Last updated: September 2, 2025
Place
Olmsted Point
Quick Facts
Amenities
4 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Tactile Exhibit, Wheelchair Accessible
Located along Tioga Road at approximately 8,400 feet above sea level, Olmsted Point offers panoramic views of Half Dome, Tenaya Lake, Clouds Rest, and many other granite domes and peaks. While beautiful any time of day, this overlook is an excellent place to watch sunset.
Enjoy the views from the roadside parking area or take a short, hilly 0.25-mile walk (one-way) further out onto the point on the established trail. Along this trail, you'll see examples of glacial erratics, which are boulders carried along by glaciers then left behind after those glaciers melted away.
Olmsted Point was named after famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and his son, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. The senior Olmsted was an early advocate of public parks, including serving as chairman of the first commission to manage Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove in the 1860s. As chairman, he wrote a report recommending policy for the care and protection of Yosemite's scenery and wildlife, an important precursor to the national parks system. Continuing this legacy, Olmsted, Jr. drafted portions of the Organic Act, the 1916 legislation that created the National Park Service.
Seasonal Information
Olmsted Point can only be reached by vehicle when Tioga Road is open, typically from late May or early June to sometime in November.
Tioga Road closes after the first significant snowfall. Overnight parking on this road ends October 15. For current road and weather information, please call 209/372-0200.
Accessibility
There are designated accessible parking spaces available at both ends of the parking lot. The viewpoint can be seen from the parking area or on paved, wheelchair-accessible walkways next to the parking area. The trail leading out to the point is not wheelchair accessible. There is also a bronze relief tactile model of the surrounding landscape.