Let These Yosemite National Park Webcams Fuel Your Love of the Outdoors

Spend time in the much-loved national park without ever leaving your couch.

Located in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, Yosemite National Park spans an awe-inspiring 1,200 square miles of granite cliffs, glacial activity, meadows, valleys, and more.

People arrive from around the world to explore the park's natural wonders, including its mesmerizing waterfalls and ancient giant sequoia trees, which are found in three separate groves across the terrain. The 26th largest living giant sequoia, Grizzly Giant, is located in Mariposa Grove and is estimated to have first sprouted around 3,000 years ago; other Yosemite highlights, such as Bridalveil Fall and the granite El Capitan and Half Dome cliffs, are among Earth's most impressive sights.

Luckily, even if you can't make an in-person visit to the sprawling national park, you can enjoy a peek into the stark beauty and formidable features of the High Sierra by tuning in to these Yosemite National Park webcams.

A white-tailed deer doe family in an open green grass meadow in summer, Lembert Dome, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California
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Yosemite Falls Webcam

A livestream of Upper Yosemite Fall is available to virtual visitors, though it's not hosted on the National Park Service website and is instead sponsored by the Yosemite Conservancy. Yosemite Falls comprises Upper Yosemite Fall, Middle Cascades, and Lower Yosemite Fall, and at 2,425 feet, it's one of the tallest waterfalls in the world. Early summer is the best time to tune in: The waterfall hits peak flow and roars with power as snow melts and cascades down to the floor of the valley. If you time it right, you may even spot a field of white Pacific dogwood in bloom at the bottom of the waterfall.

Yosemite High Sierra Webcam

The Yosemite High Sierra webcam is perched at a remote 8,000 feet high, with a sweeping view of the iconic Half Dome granite formation and the high country surrounding it. Half Dome is easy to recognize because it looks like a dome cut in half, but use the NPS-provided key of peaks to identify the 12 other geological highlights visible through the webcam. And enjoy your accessible, peaceful view from the top: Hiking the strenuous 17 miles uphill to Half Dome, one of the main attractions of Yosemite Valley, takes most people 10 hours or more to complete, plus it requires a permit obtained through a lottery.

You can also tune in to the Half Dome webcam for a different perspective of the structure, viewed from the floor of Yosemite Valley instead of way up high.

El Capitan Webcam

Ready yourself for an impressive alpine outlook from the El Capitan webcam, which provides a view of the sheer summit as well as Half Dome in the distance. The El Capitan webcam is perched on a dome near the Wawona Tunnel, giving it an uninterrupted lookout point over Yosemite Valley. El Capitan is particularly popular among the adventurous because of its vertical constitution and ultra-tall 3,000-foot base-to-summit face (that's over twice as tall as the Empire State Building, for scale). Rock climbers converge in all seasons to test their skills on this massive monolith — and you get to take it in from the comfort of your couch.

Badger Pass Ski Area Webcam

Hoping to hit the slopes? Check out the Badger Pass Ski Area webcam first, as it's there to provide a sense of the conditions before you set out. (Or, sit back and let the skiers and snowboarders entertain you with their impressive tricks and gnarly wipe-outs.) Located off of Glacier Point Road, with elevations up to 8,000 feet, Badger Pass Ski Area is a sporting treasure: It's one of only three lift-serviced ski areas to operate within the confines of a national park.

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