Day 4 — San Francisco → Yosemite National Park
Leave the great city by the bay and continue towards Sierra Nevada – the core of the 1849 Gold Rush. Yosemite National Park, nested amidst the Sierra Nevada mountains, is one of the most famous national parks in the world. The altitude of its peaks ranges from 600 to 4,000 m. The park boasts more than 4 million visits per year. It is divided in four areas: Yosemite Valley – the area that draws more visitors – , with its granite Half Dome, the sheer rock formation of El Capitan, and the famous waterfalls; Wavona, the park’s historic core; Mariposa Grove, close to the southern entrance, with the giant sequoia cluster of Mariposa, and the Grizzly Giant, one of the largest trees in the world; and Tuolumne Meadow, in the hidden heart of the park, a favourite destination, brimming with paths, lakes, forests and granite massifs. The park is criss-crossed by the Tioga Road, the only way to cross the Sierra Nevada (Tioga Pass, more than 3,000 m) and to go in and out of Nevada.