Yosemite National Park Maps & Trailhead Navigation Guide

Yosemite National Park maps come in more varieties than almost any park in California, and the first lesson is that no single one tells the whole story. Yosemite covers about 1,200 square miles and has no single street address. The National Park Service says plainly that GPS units do not always give accurate directions to or within the park, and that if your device and a road sign disagree, the sign is right.

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So treat this guide as a way to read the park in layers: where it sits on the map, which road gets you in, which map belongs in your pocket, and where each trailhead is once you are on the ground.

Where is Yosemite National Park on a map?

Find Yosemite National Park on a map of California, and you will see it in the central Sierra Nevada, east of the Central Valley. It spans parts of Mariposa, Tuolumne, and Madera counties, with Sierra National Forest on its southeast edge and Stanislaus National Forest on its northwest. Our hubs for Mariposa County hiking trails and Tuolumne County hiking trails cover the two counties most visitors drive through.

NPS lists these distances and drive times, which assume good conditions:

Map to Yosemite National Park: which road and entrance?

NPS names five ways in: Highway 120 from the west (Big Oak Flat), Highway 140 (Arch Rock), Highway 41 (South Entrance), Hetch Hetchy gateway, and Tioga Pass from the east. Four of them stay open all year, though tire chains may be required from about October through April. Tioga Pass is the exception, because Tioga Road closes with the snow.

Inside the park, the same drive-time table gives you the distances that matter when you are planning from Yosemite Valley:

Seasons change the map. NPS says Tioga Road usually closes from some time in November through late May or early June, from Tuolumne Grove (just east of Crane Flat) to the Tioga Pass Entrance Station. Glacier Point Road closes in the same window. While they are closed, you cannot drive to Tuolumne Meadows or Glacier Point, and you cannot enter from the east. Mariposa Grove Road and its shuttle close around November 30 and reopen no earlier than April 15. For current status, NPS gives a recorded line at 209/372-0200 (press 1, then 1).

Fuel is limited. NPS lists 24-hour credit card gas at Wawona, Crane Flat, and El Portal. There is no gas in Yosemite Valley, and none in Tuolumne Meadows anymore, so the nearest options there are Crane Flat or Lee Vining.

Which Yosemite National Park maps should you carry?

Start with the official ones. The NPS maps page links a simple park map that highlights campgrounds, the official park maps from the NPS cartography collection, and topographic maps for the whole park. NPS adds that some park brochures include hiking maps for certain areas.

The National Geographic map is the one most hikers buy. It is waterproof and tear-resistant, shows almost 800 miles of mapped trails with mileages between intersections, and adds inset detail for Tuolumne Meadows and Yosemite Valley. For custom topographic maps, the Yosemite Conservancy points readers to CalTopo. If you are weighing a free map against a paid one, our comparison of free vs paid trail maps lays out the trade-offs, and our guide on how to read a California hiking trail map covers scale and contour lines.

Do your phone and GPS work in Yosemite?

Only partly. NPS recommends against relying on GPS units for directions in and around Yosemite. On cell service, NPS lists coverage from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon primarily in eastern Yosemite Valley, with Verizon also in Foresta, Crane Flat, and Wawona. Tuolumne Meadows has no AT&T service and unreliable Verizon service, and the nearest reliable cell and traditional phone service is in Lee Vining, outside the park.

The official NPS Yosemite app lets you download its map before you arrive and use it without a connection. The app’s own listing warns that cell service and Wi-Fi are extremely limited in the park. For app options beyond NPS, see our comparison of the best hiking apps for California trails.

Yosemite Valley trailhead navigation: reading the shuttle map

The free Yosemite Valley shuttle runs year-round, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with no ticket required. NPS says the Valleywide Shuttle runs about every 22 to 32 minutes and the East Valley Shuttle about every 18 to 22 minutes. Pets are not allowed on the shuttles. Four stop numbers do most of the work for hikers:

Stop #7 is where our Upper Yosemite Falls hiking guide begins, and stop #16 is where the Mist Trail toward Vernal and Nevada Falls starts. Stop #6 is a different trailhead from stop #7, which is an easy mix-up to make.

Hikes in Yosemite map: where to pin the trails

Instead of memorizing trails, pin them by road. NPS groups Yosemite’s day hikes by area, and the table below uses NPS distances and elevation gain.

Three notes keep the table honest. First, the Glacier Point Road and Tioga Road rows only work when those roads are open. Second, Hetch Hetchy sits at 3,900 feet and, according to NPS, has one of the longest hiking seasons in the park. Third, Half Dome needs a permit when the cables are up, and our Half Dome permit and cables planning guide walks through it.

For the high country, our guide to Tuolumne Meadows hiking trails goes deeper. For a longer list of what to hike park-wide, see our guide to the best hiking trails in Yosemite National Park.

What can a Yosemite map not show?

A map cannot tell you what the park changed this week. The NPS current conditions page covers roads, trails, campgrounds, fire, rivers, and waterfalls, and NPS notes that its road table reflects only planned or long-term closures. As of NPS’s October 9, 2026 update, Glacier Point Road was temporarily closed for smoke and firefighting, trails in the area around Wawona and Glacier Point were closed, the Mist Trail had a detour open on certain days, and the Valley Loop Trail over El Capitan Bridge was closed on weekdays for bridge work. Check the page before you drive, and see our guide on how to check California trail closures.

Seasons are the other blind spot. NPS says Yosemite Falls can be dry while Vernal, Nevada, and Bridalveil Falls run low late in the year, so a map that promises waterfalls is only half the picture. Our guide to Yosemite weather by month breaks down what to expect when. NPS also asks you to store food properly and stay at least 50 yards from bears in forests and meadows.

The bottom line

Yosemite National Park maps work best in layers. Use the NPS park map to pick a road and an entrance, a Valley or area map to find the trailhead, and a topographic map once the trail leaves the pavement. Download the NPS app before you lose signal, check conditions the week you go, and trust the road sign over your GPS. The park is large enough to hide a wrong turn, and a folded piece of paper is the cheapest way to avoid one.

Yosemite maps FAQs