Yosemite solo

Anyone have any suggestions for a woman traveling solo to Yosemite? I'm just looking for some dayhikes to take up a couple of days or so. I already looked into the Half-Dome dayhike but they are sold out until Oct!

What is the best part of the park to see if you only have a couple of days?

If you only have a couple of days in Yosemite I would absolutely suggest you stay in the valley. Its amazing how fast time flies while you're there and theres certainly enough to keep you busy. My personal favorite hike is to Vernal falls, the trail does continue on to Nevada falls but I've never made it that far yet. You can easily do several of these hikes in one day. I also suggest you leave some time to just walk around the valley on the roads and try tubing down the river through the valley.
Just telling you about this has made me want to go. I hope you have fun!

It looks like permits for Half Dome are only required Fri-Sun and on holidays. So if you go Mon-Thurs no worries. It is about 16 miles round trip with around 4500 ft of elevation gain or so. So, it's a good days hike. But you shouldn't need a permit for the first bit on the Mist Trail up to Vernal Falls and then Nevada Falls (it's around 7 mile round trip to Nevada Falls). It's a worthwhile hike with or without Halfdome. The other good hike is the one up Yosemite Falls from the other side of the Valley.

I am assuming you have a car. That said stop by Glacier Pt on your way in/out. If you heading in/out from the Southwest then it's a short detour on the way in. Otherwise, you'll still want to loop around and go there once you get to the Valley. From Glacier Point you'll also be able to make out the hike up to Halfdome. Just look to the right of Halfdome and you'll see the valley you'd hike up passing first Vernal Falls and then Nevada Falls. Once back on the road, there is also a scenic viewpoint on the way in from that direction that is worth a stop (just after the tunnel on your way into the Valley).

You can spend the night camping at Camp 4 with all the climbers. Often makes for an entertaining evening. I'd bring your binoculars then you can also check out the climbers from the side of the road up on El Capitan.

Once you've explored the Valley, drive up to Tuolumne Meadows. There are a few short hikes around and a good one up to the Cathedral Lakes.

Check out the High Sierra Camps if you are going in late summer. It's like backpacking but with tents set up and food prepared. Slightly expensive. It's sort of like a trekking hut system but with pretty luxurious canvas tents.
http://www.yosemitepark.com/accomodatio ... camps.aspx
Be warned that they are at decent altitude so can get slightly chilly even in summer.

Also check out the Yosemite forums...
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/forum/

PS the valley is super crowded during summer weekends.