Jeanine, the hiking here is good at all times if you go to the right places. In the winter, you need to go down to Hite's Cove. In the summer you go up to Tuolumne. Yosemite Valley can indeed be hot in the summer, but the Valley proper is only seven square miles at 4,000 feet, while the park is about 1200 square miles with a high point at Mount Lyell over 13,000 feet. So just go where the temps are best.
As for rattlesnakes, I have rarely seen them. In the many years I came here several weekends a year as a visitor I never saw one. In the five years I've lived here, I've seen two live ones and two dead ones, and one of the live ones I only spotted as it slithered away. I can't say I'm out hiking or climbing every day, but I do spend a fair bit of time outdoors.
Both live rattlesnakes I've seen have been far off the main trails. And in any case, if you go hiking up in Tuolumne, you won't have any worries because AFAIK they don't live that high.
When it's hot you go to the high country
Jeanine, the hiking here is good at all times if you go to the right places. In the winter, you need to go down to Hite's Cove. In the summer you go up to Tuolumne. Yosemite Valley can indeed be hot in the summer, but the Valley proper is only seven square miles at 4,000 feet, while the park is about 1200 square miles with a high point at Mount Lyell over 13,000 feet. So just go where the temps are best.
As for rattlesnakes, I have rarely seen them. In the many years I came here several weekends a year as a visitor I never saw one. In the five years I've lived here, I've seen two live ones and two dead ones, and one of the live ones I only spotted as it slithered away. I can't say I'm out hiking or climbing every day, but I do spend a fair bit of time outdoors.
Both live rattlesnakes I've seen have been far off the main trails. And in any case, if you go hiking up in Tuolumne, you won't have any worries because AFAIK they don't live that high.