Travel

What to do?

Overwhelmed and want someone to tell you what to do? Here is how Colin and Zoe would plan your trip if they were your travel agents!

Travel Day/Welcome Party

Take a morning flight into Fresno-Yosemite International Airport and pick up your rental car

Sacramento, San Francisco, and Oakland are all within 3 hours of the venue and could be worth flying into if the price is right!

Drive from the airport to your hotel to get settled, drop off your bags and grab a bite to eat.

Where should I stay? The most convenient location would be at the venue, Autocamp. We have also put together a list of local chain hotels and bed and breakfasts that are within 30-40 minutes of the venue that would also be a great option for our guests!

Head to the venue for a relaxing welcome party and movie night on the lawn! Plan to be there by 7:30pm. We will have drinks and snacks available for our guests to enjoy.

Wedding day!

Spend the morning exploring the local sites or lounging by the pool with your favorite beverage. We would caution heading into Yosemite Valley on Saturday, as lines heading into the park can cause multi-hour delays (we speak from experience). We would hate for someone to miss the wedding because they were stuck in traffic!
The festivities will kick off with the ceremony at 5:30pm. After the ceremony, our guests will head down to the Big Oak Lawn for drinks as the wedding party and family takes photos. Dinner will start just before 7pm, during which we will have speeches and music. Dancing will start around 8pm and will last until 10pm.

Visit Yosemite Valley!

We recommend getting up relatively early on Sunday morning and heading directly into Yosemite Valley with packed lunches (and dinners for those wanting the full day experience). Sunday should be less busy compared to Saturday, however, getting started early gives you the best shot of missing the crowd and getting a parking spot.
Important: A park reservation may be required, so we recommend checking Yosemite National Park’s website ahead of time to avoid getting turned away at the gate.
Before heading into the valley, download the Yosemite Valley portion of apple/google maps along with AllTrails app onto your phone. This will make it much easier to get around in the valley where there is little to no cell service.

Once entering the valley, we recommend driving directly to the village store and welcome center. The village store is a small grocery store and gift shop. It is located in the center of the valley and is a good starting place for your trip.
Once you have gotten all of your souvenirs, jump back in your car and drive 3 mins west along the north valley loop to the Yosemite Falls parking lot, located across from Camp 4 and right next to Yosemite Valley Lodge. This is where you will leave your car for the morning.

Important: The road in Yosemite Valley is set up as a one-way counter-clockwise loop. That means if you want to see the north side of the valley, you have to drive along the south edge of the valley before heading north across the Merced River and then back west along the north edge of the valley. If you miss your turn, just continue around the loop (approximately 20 mins) until you get back to the same spot.

Walk the 9 mins (0.4 miles) from the parking lot to the lower Yosemite Falls Trailhead. This trail is very flat and paved the entire way. It will lead you to the base of Yosemite Falls (the 6th tallest waterfall in the United States at more than 2,400 ft tall!).
After visiting Yosemite Falls, walk across the north valley loop road into the Yosemite Meadows. These meadows are in the center of the valley along the Merced River and provide great views of the towering valley walls. There are multiple beaches along the river that are great places to swim and cool off on hot summer days. This is also a great place to stop and enjoy your lunch.
At this point, you have seen a lot of what you can on the west side of the valley. Next, we would recommend getting in your car and trying to find a parking space near Curry Village. This is a “tent village” within the valley that guests can stay at. There are some great dining spots (the Curry Village Pizza deck has some of the best pizza we have ever had). The Seven Tents pavilion is a large indoor dining hall that is also a great place to grab a bite to eat and enjoy some air conditioning.
There are many great hikes on this side of the valley as well, a couple we recommend are Mirror Lake Loop (5 miles, but rated easy on AllTrails) and the Mist Trail (6.6 miles, rated hard on AllTrails, but you can always turn around early!).

This is a beautiful out-and-back hike that will take you ~4 hours to complete. We recommend parking at Curry Village and starting relatively early in the morning. I would bring your lunch with you. There are some amazing places to stop and enjoy your lunch with a view once you get above the first falls. However, beware that this hike is VERY popular and there will be lots of people on the trail. We recommend this hike because it provides amazing views, but it will also give you the ability to explore the valley floor since that is where the trailhead is located.
Make sure you stop by the village store to grab a rain poncho and have proper foot wear for a slightly slippery terrain!

This hike is actually located on the valley’s southern rim, and accessing it from Autocamp is not super convenient. There are two ways to get to the trailhead from Autocamp. The scenic route will take you through the Yosemite El Portal entrance and down into the bottom of the valley. However, once you are in the valley, you will almost immediately exit via the tunnel view entrance and start making your way up the south wall towards Glacier point where the trail head is located. The other option is to drive south from Autocamp towards Oakhurst and then take Highway 41 through the south gate of Yosemite. Both of these drives will take multiple hours, and I suggest mapping it on the day of to decide which route to take. All of this being said, this trail gives you a bird's eye view of the entire valley throughout the entire hike and is definitely worth the trip! However, you will likely miss out on exploring the valley floor if you only have one day to visit.

This hike is brutal, but it’s worth it in the end. This trail takes you 3200 feet up along the northern wall of the valley to the top of Yosemite Falls. You definitely need to start early to beat the sun for this hike. I would also bring lots of water, as you will not have much shade after the first half of the hike. Start by parking your car in the Yosemite Falls parking lot, located across from Camp 4 and right next to Yosemite Valley Lodge. From here, you can head across the street to Camp 4, which is co-located with the trailhead. This hike is 7 miles and will take you 5-6 hours.
If you want great views, but don’t want to do the full Upper Yosemite Falls Trail, you can hike the same trail but stop ⅓ of the way up at Columbia Rock. This is an outcropping that provides amazing views of the entire valley. This hike “only” has ~1000 feet of elevation and is 2.4 miles long. It will take ~2 hours to finish.