Olmsted Point Trailhead

Olmsted Point is a pullout on Tioga Road between Tenaya Lake and the valley below, and it delivers one of the best payoffs-per-step in the park: a few minutes of walking for a view most visitors only reach after a full day of hiking.

What you're looking at

From the granite viewpoint you get a straight line down Tenaya Canyon to the north face of Half Dome, with Clouds Rest rising alongside it and Tenaya Lake visible to the east. The foreground is glacier-polished granite scattered with boulders — glacial erratics — left behind as the ice that carved this landscape retreated. A bronze relief map at the overlook helps orient the canyon below, and a distinctive lone tree near the point has become a favorite subject for photographers. The spot is named for Frederick Law Olmsted and his son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., landscape architects who were early advocates for protecting Yosemite.

Getting there

The overlook sits right off Tioga Road (Highway 120). A short trail — about an eighth of a mile through a stand of trees — leads to the granite dome where the view opens up; it's an easy few minutes each way with no real elevation gain. There's no permit or reservation involved; it's a pull-off-and-walk stop rather than a hike.

Good to know

Olmsted Point is only reachable when Tioga Road is open, and the stretch right at the point is one of the road's more serious avalanche zones. The road closes for winter and typically doesn't reopen until late spring or early summer depending on snowpack — in heavy-snow years it can stay closed well into June. Call Yosemite's information line at 209-372-0200 for current road status before planning a trip over Tioga Pass.