California
Choose Your Pace: Hiking Yosemite Up Close and Personal
Program No. 13977RJ
Hike at the pace you choose each day and see authentic Yosemite with experts. Discover giant sequoias and glacially carved valleys, and learn the story of this national treasure.
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Protecting the Environment
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6 days
5 nights
15 meals
5B 5L 5D
2
Hike Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias
Oakhurst, CA
4
Yosemite Valley Full Free Day
Oakhurst, CA
5
Yosemite Hikes: Cliffs, Domes, Waterfalls
Oakhurst, CA
6
ECCO Property Hike, Program Concludes
Oakhurst, CA
At a Glance
Those who really want to know Yosemite must explore its wonders on foot. Follow in the footsteps of pioneers like John Muir, the father of Yosemite National Park, and Galen Clark, its Guardian, not to mention the Native Americans who first inhabited this enchanting land. Explore Yosemite’s unique glacially-carved valleys, granite monoliths, waterfalls and lush meadows in small groups divided by desired difficulty and learn about geology and natural history during on-site lectures.
Activity Level
Outdoor: Choose Your Pace
Each day, choose from either a moderate or challenging hike based on your desired level of challenge and pace. The moderate hikes range from 5-6 miles and the challenging hikes range from 6-9 miles on varied terrain. Elevations of 3,100–8,100 feet.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
Best of all, you’ll…
- Trek major trails in Yosemite Valley, areas of Yosemite National Park and Mariposa Grove with expert hikers.
- Learn about the geology, flora, fauna and human history of this "queen of the national parks."
- Explore the complexities of managing Yosemite National Park from the perspective of those who have worked in the park.
General Notes
For a comparable adventure for women travelers only led by a female group leader, check out "Choose Your Pace: Hiking Yosemite Up Close and Personal for Women" (#25128). The Retreat Difference: This unique, often basic and no-frills experience at a Road Scholar Retreat includes opportunities for early morning exercise, interaction with the local community for insight into local life, an authentic farm-to-table or locally sourced meal, and a live performance or event.
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Timothy Fabbian
Rooted between three of California's most beautiful national parks, it was destiny that Tim would grow to love Yosemite. After experiencing the summit of Mt. Whitney for the first time, he was inspired to pursue more moments spent 9,000 feet above the elevation of a desk job. Tim loves coffee, surfing California's rivers, listening for the silent wisdom of the Giant Sequoias and sharing gourds Yerba Mate among friends. Of all those things, Tim's greatest passion is skiing in the winter seasons down the Sierras.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
Timothy Fabbian
View biography
Rooted between three of California's most beautiful national parks, it was destiny that Tim would grow to love Yosemite. After experiencing the summit of Mt. Whitney for the first time, he was inspired to pursue more moments spent 9,000 feet above the elevation of a desk job. Tim loves coffee, surfing California's rivers, listening for the silent wisdom of the Giant Sequoias and sharing gourds Yerba Mate among friends. Of all those things, Tim's greatest passion is skiing in the winter seasons down the Sierras.
Doug Jensen
View biography
Doug Jensen recently retired after more than 20 years as an administrator in education, including eight years in developing and supervising Outdoor Environmental Education programs. One of the significant motivators behind his retirement was based upon his love for Outdoor Environmental Education and his desire to re-enter that field. He is so fortunate to live in an area where the Sierra National Forest is my yard boundary; I spend most of my free time exploring and learning new things about nature.
Suggested Reading List
(69 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Choose Your Pace: Hiking Yosemite Up Close and Personal
Program Number: 13977
High Odyssey: The First Solo Winter Assault of Mt. Whitney and the Muir Trail Area.
Anyone who loves mountains, and especially the Sierra Nevada, will find this a great addition to the library. It documents the little known winter solo ski trip over the entire John Muir trail, from Mt. Whitney to Yosemite, by Orland Bartholemew in 1928-29. The author expertly crafts the story from old notes and a diary.
Sisters of the Earth
Challenge of the Big Trees
Garden of the Sun: A History of the San Joaquin Valley: 1772-1939.
The Land of Little Rain
A Field Guide to Mammals
Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite’s Half Dome
A Sierra Club Naturalist's Guide to the Sierra Nevada
A Sand County Almanac
Secrets of the Oak Woodlands; Plants and Animals Among California's Oaks
Conifers of California
High Odyssey: The First Solo Winter Assault of Mt. Whitney and the Muir Trail Area
Assembling California
Desert Solitaire
Mountains Without Handrails: Reflections on the National Parks
Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World
The Incomparable Valley: a Geologic Interpretation of the Yosemite.
Salt: A World History
The Journey Home
Touch the Earth: A Self-Portrait of the Indian Existence
The Hour of Land; A Personal Topography of America's National Parks.
. Gloryland: A Novel.
This books is roughly based on the life of his great-grandfather who was a buffalo soldier and one of those who patrolled Yosemite NP around the turn of the century to protect it from poachers, loggers, miners, etc.
Born on Emancipation Day, 1863, to a sharecropping family of African and Indian blood, Elijah Yancy never lived as a slave, but his self-image as a free person is at war with his surroundings: Spartanburg, South Carolina, in the Reconstructed South.
Shelton Johnson is an interpretive ranger for Yosemite National Park. His area of expertise is the Buffalo Soldiers and their influence on the early history of Yosemite and the west.
Nature’s Army: When Soldiers Fought for Yosemite
Field Guide to Birds of North America
The Education of Little Tree
Flowering Shrubs of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada
William Neill Blog
The Geologic Story of Yosemite National Park
Mountain Sage
Galen Clark: Yosemite Guardian
Sierra Nevada Wildflowers
My First Summer in the Sierra
The first of John Muir's books. This inspirational book allows the reader to understand John Muir's desire to protect and preserve Yosemite.
Shaping the Sierra: Nature, Culture, and Conflict in the Changing West
FLO: A Biography of Frederick Law Olmsted
The Wild Muir: Twenty-two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures
Uncertain Path; A Search for the Future of National Parks
"Ansel Adams and the American Landscape"
Westering ManL The Life of Joseph Walker
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
The Wild Muir: Twenty-two of John Muir’s Greatest Adventures.
Short stories from John Muir that creates an understanding of John Muir.
Wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley
Oaks of California
The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada
They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush
The San Joaquin – A River Betrayed
Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds.
A Sierra Club Naturalist’s Guide to the Sierra Nevada.
. Stephen Whitney has taken most of the University of California Press guides and books and done an excellent job of condensing a wide range of biotic and abiotic topics. I highly recommend this guide to anyone interested in the Sierra Nevada, whether a teacher, backpacker, student, or amateur naturalist.
The Star Thrower
Up and Down California in 1860-1864: The Journal of William H Brewer
The Earth Speaks: An Acclimatization Journal
The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite
www.michaelfrye.com
Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water
Black Elk Speaks
The Geologic Story of Yosemite National Park.
Geologic History of Yosemite
Sierra Nevada Natural History: An Illustrated Handbook.
Gloryland: A Novel
A Journal of Ramblings Through the High Sierra of California by the University Excursion Party
The Invention of Nature; Alexander Von Humboldt's New World.
History of the Sierra Nevada
An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park
An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park. El Portal, California:
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
On the Loose
Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West
The Secret Knowledge of Water
Winter WorldL The Ingenuity of Animal Survival
My First Summer in the Sierra
Yosemite: Volume One
Our expert instructor highly recommends William Neill's blog and ebook. Find the blog at www.williamneill.com/blog/ and Find his ebook at www.williamneill.com/store/ebooks/yosemite-volume1/index.html
Flowering Shrubs of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada.
While the trees of Yosemite thrill visitors and the wildflowers often steal the show, every year the blue elderberry, the snowberry, the American dogwood, and dozens of other shrubs bloom in a glory all their own. This lovely volume, with inspired watercolors showing the fruit, flowers, and foliage of the plants, pays these shrubs full homage. Complete with useful information for plant identification, this book serves as a welcome and needed introduction to some of Yosemite's wildflowers.