If you had to Spend One Night in the Park Next Week Where

[Grzldvt]

My boss told me I need to take a week off as my PTO is reaching max and I will start losing hours, so where would you go for an overnighter. I am thinking somewhere in the south part of the park, But if you had your choice where would you go? Car camp or backpack is cool.

[balzaccom]

Yosemite Valley is lovely in December, and with far fewer people, obviously. If it snows, you can still usually get in and out through Mariposa pretty easily. With good weather you drive in through Big Oak Flat and maybe snowshoe out of Crane Flat...we had a nice hike there in the winter.

HEtch-hetchy is still recovering a bit from the fire, but the hike to Rancheria Falls is still your best bet in winter---about 6 miles each way along the reservoir. Falls are lovely.

[Phil]

I would agree that the Valley is the place to go if you only have one night. You don't have any problems with access, the sights are plentiful enough to easily fill a day's worth of sightseeing, you have all the services you need, crowds should be fairly light, and a campsite should be fairly easy to find this time of year. If you can't find an available walk-up site at one of the Pines campgrounds, try Camp 4. It'll be a good base of operations, then, weather and conditions permitting, if you want to head a little further out on a day hike, you have the option, but not the full commitment of hauling your pack out.