerely hope so as it will be the only road I can use to even to our camp site from San Francisco. But anyway I have a few yosemite day questions. Assuming road conditions are traversable, I wanted some information about day hiking.
1. Having never been there before, is there anything I should know about just going there in general? I'm concerned about driving there and being able to get in. Does parking get full and have to take shuttles? Should I arrive at a certain time in the morning to ensure a parking spot?
2. How does the bear locker situation work? Almost every website I've been to say you need to store your food/scents/etc. in a bear locker but I have come across a few topics on here that people have said you can leave food in your car in coolers with windows up and sealed. I plan on putting stuff in bear lockers anyway so are those plentiful or do those fill up quickly?
3. If I make it yosemite, what is the area I should definitely see? We were interested in hiking towards half dome to get the best views so I think I saw the trails toward little yosemite valley worthwhile. But what are trails that will provide the best views?