Discover this 7 days road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It’s packed with great hikes, lakes, and amazing National Parks. We did this loop as part of a 2 weeks trip from SF to LA which is available here.

Itinerary:

Day by Day

Day 1: From San Francisco to Tahoe (Sunday 24 September)

We took a Uber from our hotel in San Francisco to Oakland airport car rental area (The rental price was significantly lower at Oakland than San Francisco when we booked the car, and the Uber ride is only few more bucks). From Oakland our first stop was in Sacramento to buy some food and a small cooler. We then took a quick pause at Moonraker Brewing for Lunch. The place and the beers were great. The servers also gave us tips on where to stop on our trip. It was a good stop for lunch and to buy few 4 packs for the trip. The road from Oakland to Sacramento was without interest, but after Moonraker the road to Tahoe starts to climb and become more interesting.

We arrived at Tahoe City using the River Rd and seeing the Olympic Valley Park. It looked like a nice area for biking. From Tahoe City we drove south along the lake to reach Emerald Bay. We parked along the road because the parking of the Emerald Bay State park Lookout was closed. The trails going down to the lake were also closed, but it was still a nice view point. For a little bit of exercise we hiked to Eagle lake (AllTrails link). This is a short and nice hike (2.9km, 131m elevation) with a lot of nice views. It starts along the river and go up to the lake. (We were initially planning a longer hike: Maggie’s Peak, Eagle Lake, Granite Lake but had not enough time).

After this cool hike we drove to our hotel in South Lake Tahoe. The road on the ridge between Emerald bay and Cascade Lake was very impressive. In South Lake Tahoe we bought some more food (we could have skip the stop at Sacramento as the supermarket in Tahoe are good), and for dinner we grilled some meet on Lakeside Beach while enjoying a beer from Moonraker (thanks to the small cooler) and a nice sunset.

Day 2: Tahoe Sand Harbor and read trip to Mono Lake (Monday 25 September)

We left our hotel at South Tahoe around 8am and stopped for a coffee at Drink Coffee Do Stuff. This is a good Coffee stop. We then drove to Sand Harbor state park on the North East part of Lake Tahoe and arrived at about 8:45am. This is not a great day to visit Sand Harbor, we have some cloud and wind. The initial plan was to rent some paddle but it was too cold. Instead we took our breakfast in the park and walked around. We also walked a little bit north out of the park on a nice walk / bike path. Sand Harbor is beautiful with the big rocks and the clear blue water. We would have loved to be there on a sunny (and not windy) day to have the perfect experience.

From Sand Harbor we then started our road trip to Mono Lake and June Lake. The first stop was at Carson to fill-up gas. This first drive was already impressive, going from Tahoe lake and his forests to Carson City dry landscape. Carson City seems to be a big casino city without anything to visit except casino. We were surprised to see that gas station only accept debit card or cash (no credit). At Cason city we also applied to the Half Dome hike permit (lottery 2 days in advance if you missed the April lottery)

After Cason City we drove South, the landscape during the drive is mainly dry mountains, lakes, and green areas around the lakes. The best part of the drive is the Mono Lake Vista point just after the Conway Summit. From this point we had an amazing panoramic view of Mono lake and the road going to Mono lake. After few pictures we continued our drive to the parking lot south of Mono Lake (close to Navy beach) to walk the South Tufa Loop Trail. (Alltrails link).

The South Tufa Loop Trail is a cool little walk around the Tufa. We really enjoyed walking around this strange landscape. It feels that you are not on earth but somewhere else. We also tried to walked to Navy Beach but this part was without interest. After this short discovery of Mono Lake we continue our drive South to arrive at our hotel for the night in June Lake.

In June Lake we went for a short walk and randomly found the June Lake Brewery. We were on a Monday evening end of September and the Brewery was open with an outside area and a food truck. We enjoyed our sunset, trying some of the local beers and were surprised by the good quality of the brewery. This is a stop that we recommend if you are in the area. As we were drinking our beers we received the Half Dome lottery results. It was a positive results and we had our passes.

Day 3: Yosemite Tioga pass, Cloud Rest, Valley and Tunnel View (Tuesday 26 September)

We left June Lake around 6:30am and went north, to the Tioga pass. The sun was just starting to rise and we had great colors on Mono Lake. We drove on the Tioga pass and arrived at Tenaya Lake to the start of the Cloud Rest hike around 7:30am (Cloud Rest is a long hike: 21.7km and 961m elevation – Alltraills link).

The trail starts in the forest (were we saw a family of deer). Then it has some small up and down until the first significant ascent. On this first ascent we were able to have some interesting views of the north part of Yosemite. The trail then goes back into the forest until the final ascent.

The final ascent is the most interesting part of the hike. It starts on a dry landscape with large trees. And it arrives to a rocky ramp with amazing views in every directions. The view from the summit of Cloud rest is the most impressive part. We were able to see all the valley with Half Dome in the middle. Ariana used this spot to check how the final ascent of Half Done look like. While Antoine was trying to take pictures of the squirrels.

The hike back from Cloud Rest to the Tenaya Lake was slower than expected, but we finally reached our car. Overall the hike was great but slightly below our high expectations. The final ascent and the view at the summit are amazing. But most of the hike is in the forest is without any views. We did enjoy seeing a little bit of wildlife but no bear.

Our next stop was the Yosemite Valley. The Road from Tenaya Lake to Yosemite had nothing amazing and took more time than expected (more than 1hr). Few view points were available but none of them were better than the view we had from the top of Cloud Rest. We arrived to the Yosemite Valley from the north (after Tunnel view), and were immediately impressed by the number of people. We continued the road in the valley with a quick stop for a picture of El Capitan and went for the shop and the ranger office. For a park as big as Yosemite we were a little bit surprised by the ranger office and the shop which are small. The best part of Yosemite village is the super market where we bought some ice cream and which has a lot more souvenir than the shop at the ranger office.

We then went to Curry Village to recover the key of our cabin. The cabin was very basic and expensive for what you get. But slipping in the Park and not driving one hour on the morning is very appreciable. For the end of the afternoon we went back to the entrance of the park at the tunnel view parking spot. The spot was not too crowded and we were able to enjoy some snack and drink watching the sunset and taking pictures. As the sun was going done on our back it was providing great lights for all the mountains in front of us.

We finished our day by stopping at Curry Village for a pizza and a beer. They were both equivalent to the cabin: not great but enjoyable when you consider that you are in the middle of a national Park. We did not last long and went to bed early to be ready for a big day. Our first impression of Yosemite was mixed. We had great views and sunset but we were not impressed by the Tioga road, and the Yosemite valley was too crowded even in a weekday.

Day 4: Yosemite Half Dome (Wednesday 27 September)

Big day today with Half Dome (Alltrails link), which is one of the most iconic hike in the US. We woke-up around 6am and started the Half Dome hike around 6:50. There was already enough light to walk without a head lamp. The hike starts by the John Muir trail which can be a little steep but easy to walk as it’s concrete floor. After the first bridge we walked on the South side of the river, going up above the Vernal waterfall. We arrived at Clark Point just as the sun was rising above the mountain line. It gave us some amazing lights with Half Dome already sunny (looking very tall), and Nevada waterfall still in the shadow.

The hike continued up to the summit of the Nevada fall with the summit of Half Dome always looking at us. After Nevada fall the trail goes closer to the Merced River. It’s flat for few kilometers, and the incline started again as we turned North in the forest. In the forest we were still seeing from time to time the summit. We also made our first encounter with some sequoias. At the end of the forest a final incline led us to a more flat area. From this point up to the end of the hike we had amazing view all around.

At the end of the flat area we arrived to the permit check. The ranger was waiting just before the start of the sub dome climb. He checked the pass, and gave a speech with some tips to enjoy the final part of the hike. The ranger was also answering any question. We then started the trail to sub dome. This part of the hike is mainly narrow stairs build with rock, and with great views all along. The best one is the view we had from sub Dome, it’s just above the start of the cable and it makes great pictures of Half Dome.

The final challenge was to hike the cables. This is a super steep incline but it did not felt unsafe. We just had to take our time as it was a little bit slow with the people going down. The arrival to the submit was a mixed bag of emotions. On one side we were very proud to make it to the summit, on the other side the view at the summit was not as great as what we could imagine. Indeed, the great views of Yosemite are often the one looking at Half Dome. And you don’t see it anymore when you are on top of it.

We stayed about 20 min on the summit and started the hike down. Taking the cable down was easy, we just had to take our time. We continued down and decided to have lunch just after the ranger check. It was less crowded than the top of Half Dome and Sub Dome. The hike down was good until the top of Niagara fall. The last part after Niagara fall was not as pleasant as the rest of the hike because we were tired and it was busier.

With all the stop included it took us 9hr15min to complete the hike. Having the gloves really helped us for the cables. Overall this is certainly one of the best hike we ever did. The view at the top is not the best one but everything else is amazing. We liked that everybody was very courteous and respectful during the hike (especially on the challenging parts thanks to the ranger speech). And the feeling that we were all trying to accomplish something great.

The hike was enough activity for the day. We took the car a drove to Oakhurst for the night. For dinner we tried Jack in the Box and went to bed early.

Day 5: Mariposa Groove, King’s Canyon, Sequoia (Thursday 28 September)

We started the day by driving back to Yosemite to see some Sequoias at Mariposa Groove. We arrived too early for the shuttle and had to walk in the forest to get to the start of the Giant Sequoias Trail (Alltrails link). The trail is impressive with the giants trees going up to the sky, and few dead one lying on the floor. We continued the trail up to the Clothespin tree, stopping by the Grizzly Giant, and the California Tunnel Tree for some pictures.

After this initial hike we went back to Oakhurst to reach King’s Canyon via Fresno. Our only stop before King’s Canyon was an In and Out in Fresno, this fast food was very good. They have a limited menu and fresh French fries cooked in the restaurant.

We arrived at King’s Canyon Grant Grove Village and had to stay in this area because the road to Cedar Grove was closed for repair. We did the short loop around the General Grant Tree (Alltrails link). The part that we liked the most about it was the possibility to walk inside the trunk of a dead Sequoia. After that we drove to the panoramic point overlook. We could have skipped this part because the view had nothing amazing.

After King’s Canyon we continued driving south to Sequoia, we stopped at few view points and reached Stony Creek lodge where we had a reservation for the night. It was not that late so we decided to start the exploration of the National Park. We drove to the visitor center and then to the area around Moro Rock. This area was amazing, we went to the Park’s Tunnel log to cross this tunnel with the car. We also stopped by the Parker Group. The sun was starting to set and it was creating amazing color on the Sequoias of the Parker group.

For the sunset we took the short hike to the top of Moro Rock (Alltails link) with some food and drinks. On top of Moro rock we had a great 360 degree view. This view was slightly degraded by some smoke coming from the surrounding forest fire. We enjoyed a great sunset, discussing with a local photographer and listening to stories about the moon. We did not planned for it but we were during a full moon night and someone from a local association shared moon stories and legends during one hour. It was a perfect evening with the sun setting on the west and the moon rising behind the mountains on the east side.

We went back to our lodge at Stony Creek for the night. The only good point about this lodge was the location close to the National Park. Otherwise we had a bad experience: rude staff for the check-in, generator issue leading to no power/water after 9pm, no instruction to leave the room keys if you leave early.

Day 6: Sequoia, Morro Bay (Friday 29 September)

We left the Stony Creek lodge a little bit after sunrise and drove south. Our first stop was for General Sherman. We started the hike down using the Sherman Tree trail (Alltrails link). At this time the site was mostly empty, and we enjoyed our short tour of the Sequoias. The sun was not high enough for good picture, visiting during late afternoon would certainly have been a better for this area.

After this short hike we went back to the Moro Rock area and parked at the end of the Crescent Meadow Rd. From the parking we started the Crescent Meadow loop hopping to see a bear (Alltrails link). We had the feeling to be close from a giant barbecue with some smokes coming from the nearby fires. On this short hike we saw some dears, and we loved the impressive log in the middle of the meadow. We were disappointed to not see any bear.

At the very end of the hike just few meters from the parking lot, Ariana finally spotted a bear. He was eating in the meadow and only his head was visible. After few minutes he crossed the meadow using the huge sequoia log we were on few minutes before. It was a great experienced to see the bear walking on the log and jumping from it. We were surprised by how slow he looked, but how fast he really was. In few second he was already far away from us.

The bear encounter was the perfect way to finish our stay in Sequoia. On our way back we stopped quickly by the Giant Forest Museum. We then took the car, and headed to Morro bay. Going to Morro Bay was a 4hr drive without any major great scenery. But it helped us to understand some of the conflicts around water in California. We saw large areas of dry land stopped by artificial green oasis and many political message about water management.

In Morro Bay we went to our hotel and walked to the Embarcadero to see the coast line. Our main objective was to see some sea otters and we were able to see them on Coleman Dr. A large group of otters was present with babies and adults. We enjoyed watching them play, eat, and rest. To finish our day we went for some local beers at the Libertine Pub. We loved the decoration and the vibe of the place.

Day 7: Morro Bay to Los Angeles (Saturday 30 September)

For the last day of our road trip we drove from Morro Bay to Los Angeles. In Morro Bay, the coffee at Top Dog Coffee bar was a good way to start this driving day. On our way we stopped by Santa Barbara and took the coastal road to see Malibu. At Santa Barbara we did a quick walk from the train station to the Stearns Wharf. It’s a cute little city but nothing worth going if you are not around. We were also not impressed by Malibu, I would not plan to visit these places if I was not already around.

We finally arrived in Los Angeles for some city time after this great road trip in the nature.

Reflecting on the Itinerary:

Overall itinerary was great and worked exactly as planned. The only activity we were not able to do was renting some stand-up paddles at send harbor due to the weather.

If we were doing it again, one change that we would maybe do is to plan for half more day in Tahoe. It would have helped us to do the stand-up paddle or do a longer hike at Emerald bay (Maggie’s Peak, Eagle Lake, Granite Lake).

Low light (not as good as expectations)

• Yosemite Valley: We were unpleasantly surprised by the amount of people, the number of campgrounds, and the ranger office which was not very nice for a park that big. At the end the market has better souvenir than the ranger office shop.
• Tioga pass: we are maybe biased because we are used to see similar road in the Alpes. We did not understood what was so amazing about this road. It’s not bad but there is nothing crazy about it.
• The rangers in the parks: Overall the rangers in the park rangers office in Yosemite and Sequoia were less knowledgeable than what we have seen in other parks. We even sometime talked with shop employees who were more knowledgeable than the rangers.
• Santa Barbara & Malibu: I’m happy we did a quick stop on our way to Los Angeles, because I would be disappointed to go their as the main destination.

High light (better than expectations or as good as expectation)

• Half Dome hike is certainly one of the most beautiful hike we have done in our life. (Even if the view at the summit of half dome is not that great).
• June Lake was a much pleasant stay than expected. We especially loved the small brewery. The stop at Moonraker Brewing on our way to Tahoe was also a very pleasant one.
• Seeing a bear in crescent meadow and sea otters at Morro bay on the same day.
• The road from Tahoe to June Lake. This road is great with a lot of different sceneries.
• Eagle lake hike in Emerald bay was a great short hike.
• Our sunset picnics in the middle of the National Parks. It was just great to pause, have some snacks and watch amazing sunsets.

Anything we missed?

The main spot we missed is Glacier point in Yosemite. But after hiking Half Dome we were too tired to go their. It will be a good reason to go back to Yosemite.

Few tips:

• You can see on the day by day itinerary that we planned Yosemite in the middle of the week. I can’t imagine how busy the place is during weekend.
• Packing some snacks and drinks for sunset is a very good idea. Many amazing view points are available directly from parking spots.
• Going outside of the main season we only booked in advance the hotels for the parks. Hotels outside of the park had availability and could be booked at the last minutes depending on how we wanted to adjust the trip.

Continue the trip:

Full map of the trip is available below. Next step is Los Angeles and Laguna beach here. The overall 2 weeks read trip plan with San Francisco and Los Angeles is here.

More breweries and hikes by following-us on Untappd or Instagram (boozy_the_moose).