Time to unleash a secret: Yoesmite’s best viewpoint isn’t Glacier Point, but somewhere that is a few miles down the road and sees a fraction of the visitors. Sentinel Dome is one of those gems that a lot of people don’t know about and offers unrivalled 360 views of the park, where you can see El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, the Sentinel, Half Dome, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls all from the same spot.

The hardest part is knowing where to look! But we’re also going to tell you about more than just this spot, we’ll also let you in on the most spectacular way to get there which offered our favourite views in all of Yosemite! If you can go in the late afternoon you will be in for a truly magical sunset.

Here’s all you need to know about this beautiful spot, a must for your Yosemite itinerary.

Sentinel Dome, Taft Point & Roosevelt Point loop

So this is it, the trail on which we saw no one that quickly became one of our favourite hikes in the whole of the US. We saw absolutely no one on the trail that leads between Taft Point and Sentinel Dome. How that is possible we’ll never know, this is one hike you do not want to miss!

Trail Stats

Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 6 miles (9.7km)
Elevation: 655 ft (200m)
Starting point: Taft Point parking lot

The Sentinel Dome trail is one of the best easy walks in the whole of Yosemite. The hike is 6 miles long, with only 655 feet elevation.

You should allow about 3 hours to do the trail.

Start with Taft Point

Start the hike by heading to Taft Point, an Instagrammer’s favourite location and one of the best photography spots in Yosemite: it is a truly phenomenal place. The trail is mainly downhill, going through a beautiful forest before opening out to this famous cliff edge.

The path through the forest is in great condition and very easy, once you come out of the forest there is a rocky section but it’s not too difficult. Stay to the track as there are some big drops which aren’t always that obvious until you’re a few feet away.

Taft is an undeniably beautiful spot, but it was a bit of a circus when we were there and it ruined the tranquility of the place. There were three wedding groups who decided to dominate the whole place, ruining it for anyone else wanting to sit and admire the view.

At one point a bride - being so annoyed that someone else may want to take in the view - shrieked that everyone had to get out the way as they had a permit. Not only was this incredibly rude, but she misunderstood that a permit allows commercial photoshoots, not the right to demand people to get out the way! Everyone there was already giving them a lot of space as it was so we found it a bit shocking but anyway rant over.

Regardless, Taft Point is a must. We just hope you have a more peaceful experience than we did. The tourists were all friendly and when you could get anywhere near a photo spot everyone took turns.

Onto Roosevelt Point and the secret viewpoint

After Taft, most people make a bee line back to the car, missing the special hike that joins up Taft Point and Sentinel Dome. Their loss is your gain. We fell in love with this section of the trail. To get there, hike back into the forest (the start is uphill all the way) and keep an eye out for a rusty sign showing the way to Sentinel Dome.

This trail will head left from the main path and go towards the cliff edge. Within five minutes or so you’ll see this stunning view of El Capitan.

Of all the viewpoints we checked out, none offered as good a view of El Cap as this innucuous log on a trail no one bothers with! We couldn’t really believe it. Why is no one talking about this incredible view? It was so quiet we even had to think about including it in this blog but we started our site to share the best of our travel tips so here it is.

*The view near Roosevelt Point on the trail to Sentinel Dome*

Continuning onwards the trail heads away from the cliff edge and into the forest before going back to the edge again for more outstanding views of Yosemite Valley and the Sentinel. Soon it curves uphill and passes a cell tower (we were with AT&T and surprise, surprise it still didn’t work, even right next to the cell tower 😂).

From here it’s around five minutes before you reach this stunning view of Half Dome. Again, no one was there! It was easily as good as Glacier Point.

Onwards to Sentinel Dome

After taking in the spectacular view of Half Dome follow the trail to Sentinel Dome for the best sunset view in Yosemite. The final part of the trail to the top is a little steep on good grippy rock (when dry), but not very long. Within a few minutes you’ll have 360 views and a Yosemite sunset you’ll never forget.

When we were there, we counted six others at this incredible spot - something that is unheard of in one of America’s most popular national parks in high season. There is a lot of space on the summit, so at no point did we have to worry about people spoiling the views or photo ops.

Some people brought a bottle of wine up to admire the view - something we wished we’d have done!

Make sure you stay for 10-15 minutes after the sun has gone below the horizon. Sunsets in Yosemite have a habit of producing a stunning after glow and you won’t want to miss out.

If you stay up for sunset, you’ll obviously have to hike back in the dark, so bring a torch. The path is a little rough (think quite rocky in places), but it shouldn’t be a problem if you have some light.

We imagine that it would also be a great place for star gazing and astrophotography as the view is unobstructed and so vast.

Essential info about Sentinel Dome & Taft Point

Getting to Sentinel Dome & Taft Point

The trailhead for Taft Point and Sentinel Dome is along Glacier Point Road - a 1 hour drive from the Yosemite Valley Floor. The trailhead is from the Taft Point parking lot which is marked on Google Maps.

This trail is only open in the non-winter months as Glacier Point Road closes once the winter weather kicks in. You can find out more about that in our guide to visiting Yosemite in the fall.

Best time to visit Sentinel Dome

We think the best time to visit is at sunset but if you can’t make the timings work then any time of day will still be worth it. If you can avoid visiting on a weekend or during the summer months it will be a lot quieter (although it is easily one of the least busy spots we visited in the whole of Yosemite).

Yosemite National Park entrance fee

You can use the America the Beautiful Annual National Parks Pass to get into Yosemite (US80 per annum). Otherwise it will cost $35 for entry with a car, $30 for a motorbike or $20 per person on foot or bike for 7 days.

As the National Parks Pass is $80 for the year, it is well worth it if you plan on visiting more than three national parks in a year.

Where to stay at Yosemite

Staying in the park is your best bet unless everything is fully booked. if you’re looking to camp you need to book far in advance, here’s our guide to camping in Yosemite.

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