Five Easy Hikes in Yosemite Valley

Yosemite is full of hiking trails, many of them suitable only for the ultra-fit hiker with lots of stamina and determination, but don't let that intimidate you. There are some nice, short hikes in Yosemite Valley that almost anyone can manage. These are the most popular places for easy hiking in Yosemite Valley. See where they start on this map.

• Bridalveil Fall Hike: 0.5 miles round trip, 20 minutes. Start from the parking area along Southside Drive. In the afternoon, this short hike is particularly rewarding - you may see rainbows in the spray.

• Lower Yosemite Fall Hike: 1 mile round trip, 20 minutes. Use the shuttle bus to get to the trailhead (stop #6) or just walk over from the Yosemite Lodge. You can see both falls from the trail, but this hike just goes to the base of the lower falls.

• Mirror Lake Hike: 2 miles round trip, 1 hour. Guidebooks say this is a fairly flat, two-mile hike leads to a calm lake just below Half Dome. Some may also mention that for much of the year this "lake" is really a meadow. None will tell you that the trail is sometimes littered with horse-poop. If you want to go, the best way to get to the hiking trail is to take the Valley Shuttle bus to the Mirror Lake Trail stop (#17).

• Vernal Fall Footbridge Hike: 1.4 miles round trip, 1 to 2 hours. This first section of the more difficult Mist Trail hike gains 400 feet in elevation. The easiest way to get to the trail is by the shuttle bus, getting off at the Happy Isles stop (#16). Continue to the top of the falls if you're looking for more strenuous hiking, for a total hike of 3 miles.

• Sentinel and Cook's Meadow Loop: 2.25 miles round trip. This is so flat it's really more of a stroll than hike and it's scenery-packed. Start off Southside Drive near the Swinging Bridge and follow the well-used trail around until you get back where you started. Because this is a loop, you can also start from the Lower Yosemite Falls trail head or from Yosemite Lodge.