#18 Dewey Point Meadow

Dewey Point sits above Yosemite Valley's south rim at roughly 7,200 feet, and it rewards a moderate day's hike with one of the widest views in the park — El Capitan, Cathedral Rocks, and the valley floor spread out from an open granite ledge. The standard route in is the McGurk Meadow Trail, a round trip of roughly 7.8 to 8 miles starting from the McGurk Meadow Trailhead on Glacier Point Road, at about 6,900 feet.

The Route

From the trailhead, the trail drops gently for under a mile to McGurk Meadow, where a preserved 1890s line cabin sits at the meadow's edge. Past the meadow, the path climbs through lodgepole and fir forest for about a mile to a junction with the Pohono Trail; turn west and it's roughly four more miles along the rim to Dewey Point, where the forest opens onto bare granite and the valley drops away below.

McGurk Cabin

The cabin near the meadow was the seasonal home of Yosemite cattleman Jack McGurk in the 1890s. It's a one-room, roughly 14-foot log structure, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979 and stabilized by Sierra Club volunteers in 1958 — a quiet detour worth the few extra minutes.

Know Before You Go

• The viewpoint is an open, unfenced ledge — keep kids and pets back from the edge.
• Glacier Point Road closes to vehicles for winter, so plan this hike for the snow-free season.
• Rated moderate — the mileage, not the grade, is the main challenge.