Yosemite sites for John Muir experience

Years ago they had a video rental shop in Yosemite Valley. The most popular rental, a clerk told me, was a tour of Yosemite - narrated by, of all people, Telly Savalas. Visitors would watch it while sequestered in their motor homes, apparently oblivious to the fact that the real thing beckoned just beyond their aluminum walls.

Not what you'd call a John Muir experience.

Admittedly, these moments of quietude and contemplation aren't always easy to come by in a national park where the vast majority of its 3.7 million annual visitors squeeze into just 7 of its 1,200 square miles - the incomparable Yosemite Valley.

But over the decades I've discovered a number of places in and adjacent to Yosemite Valley where it is indeed possible to ditch the hordes - well, the bulk of them, anyway - and get the mountains' good tidings in relative solitude. Here are five of them:

Tenaya Creek Trail: The far eastern end of the valley, directly beneath the watchful face of Half Dome, is an unexpected delight - and not many people go there. After trudging up the 1.2-mile road from the stables - which is closed to traffic and so steep you're not allowed to take rental bikes up it - most people are content to call it a day at Mirror Lake (or Mirror Meadow, as it exists for most of the year). You should keep going. Beyond the lake/meadow, the mostly flat trail follows burbling Tenaya Creek through a fragrant forest of incense cedar and ponderosa pine, with neck-craning views of Half Dome. A rock slide off Ahwiyah Point has blocked part of the loop trail, but a there-and-back stroll is still rewarding.

Cathedral Beach: Entering the valley along Southside Drive, there's a spot, just beyond the turnoff to Bridalveil Falls, where El Capitan first rears into view and everyone pulls over to gawk in wonder. But if you continue along the road a short way, just past the turnoff to Northside Drive, you'll come to the Cathedral Beach picnic site. Here you can wiggle your toes in the icy Merced River while contemplating the impossibly sheer monolith in semi-privacy. I've seen it crowded once or twice - weddings are held there from time to time - but more often than not I've had the place to myself, or nearly so.

Pohono Trail: At Glacier Point, leave the teeming crowds behind as you follow the Pohono Trail along the south rim of Yosemite Valley, with a series of overlooks revealing startlingly fresh perspectives on El Capitan, Bridalveil Falls and other familiar landmarks. The full trail traverses 13 up-and-down miles and ends at the Wawona Tunnel, but you can do a shorter 5 1/2-mile loop to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point.

Cook's Meadow: This idyllic meadow, smack-dab in the middle of the valley, hardly seems like the place to go for solitude. And it isn't, most of the day. But if you set your travel alarm and head out there while everyone else is still lining up for pancakes at the cafeteria, you can have the place pretty much to yourself. A milelong, self-guided interpretive loop beginning at the Visitor Center takes you along boardwalks and over bridges where you can watch the morning light dancing on Glacier Point and Royal Arches; the only sound you're likely to hear that time of day is the roar of nearby Yosemite Falls. A bonus: You can bring leashed pets here. Don't forget your plastic bags.

Valley Loop Trail: The secret to Yosemite solitude: For every step you take away from the pavement, the mobs diminish exponentially - even in the heart of the valley. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the Valley Loop Trail, which hugs the base of the cliffs around the valley. Park spokesman Scott Gediman's favorite stroll is east from Pohono Bridge past Bridalveil Falls to the base of Cathedral Rocks. "Walk for two minutes," he says, "and you'll be alone in one of the grandest places anywhere." The full loop is 13 flat miles, but there are endless possibilities for breaking it into much shorter sections.

Our guess is that if John Muir were alive today, this is where he's go to have his own personal John Muir moment.

John Flinn is the former editor of the Travel Section. E-mail comments to travel@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page N - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle