Yosemite – September 22
Vernal and Nevada Falls
Today we are planning a 6.5 mile hike to the Vernal and Nevada Falls. The elevation change is +1900 feet. This is a loop trail and it is pretty steep. The book recommends hiking up the Mist trail and coming back down the John Muir trail.
This is a popular hike and there are a lot of people. Once you get going you see why it is so popular – you follow the Merced river most of the way and there are great views all along the way. And the falls are so tall here that you see them from several locations as you work your way up.
Mist trail is also the beginning of the hike to Half Dome. You hike up to Nevada Fall and then take a trail that leads up the back side of Half Dome. This is a demanding 17 mile round trip hike that we did not attempt to do on this trip. But we saw plenty of people heading up there.
Our first view of a waterfall is Vernal Fall from the Vernal Fall footbridge. It is 317 tall. We get peeks of this waterfall from several locations on the way up. When we reach the base of this waterfall we are treated to a rather large rainbow in the mist.
A good portion of the Mist trail has steps made from the local rock. This makes the going up easier in some places, but it is a lot of steps to climb! Jeff, Donna and I are feeling the altitude and are taking the climb slowly. Scott is chugging along like we are at sea level.
I loved the shadow play and color in this waterfall. I could have sat here all day and taken photos as the light changed. The rainbow was a magical touch.
We are thrilled that there is a decent amount of water flow here (it is the Merced River) and the falls are really beautiful and loud. You can see the falls are only a hint of what they could be in spring! It must be amazing to see this area when the water is flowing at full capacity. The guidebook does say that this trail is wet in the spring and a little trickier to pass then.
There were warning signs all over the place about not going in the water. You can see how inviting the water looks, but you can also see how easy it would be to get washed over the edge. And I don’t think anyone has done that successfully. I love that someone left a towel on this sign (hopefully they didn’t go for a swim)!
Nevada Fall is 594 feet tall, and we have a very good view as we hike up one side and down the other.
We saw birds along the way – raven and stellar jays, also a very small lizard with long toes. And everywhere were squirrels looking for handouts! You can be fined for feeding the animals, but I don’t think that anybody enforces that here. The squirrels are pretty chubby. Near the top we were treated to a raven chortling. This is one of the coolest sounds! It almost has a water- flowing quality to it.
We had lunch near the top of Nevada Falls (we like to pick the less popular spots to sit and enjoy lunch and listen to nature around us). The climb up was totally worth it. The views on the way up are stunning.
As you work your way over the top of Nevada Falls you come out to an open area with a view back down the falls. It is amazing that we hiked up this high! We are at the very top of Nevada Falls here, and there are warning signs in five languages telling us not to wade or swim in the water. The undercurrents can pull you over the falls “and you WILL die”. OK, we won’t be doing that!
We started to head down by the John Muir trail. I’m amazed how the path has been cut out of the rock and steps have been put in along the way. There are stone walls in some places where the drop-off is really steep. When you look across the falls to the other side it is really hard to find the trail that you just came up. You’d think a stone stairway would just jump out, but it all blends in nicely.
It is an easy walk down along the Muir trail. There are portions of the trail that you share with horses, but that isn’t too long. Then the trail splits and the riders go one way and hikers go the other. We took our time and made almost a full day on this trail. It was a hard climb up (but we just took it slow and we all made it to the top), but an easy walk down. You end up back where you started. It is fun to continue to get different views of the falls on the way down. The Vernal Fall footbridge with the first look at Vernal Fall is full of light now and looks very inviting.
We had happy hour at Yosemite Lodge. The place isn’t very fancy, and the layout is a little odd. There are separate buildings for most activities, and it took a while to find the lounge. Turned out to be an excellent place for dinner as well as drinks. The lounge has a limited menu, but the vegetarian lasagna was very good. The soup of the day was split pea and everyone thought that was excellent as well. We had a good laugh that there was no restroom in the lounge and the walk to the restrooms was 10 minutes away! Someone didn’t think that out too carefully.
We headed back to our hotel just before sunset. The ride out took a little longer because everyone was heading out at the same time as we were. The construction really slows things down. But it does look like they are making a lot of progress since yesterday!
Back at the hotel we hit the hot tub and played some Bananagrams. Scott and I had never played before, and it was a lot of fun. It is kind of a twist on Scrabble. Tomorrow we are going to visit the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias.
Go back to September 21 — Go forward to September 23