Yosemite Wilderness Permit — Westfall Meadow

Westfall Meadow: what makes it different

Westfall Meadow is the unmarked trailhead across Glacier Point Road from McGurk Meadow, the quiet way south toward Empire Meadows and Deer Camp. The meadow is 1.1 miles in, NPS sells 9 lottery and 6 week-ahead places a day, and the permit makes you camp past the meadow rather than in it.^1,2,5

Getting to the start

Yosemitehikes.com says the trailhead has no sign of its own. It sits directly across the road from the marked McGurk Meadow trailhead, 7.5 miles east along Glacier Point Road. Look for the McGurk sign, cross the road, and find the trail. The lot the guide describes is large, with around 40 spaces, on the far side of the road.⁶

NPS lists no toilet. Its note for this row tells hikers to use the food lockers at McGurk Meadow. The Wawona Visitor Center issues the permit, and Recreation.gov says Glacier Point Road is closed in winter and usually opens in mid May.^1,5

The first leg

NPS counts 1.1 miles to the meadow and 6.2 to Deer Camp. Yosemitehikes.com puts the meadow walk at 2.8 miles round trip, so the two figures differ by about 0.3 mile each way; that guide also rates the trail a 2 out of 10 with around 100 feet of elevation change.^2,6

About two-thirds of a mile in the guide reports a fork: left goes to Bridalveil Creek Campground and right goes to Badger Pass, and you keep straight. A small stream crosses the trail, and the guide warns of one or two big logs across the path.⁶

Terrain and difficulty

The trail starts in lodgepole pine and red fir, opens onto a sandy flat, crosses Bridalveil Creek about a mile in and crosses the old Glacier Point Road, according to a Yosemite West rental company's blog. It then climbs about a quarter mile through forest before the meadow.⁷

Past the meadow the route is faint. Yosemitehikes.com says the trail appears to lose its concentration and dribble into oblivion once you enter the meadow, which is nearly half a mile long, and advises noting the metal fencepost marker where the trail enters. The rental company's visitor found two tall dead branches stuck upright in the meadow soil as guideposts.^6,7

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Westfall Meadow, overnight wilderness, lottery share: 9 people a day. NPS trailhead page, updated May 11, 2026, row Westfall Meadow under Wawona and Glacier Point Road. Window May 16 to October 14, 2026.¹
• 2026 daily quota at Westfall Meadow, overnight wilderness, week-ahead share: 6 people a day. The share released seven days ahead on a first come, first served basis. NPS prints it as a separate column.¹

Rules specific to this entry point

Recreation.gov's first night rule is the one that sets this trailhead apart from McGurk: you must be at least one air mile from Glacier Point Road and one and a half miles from the trailhead before camping. Half Dome is not available with this permit.⁵

Where it leads

The trail goes south toward Empire Meadows. Recreation.gov describes it as starting just before Bridalveil Creek Campground and passing through Westfall Meadow, and the NPS distance sheet counts 6.2 miles on to Deer Camp.^5,2

A July 2020 loop from the campground side crossed Westfall Meadows on the way back, found it dry and crossed the creek on a small log. The 2021 repeat crossed it on a lightly used path and then dodged a few fallen trees on the way to the road.^8,9

What trip reports say

An undated post from Scenic Wonders, a Yosemite West cabin company, calls the walk easy and full of flowers, with pussy paws on the sandy flat and shooting stars and bistort in the meadow. The writer crossed a stream with no trouble in a dry year and enjoyed a view of Turner Ridge just past it.⁷

On July 23, 2020 a Sierra News Online hiker came through the meadow on a 13.28 mile loop and had worried it would be swampy; it was not. On July 28, 2021 she crossed it again and saw no other people during the whole day.^8,9

When to go from here

Yosemitehikes.com puts the best flowers in June and the first half of July, and says autumn is the other time worth considering. The scenic-company visitor found the stream easy to cross because of low snowfall, while both Sierra News hikes came in late July with dry feet.^6,7,8

Which NPS page you trust changes the start of the reservation season: the Wilderness Permits page (December 31, 2025) says late April, the Reservations page (June 22, 2026) says May. For Glacier Point Road the trailhead page opens the Wawona window on May 16, 2026.^3,4,1

Compare with nearby entry points

• McGurk Meadow: McGurk Meadow, across the road, has the same 9 and 6 quota but its rule is camp at least an air mile from the road and not east of Bridalveil Creek, with no distance from the trailhead.^1,5
• Bridalveil Creek: Bridalveil Creek begins at the campground with a quota of 15 and 10, and NPS counts 6.3 miles from there to Deer Camp, against 6.2 from Westfall.^1,2
• Deer Camp: Deer Camp comes in from the Wawona side with a quota of 15 and 10 and no toilet. NPS counts 10.4 miles from the Deer Camp Road trailhead to Glacier Point Road.^1,2

Sources

1. Trailhead Information, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
2. Trail Descriptions and Distances (One Way), Yosemite National Park, National Park Service (PDF, file modified October 2022). Read 2026-10-15.
3. Wilderness Permits, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Wilderness Permit Reservations, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Yosemite National Park Wilderness Permits (Westfall Meadow division), Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Yosemite Hikes: Westfall Meadow, Yosemitehikes.com (guide site). Read 2026-10-15.
7. Hiking to Westfall Meadow and to the View of Turner Ridge, Scenic Wonders Yosemite Cabins (company blog, undated). Read 2026-10-15.
8. Hiking From Bridalveil Campground With Wildflowers and Bugs, Sierra News Online (hike of July 23, 2020). Read 2026-10-15.
9. Hiking From Bridalveil Campround Looped Along Empire Meadows, Sierra News Online (hike of July 28, 2021). Read 2026-10-15.
10. Wilderness Regulations, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Westfall Meadow permit