Half Dome is the mountain everyone recognises, even if they have never been to California: a great granite dome, sliced clean through on one side, rising almost 5,000 feet above the floor of Yosemite Valley. The only way up is on foot, a long, hard hike from the valley, finishing with a climb up a pair of steel cables bolted into the rock, and a permit system limits the number of people who can make the attempt each day.
For riders on the Tioga Road, the best view of Half Dome comes from Olmsted Point, where the road crosses a landscape of polished granite slabs and scattered pines, and the dome is seen from the back, across Tenaya Canyon, a perspective that most visitors never see. From the valley, the classic views are from Tunnel View, at the western entrance, where El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall and Half Dome are framed together, and from Glacier Point, high on the rim, reached by a long, winding road that offers a view straight across at the face of the dome.
Yosemite Valley was carved by glaciers and rivers over millions of years, and its granite walls, waterfalls and meadows inspired the naturalist John Muir and the photographer Ansel Adams, and helped launch the idea of national parks. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill protecting the valley and the nearby Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias, and Yosemite became a national park in 1890. The Ahwahneechee people lived in the valley for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, and their story is told in the museum in the valley.
The roads in the valley are flat and slow, with heavy traffic in summer and a one-way loop that can become congested. Parking is hard to find, and the park has used reservation systems for entry during busy periods, so check the current rules. The Tioga Road, which crosses the High Sierra from the valley to Lee Vining, is one of the great rides in the United States, with sweeping curves and spectacular scenery, but it is closed by snow from November to late May or June. Fuel inside the park is limited to a few stations outside the valley, so fill up in the gateway towns before you enter. The valley has food, lodging and shops.