Trips leaving San Francisco

Yosemite Valley is roughly four hours east of San Francisco, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon about five south-east, which puts the whole southern Sierra within reach of one arrival airport.

Season shapes these trips more than distance does. Tioga Road, the high crossing of the Sierra through Yosemite, is closed by snow for roughly half the year and usually opens somewhere between late May and early July; the waterfalls that Yosemite is known for run hardest in May and June and can be nearly dry by late August.

Trips from here tend to be week-long loops rather than day tours, because the drive is long enough that turning round the same evening would leave very little time in the park.

The Bay Area itself is worth a day at either end of a trip, and most of these itineraries assume one: the drive east to Yosemite crosses the Central Valley and climbs into the Sierra foothills, which is a half day rather than a hop.

Coastal fog is the other thing to plan for. San Francisco in July is frequently cold and grey while the Sierra, four hours inland, is in the eighties — the packing has to cover both, and people who pack for one are caught out by the other.