If you enter Yosemite National Park from the west via Highway 120 or 140, it eases up on you gradually. It’s sort of like watching a jigsaw puzzle being put together, with Yosemite Valley slowly taking shape in front of you until finally it all comes together. However, if you come in via Highway 41, it looks like this:
This is the Wawona tunnel, and it looks just like any other workaday tunnel until you get near the end and you suddenly burst out into the Valley, with El Capitan looming over you, Bridalveil ahead of you, and Half Dome in the distance. Unless it’s winter and the road is closed, this is the way to enter the park.
