El Portal California Map
Explore El Portal, California, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
Interactive Map of El Portal, California
How to Use This El Portal, California Map
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for El Portal, California. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of California or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to El Portal.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | El Portal |
| State | California (CA) |
| County | Mariposa County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) |
| Latitude | 37.674651 |
| Longitude | -119.784061 |
| Population | 372 |
| Density | 77.1 /km² |
| Incorporated | N/A |
| ZIP Code | 95318 |
| Area Code | 408, 669 |
| County Seat | Mariposa |
| School District | Mariposa County Unified School District |
About El Portal, California
El Portal is a locality in Mariposa County, California, United States. It is a small community with a population of 372. The population density is 77.1 people per km². El Portal is located at 37.6747°N, 119.7841°W. It observes the Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) timezone. ZIP code: 95318.El Portal clings to the steep, rocky embankments of the Merced River, where the water churns with a relentless, glacial cold against the stone. It lies 46.2 miles northeast of Merced, CA (from Merced, CA: bearing 56°T), and is situated 18.8 miles southwest of Yosemite National Park. Massive granite walls rise abruptly from the riverbed, casting long, violet shadows that stretch across the canyon floor long before the sun actually disappears from the sky. This rugged corridor serves as a narrow gateway, defined by the dense, evergreen canopy of the Stanislaus National Forest that blankets the surrounding slopes. Beyond the immediate canyon, the distant peaks of the Sierra Nevada silhouette themselves against the pale, thinning air, while the nearby expanse of Rancheria Flat offers a rare, level reprieve from the vertical intensity of the terrain.
History clings to the weathered foundations of El Portal, where the echoes of early mining and logging industries linger in the architecture of the older structures. The economy remains tethered to the rhythmic transit of travelers moving toward the high country, yet the daily life of the residents is marked by a quiet, deliberate pace that ignores the seasonal rush. Far from the distant waters of Lake McClure, the local character is forged by the demands of a vertical landscape and the seasonal shift of the light, which turns the dry grasses into shades of rusted copper by late summer. Those seeking the solitude of the high ridges often set out upon the Pinoche Peak Trail, finding a strenuous path that reveals the sheer, untamed scale of the wilderness that El Portal guards.
Nearby Outdoor Places
- Hetch Hetchy Railroad Museum (Museum) — 0.1 mi, 234° SW
- Stanislaus National Forest (National Forest) — 0.2 mi, 358° N · 901k acres
- Sierra National Forest (National Forest) — 0.3 mi, 178° S · 1.3M acres
- Yosemite National Park (National Park) — 1.4 mi, 044° NE · 743k acres
- Merced, California Wild and Scenic River (Wild & Scenic River) — 1.8 mi, 266° W · 10k acres
- Viewpoint, Hwy 140, Yosemite NP (Viewpoint) — 2.6 mi, 085° E
- Yosemite Wilderness Area (Wilderness Area) — 4.1 mi, 022° N · 704k acres
- Merced Grove (Attraction) — 6.0 mi, 329° NW
- Tunnel Tree (Attraction) — 6.6 mi, 350° N
- Grizzly Mountain Research Natural Area (Research Natural Area) — 6.9 mi, 297° NW
- Valley View Yosemite (Sunset Spot) (Attraction) — 6.9 mi, 066° NE
- Valley View Parking (Attraction) — 6.9 mi, 066° NE
- Merced River Area of Critical Environmental Concern (Area of Critical Environmental Concern) — 8.0 mi, 256° W
- Limestone Salamander Area of Critical Environmental Concern (Area of Critical Environmental Concern) — 8.1 mi, 254° W
- Wawona Campground Amphitheater (Theatre) — 10.5 mi, 147° SE
- Outdoor Theater (Theatre) — 11.2 mi, 065° NE
- Mt Buckingham School (historic) (Monument) — 11.3 mi, 194° S
- John Muir (Monument) — 11.5 mi, 064° NE
- World Heritage Site (Monument) — 11.9 mi, 065° NE
- Foster Curry Cabin (Historic Ruins) — 12.4 mi, 070° E
- Women's Club Building (Historic Ruins) — 12.5 mi, 070° E
- Merced River Wilderness Study Area (Wilderness Study Area) — 12.7 mi, 248° W · 13k acres
- Nature Center at Happy Isles (Museum) — 12.9 mi, 072° E
- California State Lands Commission (State Resource Management Area) — 13.2 mi, 235° SW
- Tuolumne, California Wild and Scenic River (Wild & Scenic River) — 15.2 mi, 343° N · 8,379 acres
- Sierra Artists Gallery (Gallery) — 16.5 mi, 217° SW
- Thornberry Museum (Museum) — 17.1 mi, 153° SE
- Ansel Adams Wilderness (Wilderness Area) — 20.9 mi, 117° SE · 232k acres
- The Northern Mariposa Country History Center (Museum) — 22.7 mi, 276° W
- Yosemite Gateway Gallery Row (Gallery) — 24.1 mi, 161° S
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About This El Portal Map Page
This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of El Portal, California. Coordinates: 37.674651, -119.784061. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for El Portal includes the ZIP code (95318), telephone area code (408, 669), county seat of Mariposa County (Mariposa), and school district assignment (Mariposa County Unified School District).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |
