A Meadow for All Seasons

For years--20 or so, anyway--I resisted walking Wawona Meadow in Yosemite National Park. The Wawona Hotel and its lovely setting reminded me of an Adirondack Mountains resort: wide green lawns, white-painted Victorian buildings, wicker chairs on the verandas. Despite its charm, the hotel and adjacent small golf course seemed a tad too civilized to have any interesting hiking nearby.

Then along came our baby, Sophia, and suddenly family-friendly Wawona Meadow and Yosemite’s flattest trail, Meadow Trail, had new appeal for two hikers pushing a jogger’s stroller.

My wife, Cherie Rae, and I are glad we finally discovered Meadow Trail, one of Yosemite’s few year-round paths. A brisk winter walk is an ideal leg-stretcher after that long drive up California 41 to the park’s South Entrance. The path is wide and usually snow-free because of its lower elevation.

In spring and early summer, wildflowers--lupine, larkspur and more--color the meadow. In autumn, the meadow’s bordering deciduous trees don fall colors. Deer frequently can be seen there.

Wawona originally was known as Clark’s Station, named for Yosemite pioneer Galen Clark, discoverer of nearby Mariposa Grove’s giant sequoias. In 1857, doctors recommended he live in the mountains for his health. In a testament to nature’s healing powers, Clark lived to become guardian of Yosemite’s giant sequoias for 50 years and to write his first book, “Indians of the Yosemite,” at age 90.

Clark’s Station was a stagecoach stop and a Yosemite gateway for years. To learn more about the park’s Wild West-flavored history, check out the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in Wawona on the east side of California 41.

Directions to trail head: From Yosemite’s South Entrance, follow Highway 41 north seven miles into the park to the Wawona Hotel. The signed path begins across the highway from the hotel parking lot.

The hike: The trail, an old dirt road, angles across the golf course and soon meanders south amid the trees bordering Wawona Meadow. It’s a gentle ascent on the pine-needle-strewn road in the company of oaks, pines and cedars. Bordering the meadow is an old fence that once confined sheep and cattle.

Enjoy an equally gentle descent along the east side of the meadow. Fewer trees here mean you’ll have good views of the meadow’s spring wildflowers and of the abundant deer year-round. The looping pathway returns you to Highway 41 near Wawona Hotel.

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Meadow Trail

Where: Wawona Meadow, Yosemite National Park

Distance: 3-mile loop. Degree of difficulty: Easy.

Terrain: Mellow meadow by famed Wawona Hotel.

Highlights: One of Yosemite’s few year-round trails.

For more information: Yosemite National Park, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389; tel. (209) 372-0200.