Yosemite

[Dakota731]

I was planning a trip for next July, but my daughter has said she thinks it will be too hot. Anyone been in the summer and is it miserable or doable? If it’s 100 degrees, I doubt anyone will feel like hiking!

 

[RockyMtnMouse]

We went in July 2021. Sure it was hot but we did our hiking in the morning and tried to be done by lunch. We did Glacier Point around 5pm and it was amazing. Then we went down in the valley (and stayed at Ahwahnee). Then woke up and did our hiking. I would definitely go in July again.

 

[Lumpy1106]

The only problem in the summer is the crowds. You will need reservations;
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvi...,one of the following with matching photo ID:
Other than that, it's high in elevation so not crazy hot. If crowds are not your thing, I would suggest Sequoia - no reservations required. I would call it the less crowded, more spread out version of Yosemite.

 

[sjmac42]

It’s not typically 100 deg, more like mid 80’s but that’s not to say it can’t get super hot. It’s less likely though.
Make sure you secure your accommodation though, people started booking for next summer back in June. Staying in the Valley is generally best or somewhere close like Yosemite West or El Portal.

 

[Dakota731]

Someone told me it’s not humid like Florida so it’s more doable at 95 degrees - is that true? We are early risers so that’s a plus but, if it’s too hot I know the kids will whine lol. I was thinking of renting an Airbnb with a pool in Mariposa to cool off. Will that be too far to drive every day?

 

[sndral]

Someone told me it’s not humid like Florida so it’s more doable at 95 degrees - is that true? We are early risers so that’s a plus but, if it’s too hot I know the kids will whine lol. I was thinking of renting an Airbnb with a pool in Mariposa to cool off. Will that be too far to drive every day?

It is a dry heat in the Sierra, so yes it’s different than humid places like Florida.
Mariposa, however, is in the foothills at around 2000 feet & will be hotter than Yosemite. Yosemite valley is in the mountains at around 4000 ft..
I personally would not stay in Mariposa & drive daily into Yosemite. The Yosemite Valley Lodge, the Awahnee, & Curry Village all have pools.

 

[gmi3804]

If you're going to drive in daily, let me recommend the town of Oakhurst, which is at the south entrance to the Park. Nice charming town, some great restaurants.

Summer temps are hot and dry, mountain environment, not tropical and humid. Dew points are low. Make sure to stay hydrated if hiking.

 

[Dakota731]

We have six people so cheaper for us to rent an Airbnb then get two hotel rooms, so I’ll check out Oakhurst! Are there any touristy stuff for kids there? I can only get the kids to hike for so long lol.

 

[tx911]

I was planning a trip for next July, but my daughter has said she thinks it will be too hot. Anyone been in the summer and is it miserable or doable? If it’s 100 degrees, I doubt anyone will feel like hiking!

Me too! I've never been and looking forward to it. Will piggy-back on a trip to Disney Land

 

[sjmac42]

Do not stay in Oakhurst unless you like been in the car for at least 3-4 hours per day. You need to stay much closer to the Valley. That’s like recommending staying in San Diego to visit Los Angeles.
Yosemite West, El Portal, the Valley itself, even Wawona are much better options. Traffic in June will be heavy so those commute times could easily be longer.
As for the weather, it’s not tropical like Florida, it’s temperate and in the mountains.

 

[sndral]

Do not stay in Oakhurst unless you like been in the car for at least 3-4 hours per day. You need to stay much closer to the Valley. That’s like recommending staying in San Diego to visit Los Angeles.
Yosemite West, El Portal, the Valley itself, even Wawona are much better options. Traffic in June will be heavy so those commute times could easily be longer.
As for the weather, it’s not tropical like Florida, it’s temperate and in the mountains.

Wawona is closing in early Dec., it’s unclear when it’ll reopen https://news.yahoo.com/news/168-old-yosemite-national-park-123000998.html.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

I was planning a trip for next July, but my daughter has said she thinks it will be too hot. Anyone been in the summer and is it miserable or doable? If it’s 100 degrees, I doubt anyone will feel like hiking!

We went this past July. We stayed in Yosemite Valley Lodge. We knew it was not airconditioned. It was in the mid 90s in the daytime and in the low 60s overnight. I thought the rooms would cool off in the evenings. Nope, the building was apparently designed to trap heat in, and the room felt like an oven until the very early morning - 4am or so. And this was with leaving our balcony door fully open all night for extra ventilation, and leaving the room door open while we were awake to get some cross flow through the room. The first night I hopped in the shower 3x to cool off. There was screaming (party screaming) at the campground across the street well past the 10pm quiet hours. I called the desk at 11:30pm, and they called the NPS to deal with it, which took some time. I think past midnight it finally calmed down.

The crowds were brutal, the heat was intense. We wanted to do Vernal Falls, but I knew it was quite a climb and very exposed to the sun. And then the packed shuttle ended up not running out to the trailhead shuttle stop for unspecified reasons. The last stop was Curry Village, where everyone got off, and then we learned it would be 30 minutes walk from there just to get to the trailhead, in the blazing heat. We ended up hiking to Mirror Lake - which also required 30 minutes to the trailhead, but the hike itself was a little more shaded and less elevation. But I still drained my entire 2L camelback and would have drank more if I'd had it. The shuttles were packed and more infrequent than I would have thought. Some shuttles had to pass by because they were too full to pick up more.

We unfortunately did not get to Glacier point, as the July crowdstrike IT-airplane issue had messed up our trip plan. That being higher elevation should have been much cooler. We also didn't get to do the hiking we wanted on the Tioga Road area - which also would have been higher elevation - due to the delay. We did enjoy the 15 minute walk to Yosemite Falls from our lodging, bridal veil falls early in the morning the day we left, the pool at Yosemite Valley Lodge was great - nice and cold, and both evening meals we had near our lodging were great (we originally had Ahwahnee dinner reservations one night, but again ... crowdstrike interfered). I wanted to change into swimsuits and wade in the Merced River, but after our hiking and the crowds, none of us felt like walking to a shuttle stop and waiting in the sun for 20-30 minutes to be able to do that.

If I were going to be at Yosemite again in July, I think I would avoid Yosemite Valley altogether, stay south of the park, and focus on Glacier Point and then Tioga Road.

 

[Dakota731]

Yes I think we may be changing plans and go to Glacier instead. I don’t do well in the heat any more, and we can only go during the summer months. Thanks for your input!

 

[BlueGreen5]

Just a different take, FWIW:

We went in June, before the pandemic, which now seems like a different world. We stayed at Camp Curry. It was fantastic and I would do it again and again. It was warm and sunny during the day, but didn't feel "hot," even when walking. I have zero complaints about that trip, other than the fact that three days was too short.

I would imagine being inside, without AC, might feel oppressively hot. I don't recall that ever being the case outside, though. In fact, once the sun went down, it felt rather chilly at night -- pants and a sweatshirt were needed.

You will want sunscreen -- the sun hits different at ~4,000 feet. I was burnt to a crisp after three days. Way worse than I've ever been burned in Florida.

 

[disny_luvr]

We were just there this summer from June 28-June 30. It was hot but certainly not unbearable. There was zero humidity which made it quite enjoyable. We stayed inside the park at Yosemite Valley Lodge and I was so worried because there’s no AC, but it wasn’t bad at all. I think you’ll be fine in July.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I'm going to offer up another option in Sequoia. My family stayed at a family camp called Montecito Sequoia for a week, several years on a row;
https://www.mslodge.com/
This place is cool - they split the kids up by age and run different activities for them each day. Parents can just be lazy by the lake, go take a drive to see other parts of Sequoia without the kids, or do camp activities themselves. I did bouldering, mountain biking and hiking. DW did the artsy activities; tie-dye, bead necklaces, memory stones. Best of all they feed you all week. I think they also just rent out rooms if you can't spend the whole week.

 

[bcla]

Temperatures can't really be predicted. I've been to Yosemite in the summer when daytime highs were in the low to mid 70s. I've also been there when it was in the mid 80s. But more often than not it's going to be in the high 70s in July rather than the 80s.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/weather.htm

The primary issue with July is main low water flow levels where the waterfalls aren't terribly spectacular. But that's also unpredictable because occasionally the waterfalls will be roaring in July, but in other years Yosemite Falls can run dry by July.

And the most important thing isn't going to be the heat but the altitude. Yosemite Valley is already at over 4000 ft elevation and many people are just sucking wind if they're not acclimated.

 

[Psymonds]

Someone told me it’s not humid like Florida so it’s more doable at 95 degrees - is that true? We are early risers so that’s a plus but, if it’s too hot I know the kids will whine lol. I was thinking of renting an Airbnb with a pool in Mariposa to cool off. Will that be too far to drive every day?

it is a dry heat, but generally hot. we camp in the sierra's in July, usually a higher altitude (so you can shift the temperature maybe 10 degrees) and it can range from 85 in the days to 40 at night.

mariposa is a good drive, and goes through the gate each day. I prefer staying in the park but that's limited.

if you want to do some of the more strenuous hikes you will still need to watch for heat exhaustion, but I've been here in 115 degree heat in California and it's not nearly as bad as an Florida July.