Stunning views are not a feature of Wawona, a crossroads hamlet set amid dense forests, verdant meadows and gushing streams, providing a calm, rural contrast to the busy Yosemite Valley. Still operating today, Big Trees Lodge (formerly the Wawona Hotel) (http://www.travelyosemite.com/lodging/big-trees-lodge/) opened here in 1879 to accommodate stage-coach travellers making their way to the val­ley and to the giant sequoia trees of the Mariposa, discovered by Wawona’s founder, Galen Clark.

Besides poking your nose inside the elegantly-veranda-ed hotel, call at the neighbouring Pioneer Yosemite Histo­ry Centre, which has reassembled several 19thC buildings to illustrate local life of a century ago – and offers stage-coach rides.