Vernal and Nevada Falls Hike

Day 29    May 4, 2015

Nothing but optimism toward our hike

Monte at Nevada

As Jan said in her text this morning to me May the fourth be with you and it was today.  This was an extremely rare day today.  I went hiking without her.  We have had a running friend who lives in San Jose that came down to go hiking with me.  Since Jan had done so many tough hikes recently, she bowed out of going with us to hike up Vernal and Nevada Falls at Yosemite.  We have found that the parks maps and trail signs can’t be trusted here in Yosemite.  To show you what I mean, today’s hike according to the park newspaper was suppose to be round trip 3.6 miles and the trail signs totaled 6.8 miles but my Garmin totaled 8.8 miles.  This is the worst park I have ever been in for accurate distances. 

Vernal Falls

To Vernal Falls we had were nicely paved trails that climbed at 12 to 14%.  When we reached the bridge at the bottom of the falls there was a fairly large crowd.   From there we climbed the Mist trail to the top of Vernal.  Calling the trail Mist was very accurate.  I had to pull out one of my Kroger weather shields (plastic bag) to protect my camera. 

Mist Rainbow Vernal

At this point the trail was mostly granite steps.  This kept the steps from being very slick.  The fellow in front of me noted that each step was about 12” up and there were a lot of them in front of us to climb.  The falls were beautiful and I could easily see why someone would slip up and step into the pool above the falls to cool off.  It was extremely inviting.  From the top of Vernal there was a nice climb to Nevada Falls. 

Nevada Falls

 

Trail to Nevada Falls

Near the bottom of Nevada there was a beautiful place to look up toward the falls it was also a good place to take in a little water.  From there the trail turned away from the falls and through a forest setting before beginning a granite path to the top.  The granite trail was extremely interesting with its switchbacks and steps to the top.  Several folks were discussing going on the top of Half Dome.  For me that was not even a consideration. 

Nevada Falls

Climbing a granite rock hanging on to cables just didn’t excite me, never mind that the park said it would have taken another 10+ miles (give or take a few miles).  Since we decided to take a loop trail to return the trail was new to us.  It was a much better trail (mainly because it was downhill). This ended up being a terrific workout and hike.

Sure we would be happy to go further