Yosemite National Park Hiking and Trail Guide
Where to hike, what you'll see, make the most of Hiking in Yosemite NP
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Hike Vernal Falls, Nevada FallsMist Trail, John Muir TrailFrom Happy Isles to Vernal and Nevada falls is a 6-mile loop with 2,000-foot elevation gain; add another 2 miles without shuttle bus. Two famous falls and two famous footpaths are the highlights of this popular hike that many consider Yosemite’s most scenic. 
Vernal Falls is a cascade of uncommon beauty--a 317-foot Merced River spill that plunges over bold granite cliffs. Mist billows from the crashing water, rainbows arch toward the heavens. Another Merced River-fed creation--Nevada Falls--also commands attention. More than one mountaineer has remarked upon the resemblance of the 594-foot falls to an avalanche of snow. Mist Trail is a memorably steep ascent on a stair-stepped trail. En route hikers are bathed in the considerable spray of Vernal Falls. Linking the two falls with the Happy Isles Trailhead is the John Muir Trail which extends another 210 miles or so to Mount Whitney. Yosemite Valley visitors who are short of time should at least make the 1.6-mile round trip pilgrimage to Vernal Falls Bridge. En route, you’ll get views of two more falls--Illilouette and Upper Yosemite. For a hike up Mist Trail, wear rain gear. On a warm summer day, however, you could just get wet, then dry out on the sunny rocks above the falls. In spring, Yosemite’s waterfalls are at their most majestic and Yosemite Valley is relatively uncrowded. Often March and April are particularly good months to hike the valley which, because of its fairly low elevation (4,000 feet or so), usually does not have much snow on the ground during early spring. Directions to trailhead: Park in the Curry Village day use lot and take the shuttle bus to the stop for Happy Isles. If you take this hike during the off-season, you’ll have to walk a mile from Curry Village to the trailhead. The hike: Head out on a paved pathway, soon crossing a bridge over the Merced River. Ascend amidst oak and bay, and reach Vernal Falls Bridge after 0.8 mile. Climbing onward, you’ll choose Mist Falls Trail at a junction and ascend mist-slickened stairs carved into the rock. Passing close to Vernal Falls, you’ll emerge from the mist and begin tramping a dirt trail to the top of the falls and a viewpoint. Up-river you climb, past Emerald Pool and Silver Apron, a beautiful, broad, river-washed rock formation that resembles a fan. A mile-and-a-half out, you’ll junction with John Muir Trail and follow it toward Nevada Falls. Again you follow the Merced, on a mellow 0.5-mile ascent to the base of Nevada Falls. You’ll cross the Merced on a bridge, and begin your return to Happy Isles on the John Muir Trail, carefully negotiating some slipper switchbacks. Nearing the Merced again, you’ll meet a bridle trail but stick with the footpath, bearing right to return to this walk’s first junction with the Mist Trail. Bear left and retrace your steps to Happy Isles. Yosemite Hiking Trails >> |
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