Last Friday, I hiked the Pohono Trail, which begins at Glacier Point and ends at Tunnel View. I see that I called the Panorama Trail under-appreciated in a previous post. Well, the Pohono Trail is even more under-appreciated. While a fair number of people have heard of the Panorama Trail, it seems very few people have ever heard of the Pohono Trail. Indeed, I frequently get questions about the Panorama Trail, but only rarely get them about the Pohono Trail.

What’s so nice about this trail? Well, it has great views of Yosemite Valley from a variety of progressively different viewpoints. Each viewpoint provides a view that is pretty similar to the previous one, but the small amount of change from viewpoint to viewpoint adds up fast. The view from Glacier Point is very different than the view from Tunnel View. If you like 360° panoramas, this trail has it. If you like those edge-of-the-cliff experiences, this trail has lots of those. To top it off… hardly anyone hikes on most of this trail.

Yosemite Falls from Sentinel Dome

Yosemite Falls from Sentinel Dome

Half Dome, Clark Range, much more, from Sentinel Dome

Half Dome, Nevada Fall, much more, from Sentinel Dome (which provides a 360° panorama).

Mount Starr King and the Clark Range from Sentinel Dome.

Mount Starr King and the Clark Range from Sentinel Dome.

Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan from Taft Point (one of my favorite places in Yosemite).

Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan from Taft Point (one of my favorite places in Yosemite).

Yosemite Falls and Eagle Peak from Taft Point

Yosemite Falls and Eagle Peak from Taft Point

View east from Dewey Point

View east from Dewey Point (and Katrin, one of our hiking party)

Crocker Point

Crocker Point

Closeup of Bridalveil Fall from Crocker Point (this is the first view of Bridalveil Fall, despite being closer to it at Dewey Point, it's not visible)

Closeup of Bridalveil Fall from Crocker Point (this is the first view of Bridalveil Fall, despite being closer to it at Dewey Point, where it's not visible)

And, Stanford Point

And, Stanford Point

I didn’t take pictures from Glacier Point or Tunnel View (or any of the Inspiration Points), but you’ve seen those before, probably.

As far as 14-mile hikes go, this one is relatively moderate. (Half Dome is the same distance, but dramatically harder.)