Dessert before dinner. As the afternoon fades, ride over to the Mountain Room Lounge at Yosemite Lodge to roast your own s’mores on their indoor firepit (s’mores kits $3 at the bar). The Mountain Room Restaurant ($$$; www.yosemitepark.com or 209/372-1274), just steps from the lounge, is an elegant choice for dinner.

David Zaitz
Rent bikes for a self-powered tour of golden meadows.

Spot climbers. October is usually a prime month for big-wall climbers on El Capitan (stop at pullouts along the Valley Loop Dr. at the southwest end of the valley). Watch them in action during the day (bring binoculars), or spot the twinkle of climbers’ headlamps on granite by night.

Day 3 Sunday

Spend a few early-morning hours in the valley, then drive south to the Wawona section of the park.

Lazy or adventurous? Splurge on the Ahwahnee’s Sunday brunch buffet (brunch $32, $16.50 ages 5–12; Sun only, reservations recommended; 209/372-1489), then decide whether you’re in the mood for a hike or a rest. The trailhead for a 3-mile out-and-back hike to Mirror Lake is behind the hotel. Or pick up the Sunday paper at the Ahwahnee Sweet Shop and settle down by the fire in the Great Lounge (nonguests are welcome in all public spaces at the Ahwahnee).

David Zaitz
Stop by the Village Store for an impossibly cute junior ranger uniform.

Road-trip to the big trees. Leave the valley by late morning to get to Wawona and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. At the grove, you have two choices for exploring: a narrated, open-air tram tour ($8.50 per person; 209/372-1240) or a meandering, self-guided hike. Unless you’re completely pooped, the hiking option is a more intimate experience. The massive, 209-foot-tall Grizzly Giant is an easy 0.8-mile hike from the parking area, and the Fallen Wawona Tunnel Tree is a moderate 1.5-mile hike past the Giant.

Victorian spirit. Four miles from the Mariposa Grove is the cheerful white-clapboard Wawona Hotel. Check out the circa-1918 golf course (free to stroll, $18.50 to play nine holes; 209/375-6572), the oldest in the Sierra. Have trout for dinner in the hotel’s pleasingly retro main dining room ($$$; 209/375-1425), followed by gooey pine nut pie—fuel for the drive home.