Читать книгу 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite National Park and Vicinity онлайн

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2 Poopenaut Valley

Trailhead Location: Hetch Hetchy Road

Trail Use: Hiking

Distance & Configuration: 2.4-mile out-and-back

Elevation Range: 4,595 feet at the start, with 1,280 feet of descent/ascent

Facilities: No facilities are at this trailhead, so be sure to fill your water bottles at the entrance station. Water and toilets are located at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, an additional 4 miles down the road.

Highlights: Solitude, sandy banks and chilly swimming holes, and a steep climb

Tuolumne River in Poopenaut Valley

DESCRIPTION

This often-overlooked trail provides a beautiful, albeit steep, introduction to lower-elevation Yosemite. Best suited to the cooler months, the trail leads down a steep forested trail to the Tuolumne River. In fall you can enjoy beautiful beaches and swimming holes, and in spring enjoy the river’s swirling waters. Visit this location mid-fall through spring but not summer, when temperatures are sizzling.

THE ROUTE

From the pullout, cross the street and head down a dry slope, colored by wildflowers in spring and parched in fall. After a brief traverse to the right, the trail enters cool forest cover. You are beneath a canopy of incense cedars and Douglas firs and beside a cascading creek. The sheltered draw that the trail follows contrasts sharply with the dry scrubby slopes you drove past along Hetch Hetchy Road.