Red, pink, white, orange, purple, tall and short flowers are all putting on a tremendous show right now in the meadows off of Glacier Point Road in Yosemite National Park. If you want to see an explosion of wildflower colors, get there now!
Where: Yosemite National Park
Distance: 13.46 Miles
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Elevation Range: 6,959′ – 7,622′
Date: July 24, 2017
Maps: El Capitan, Merced Peak Topographic Quad Maps
Dog Hike? No
I drove up Glacier Point Rd about eight miles to the sign that points to Bridalveil Campground, which had not opened yet, and parked across the street at the McGurk Meadows Trailhead parking area. We stashed our snacks and ice chests in the bear box and walked up the road to the campground. I checked Yosemite National Park’s Campground website and it is scheduled to open August 1.
We started seeing some very pretty flowers along the campground road.
Bigelow’s Sneezeweed
Lupine
Tiger lily
After about a little shy of a mile we saw the trail signs that we headed out on.
The trail followed Bridalveil Creek for a while, winding its way through lush green grass splashed with color.
The individual flowers were fantastic.
Tiger lily
Cow parsnip
Crimson columbine
So far, the trail had been cleared of all down trees and we followed the signs toward Deer Camp.
It wasn’t long before we reached a lush meadow with fireweed, some of it taller than we were.
Fireweed (Photo by Gail Gilbert)
Did I mention that some of these flowers were taller that us?
Photo of Me by Gail Gilbert
But if you looked closer, there were also many shorter and beautiful flowers.
Mariposa lily
We left the trail that headed for Wawona, following the sign to Deer Camp. This section of trail had not been cleared and there were many down trees that we could walk around or over but for stock, that wouldn’t not be so easy.
We continued to be amazed at the different flowers that we kept discovering.
Scarlet gilia
Lewis monkeyflower
The corn lilies were really putting on a show.
And the thimbleberry was blooming like crazy.
And when you put together different mixtures of these flowers, you got an ever changing pallet of color.
We had planned on doing the loop down to Empire and Westfall Meadows, but after making our way around so much down trees on that stretch down to Deer Camp, not knowing what to expect on the rest of the trail, but knowing how beautiful the meadows were on top, we decided to retrace our path back the way we came in. You don’t need to walk very far to see some beautiful wildflowers in this area. I think any of the meadows up in this area will be having a similar display the next couple of weeks or so.
Dog Hike? No, dogs are not allowed on this trail in Yosemite National Park.
Map and Profile:
Bridalveil Wildflower Hike Doarama
Bridalveil Wildflower Hike Topographic Map
Bridalveil Wildflower Hike Profile
Prior Blogs in the Area:
Lazy Camping at Bridalveil Campground August 3, 2013
Sources:
Yosemite National Park Campgrounds
