Conditions have to be just right for firefall to happen.
In some years firefall happens several nights in a row, and in some particularly dry or cloudy years it doesn’t happen at all. One rogue cloud can ruin an otherwise perfect evening.
In 2019 we were lucky enough to see one “full” firefall, where the water glowed red for several glorious minutes, and one partial one, where the water glowed gold but never reached full molten lava status.
It was otherworldly. Awe-inspiring. Definitely worth a special trip.
Yosemite Firefall 2021 Predictions: Dates and Times
In 2021, peak Firefall at Yosemite should occur around February 23-26.
Keep in mind that these aren’t precise dates, as clouds and variations in the sun’s own light can turn a “good” day into bad or a “bad” day into good — but they’re a good place to start.
Firefall begins by ~5:25pm each night — 10-15 minutes before sunset — and ends by ~5:40.
If you can, plan to stay in or near the park for more than one evening, in case your chosen day ends up being cloudy.
2021 Firefall Parking and Viewing Areas
The best firefall viewing area is along Northside Drive near El Capitan Picnic Area. (Google Maps coordinates here.)
The closest parking is over a mile away at the Yosemite Falls and Yosemite Lodge parking lots (Google Maps coordinates here), which will fill several hours before sunset. (You might get lucky like we did and snag a departing party’s spot just in time, but I wouldn’t count on it.)
To secure a prime viewing spot, plan to arrive several hours early with camp chairs, cozy blankets, hand warmers, a thermos of hot cocoa or spiked apple cider, and a headlamp for walking back in the dark. At least one lane of Northside Drive will be pedestrian-only a few hours before and after firefall, so you won’t need snowshoes or microspikes to get there.
Before you go, be sure check the official Yosemite website for any final information. With more visitors coming to firefall every year, Yosemite National Park is still trying to figure out the best system to manage crowds. (In 2018, for example, they piloted a permit process, which they abandoned in 2019 and 2020.)
And if you’re planning to check out firefall in 2021, check out my list of 11 Magical Winter Activities in Yosemite National Park! (Spoiler: Firefall is #1. But if you don’t manage to see it, there’s still plenty of winter fun to be had.)
Our 2019 Firefall Adventure
My friend Jen and I left Oakland by noon on Friday and zoomed east to Yosemite, arriving around 4:00pm. Firefall/sunset wasn’t happening until 5:30, but signs at the entrance already proclaimed “FIREFALL PARKING FULL.” All roadside parking was closed.
We circled the loop on Southside Drive several times, praying for an open parking spot, our panic building. The park was totally full. Did we really stop work early and drive 4.5 hours only to miss the main event??
Finally, the third or fourth time we circled the Yosemite Falls parking lot, we saw a girl packing up her car.
“We’ll be another 15 minutes,” she said, expecting us to move along.
Jen and I glanced at the clock, then at each other. Less than an hour til showtime, and this closest parking lot was still over a mile from the firefall viewing area. If we looped around again, we’d miss it for sure.
“We’ll wait!”
After much longer than 15 minutes, the group pulled out and we finally snagged our parking spot at 5:15. 20 minutes to firefall, and we were still over a mile away.
We ran.
We weren’t the only ones power walking, jogging, or full-out sprinting down the closed road towards firefall.
We finally reached the main viewing points just a few minutes before sunset, joining the hundreds —maybe even thousands?— of people clustered around tripods at the base of El Cap.
As we waited for sunset, we befriended an older woman with a serious-looking camera setup.
She told us that as a young seasonal ranger in Yosemite in the 70s, she’d watched firefall here with just a handful of park employees and the occasional in-the-know local.
“No Instagram, no crowds,” she laughed.
But as the sun began to set and Horsetail Falls began to glow, I didn’t mind the crowds at all.
The falls shone gold, then orange, then a bright, fiery red. It really did look like lava. People whistled, clapped, yelped, hugged.
The sense of community, camaraderie, and shared joy was something I’ve only ever experienced at the 2017 total solar eclipse.
Everyone smiled, some cried. A group of sweatshirted twentysomethings sang “Firefall” to the tune of “Wanderwall”: “‘Cause after aaaaall / you’re my firefa-a-all.”
It was magnificent, even better in person. One firefall to rule them all.
I thought about all the factors that had aligned to bring us here: the traffic, the parking spot, the water, the weather, even the stars. At least, the one star that really mattered. 🙂
The next night, conditions again seemed perfect. We made new friends, this time with a group of guys on a California road trip, and Horsetail Falls began to glow gold just as it had the night before.
Suddenly, a thick gray cloud slid in front of the sun and refused to budge. Hundreds of people in El Capitan Meadow held their breath, anxiously checking their watches and praying for a breeze that never came.
The sun finally went down, taking our hopes for firefall with it. “There’s always next year,” we comforted each other. As disappointed as we were, we were still in Yosemite together.
As the sun slipped over the Sentinel, we walked back on the road towards Ruby Sue the Subaru. A park ranger on a megaphone growled at the surging crowd of pedestrians to stay out of the traffic lane. “Keep walking – bear” he grunted.
Alizé whipped around. “Did he just say bear?”
No, we decided — he must have said “Keep walking there.” And that’s when I saw it: a big black blur out of the corner of my eye. A bear, climbing over the snow above us. Maybe he came to see firefall, too.
We said goodbye to our new friends and drove out of the park in the dark over icy roads, ending the night with wine and homemade zuppa toscana at our Airbnb cabin in Oakhurst.
Have you been lucky enough to see Yosemite’s firefall?
Planning to chase it in 2021?
Let me know in the comments!
You might also like:
18 Comments
Leave your reply.