For our first full day in Yosemite – our plan was to follow the Panorama Trail – billed as one of the premier hikes in the park for both the view factor and, because of its length – 8.5 miles – and diminished crowds.  

Besides the wow factor, we chose this hike as a good intro/warm up – our plan for wednesday’s hike was a 14-miler.  Panorama trail is typically done and we did it as a point-to-point hike, which meant making arrangements to get to the trailhead.   Fortunately (and the web is an amazing place), we found a bus service – enabling one-way travel from the valley (the hub of all activity in Yosemite) to Glacier Point.

At this time of the year, there are definitely fewer crowds – making for a more enjoyable park experience.  Even so, when we arrived at the bus pickup point in the morning, we discovered there were two buses going to Glacier Point – one filled with round-trip passengers, and another filled and solely dedicated to one-way trippers (us and 55+ of our “trail buddies”!).   Nearly an hour later (remember, Yosemite’s vast expanse?), which was filled with stories and administrivia from our bus driver (tour-guide wannabe), we arrived at Glacier Point.   Us hikers quickly scattered to our various trails.

A quick photo op from Glacier Point, and we headed down the path toward Panorama trail – destined to see less than a handful of other hikers for the first half of the hike.    The trail descends gradually from the Point, roughly following the south valley wall, almost immediately rewarding us with frequent and expansive views across the valley to our left.   The temperature was ideal, low 60’s, with some cloud cover, and we covered the trail relatively quickly, seeing only a few other hikers, arriving at the junction with Nevada Falls trail well before noon.

As we started following the Nevada Falls trail headed westward back toward the valley, the crowds began to increase dramatically – the Muir trail being a very popular (and relatively short) trail experience for many leaving from the valley itself.   For us, the experience was still pretty awesome – views of the valley, Nevada Falls, and Illilouette Creek and a much more “interesting” trail experience – more boulders and rock piles:

We arrived back at the valley floor (Muir trailhead) and hopped on one of the valley shuttle buses back to our car. It was still early afternoon, so we decided to explore the valley a bit, taking a brief detour over to the Ahwahnee Hotel for an afternoon bite to eat on their patio.