darthbimmer

I'll offer the following suggestions for someone starting from Mammoth or June Lakes:

1. Visit Mono Lake. There's a visitor area on the south shore where you can walk down to the water's edge and see the mysterious tufa spires rising up from the salty depths. It's especially nice if you visit early in the morning, when the sun is behind you as you face toward the imposing Eastern crest of the Sierra Nevada.

2. Speaking of that imposing Eastern crest, you will climb it-- or, rather, your car will climb it-- as you drive CA-120 up into the Tioga Pass towards Yosemite. Stop at some of the pullouts near the top and marvel at sheer verticality of the landscape. It's almost a mile down straight down to the high desert below.

3. There are several alpine lakes in the Tioga Pass area, even before you reach Yosemite's entrance gate. Stop for leg-stretching and pictures.

4. After passing the entrance gate, stop for a bit in Tioga Meadow. The elevation is just a bit below 10,000 feet.

5. Several miles further west, stop in Tuolumne Meadows. The elevation here has dropped to "merely" 9,000 feet. There are a variety of great hikes from this area. Lembert Dome, which Zorak mentioned, is one of them.

6. Another few miles further west, stop at Tenaya Lake. Cloud's Rest rises high above you to the south, Half Dome may be visible in the distance, and don't forget to gaze up at Goat Rock to the north to see if you can spot mountain climbers clinging perilously to the bare stone.

7. Another mile or so west, stop at Olmstead Point. More views of Cloud's Rest and Half Dome in the distance. Lots of tour buses here. Grit your teeth and bear it. Yosemite gets several million visitors per year. Be thankful if you can find parking!

8. Stop anywhere else along the Tioga Road that looks interesting, though I believe I've covered the high points for a day-tripper already.

9. At the Crane Flat junction, follow signs south toward Yosemite Valley. Once in the Valley there are dozens of things to see and do. We could have a whole thread just on that so I won't try to list them here.

abmj-jr

Just an FYI.

It will likely be resolved by the time you get there but Highway 395 near Mono Lake and Lee Vining was closed today by a wildfire. It looked to be fairly small so should be controlled sooner rather than later but still makes for a cautionary tale. Be sure to check road conditions before committing to any mountain routes. Have an alternate route thought out just in case. We are still in an historic drought and the hills are tinder dry.

animesh42001

Thanks for this detailed information, appreciate that.
Glacier point is also one of famous places, is it doable for a day tripper?

darthbimmer

That depends on how much time you're spending at other sites. You really need to spend some time studying maps (trivially easy nowadays with sites like Google Maps) to understand for yourself how far apart things are so you can make reasonable plans.

abmj-jr

Good advice. The only problem folks need to be aware of is that Glacier Point looks to be right next to points in the Valley if you look at a map. You have to notice that the route requires covering all 3 sides of a triangle, climbing several thousand feet and takes a significant amount of time.

darthbimmer

That's why I specifically recommended online mapping sites Google Maps. In a matter of seconds they reliably provide driving distance, directions, and time estimates between even surprisingly minor waypoints, and are updated regularly with road changes. It's not like the tough old days of trip planning, poring over paper maps with a ruler or compass in hand and trusting that the roads illustrated on the map from when it was surveyed 5, 10, or 20 years earlier were still accurate. And, in the case of Glacier Point, not misreading the markings for the Four Mile Trail as a road.