Yosemite or Sequoia?

[Brian Deakin]

We are planning another holiday to the USA. travelling from the United kingdom in July 2016

We may not have enough time to visit both parks if you could visit only one would you choose and why

Please note we are a family of 4 ,mom and dad plus daughter age 20 son age 16

regards Brian

[Mike Henderson]

Yosemite. It's a beautiful park.

Mike

[Bruce Page]

Both are breathtakingly beautiful places. I give the edge to Yosemite for sheer WOW.

[Phil Mueller]

If only one, Yosemite. One of the big attractions of Sequoia is of course the giant sequoias. There are a few at Yosemite. Unfortunately, Mariposa grove, which is near Yosemite is closed for renovation until Spring 2017.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I was told that when Queen Elizabeth came to America, the one thing she wanted to see was Yosemite. Whether it is true or not, there is nothing else like it in the world.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Hands down....Yosemite!

[David Bassett]

Yosemite. Sequoia is nice, really nice. Yosemite is spectacular.

Get reservations! Especially as far as you are coming, you want to be sure you can get in. It will be crowded, especially in late-June, July, & August (our school holidays.) Any of the in park lodging is adequate, though pricey (at least compared to the same room at a lesser location.) I'll try giving you names but a private company trademarked the traditional names I know of the facilities and US Parks has temporarily renamed everything until the case is resolved in court. The former Yosemite lodge was like any other good motel. Curry Village, at least the hard wall cabins, was very adequate and a little cheaper. It's been our family's preferred choice. I've never stayed at the Ahwahnee Hotel. It is one of the Grand Lodges of a bygone era. (Check on dress code for the dining room there before you arrive. I'm not sure, but I think they used to have one. Everywhere else is casual.) Camp grounds are always full, but with tightly packed sites in the Valley and very unappealing to me. If you are camping, outside the valley is better, but the valley is the spectacular part.

[Todd Willhoit]

I'll buck the trend. Yosemite is beautiful. It has far more variety of terrain and the views are spectacular.

Sequoia is humbling. Craning your neck trying to see the top of a massive tree or mentally grasp the size of the trunk. Watching a squirrel disappear as he scampers up the trunk in plain sight. Putting you hand in a deep crevice in the bark. Knowing that you are looking at a part of creation that has grown for 2-3 thousand years surviving hundreds of fires, yet is so fragile that disease or man could wipe out the forest in an instant.

[Chris Padilla]

Sequoia. Visit General Sherman...the largest living thing in the world. :) After viewing it and trying to wrap your mind around its size, age, and the fact of how it sprouted from a seed no bigger than your pinky, you might just pass out. :) Oh, and they are found no where else on the entire planet than in a tiny area in the Sierra-Nevada mountains of California. :D

Your neck will be sore but it'll be a good sore!

[Mark Blatter]

I will be the outside the box and suggest some where different. Both of these parks are worth seeing, but since you are coming from the UK, I suggest you visit my wife's (she is from Scotland) favorite park, Glacier National Park in Montana. Another option would be Yellowstone as there is no place like it in the world. You could make a side trip to see the Tetons immediately south of Yellowstone too.

Just a thought. Likely your time is already planned and you will be in California only, but worth considering.

[roger wiegand]

Yosemite is, as far as I can tell, the most beautiful place on the face of the earth (I've traveled a lot, and it's still #1). Not just the valley, you can also see pretty impressive giant sequoias in the Mariposa grove in Yosemite, and Tuolumne meadows is an amazing alpine landscape. If you have time to hike more than a day out of the valley you will escape the crowds into a stellar backcountry experience.

Glacier, Banff, Jasper, Yellowstone, the Alps, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, and many other places are all spectacular, no taking away from that. Yosemite is unique.

And, FWIW, a honey fungus measuring 2.4 miles across in the Blue Mountains in Oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on Earth. Not much to look at though.

[Wade Lippman]

Yosemite is, as far as I can tell, the most beautiful place on the face of the earth (I've traveled a lot, and it's still #1). Not just the valley, you can also see pretty impressive giant sequoias in the Mariposa grove in Yosemite, and Tuolumne meadows is an amazing alpine landscape. If you have time to hike more than a day out of the valley you will escape the crowds into a stellar backcountry experience.


Don't forget Hetch Hetchy; I would pick that for an extra day over Tuolumne.

[Brian Deakin]

A huge thank you to everyone for your posts and advice I have spoken with my wife and we are going to look at the breakdown of days and try and visit both parks

regards Brian

[Andrew Hughes]

The trail of 100 giants,Giant Sequoia grove.The branches one some of the Giants look like trees coming out of the trunk.Its just unbelievable.

[Mark Blatter]

And, FWIW, a honey fungus measuring 2.4 miles across in the Blue Mountains in Oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on Earth. Not much to look at though.

I read about it and it does seem pretty well, interesting. I thought this stand of quakies were the biggest.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-05-05/earths-biggest-living-thing-might-be-tree-thousands-clones

[Wade Lippman]

I will be the outside the box and suggest some where different. Both of these parks are worth seeing, but since you are coming from the UK, I suggest you visit my wife's (she is from Scotland) favorite park, Glacier National Park in Montana. Another option would be Yellowstone as there is no place like it in the world. You could make a side trip to see the Tetons immediately south of Yellowstone too.

Just a thought. Likely your time is already planned and you will be in California only, but worth considering.

Well, if we are recommending places nowhere near California, I will recommend Katmai.:)

[Mark Patoka]

We spent 5 days at Yosemite a few years ago. Definitely worth the visit. We rented a house about 45 minutes away in Mariposa. It was kind of a pain to drive back and forth each day but it was nice to do some activities away from the large park crowds also. Haven't been to Sequoia to make a comparison.