First, I did not see any signs from the 180 leading to this point, but it's Panoramic Point Road, the opposite direction of Grant Tree Road that intersects 180 near Azalea Campground about 2 miles from the visitor center. If the road isn't closed, just drive up and keep going up until you get to the parking lot. The paved path is a paved, pine-tree shaded, steady uphill climb of 100 feet, a 1/2 mile roundtrip. If my dad had walked this path when he was a kid, it would have been uphill both ways.
A sign reads "...high mountains and deep canyons, the rocks, the hills and valleys, the result of forces (tremendous earth upheavals, erosion, the movement of ponderous glaciers and raging rivers, the winds and changing temperatures) operating over millions of years." A display points out the Obelisk, Mount McGee, North Palisade, Eagle Peak, and Spanish Mountain (which Trump is trying to build a wall around). You can also see spires along Tombstone Ridge, bald patches caused by landslides (or wearing a hat, my dad says), and a cradled Hume Lake 2,300 feet below (12 miles away/33 min drive).
The view of the Sierra Nevadas look just like the beer label.
Panoramic Point is one of many sites on the north half of the park including Big Stump (which you passed to get here), General Grant Tree (the opposite side of 180), plus continuing up 180: Junction View (11 mi up), Hume Lake (12mi), the Scenic Byway and Boyden Cavern (20mi), Grizzly Falls (25mi), Roaring River Falls (32 mi), and Mist Falls near Road End (35mi). read more