A Very Wet Hike In Yosemite
Posted by Greta on Thursday May 12, 2011 Under TravelsAfter Ranger Karen’s great talk about bears, we decided to take a hike to see Vernal Falls, a great waterfall that roars the most in the spring, hence the name. It was a 4.2 mile hike, and we were prepared for it… at least I was. We started up the trail, which was unfortunately a steep uphill all the way, but hey, we had a long downhill to look forward to on the way back. After hiking about 0.8 miles, we could see the falls, but at about 1.2 was when it started to get really wet. I had brought an extra shirt and a sweatshirt, but Dad was the unlucky one; he told us all to bring an extra shirt and of course he forgot his own. Silly old bear/Dad, whichever one you like. So anyway the trail got super duper steep and slippery and cold and wet. Water from the falls was spraying on us at full force and it was all sloshy, so my feet got all wet despite my good hiking shoes. When we finally reached the top of the waterfall, we ate a big handfull of trail mix and enjoyed the fabulous view of the falls. Here’s a great picture of Vernal Falls:
It's absolutely gorgeous, am I right? The tiny dots next to the top of the falls are people.
We changed out of our wet shirts and then started on our way back. This time we would be taking a different route, the John Muir Trail, which went up over a ridge and back down to the valley floor. It added on almost another mile to the trip but no one cared since it was so beautiful. We got a great view of another waterfall, Nevada Falls, on the way:
Which one do you think is more amazing, Vernal or Nevada Falls? I can't decide!
You can see in the photo how much water comes down from the snowcaps in the spring; even our trail is a stream. The John Muir trail gave a great view of Yosemite Valley. The only quirk was that the path was still covered in snow! At some parts we had to climb down the wall and skip part of the trail ’cause it was too snowy.
Despite the snow, the trail was SO pretty. To think that only four days earlier we were sweating in Death Valley!
The rest of the hike back down was a breeze because of the downhill. We finished off the trail mix when we were almost done with the hike.
It was quite a long hike, but it was well worth it! We were sure hungry for dinner… 😉
4 Responses to “A Very Wet Hike In Yosemite”
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May 13th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I bet dinner really taste good after that hike. The scenery is magnificient. Quite a contrast from Death Valley………………
May 14th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
You always seem pretty hungry for dinner lately. Love, Dindy
May 17th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Vernal falls, hands down gets my vote. When I was there the weather was a bit better (late June), which made the hike less wet than yours. Did you take the picture? If so, think the family has a new up and coming photographer. Ho are you enjoying the hikes? When the weather is good and you are prepared with sweatshirt, water, trail mix, nothing is better. Carpe firm for me!
May 25th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Hi Sharon! No, I did not take that picture…. but, thanks for the compliments on my photography! I’m not sure if that’s my career choice, but I sure love taking pics! I took almost 400 in Vegas.. haha. 🙂 For the most part I’m enjoying the hikes. I know I’m getting REAlly strong, but on some days I’m just not in the mood or it’s the wrong type of weather.