We started our first day with a 6.3 miles round trip hike to Vernal and Nevada Falls. The trail starts at Happy Isles and continues on the Mist Trail to Vernal Fall then Nevada Fall. After that, there is an option to return via the Mist Trail again by Clark Point. We opted to return via the John Muir Trail, which is why the mileage is more than the poster's below.
Here's a visual info of the hike. The start of the trail is at Happy Isles, the bottom left corner of this poster.
Here's a closeup of the trail from the footbridge. Take note of the amount of water flowing down the waterfalls in this depiction.
The beginning of the hike was fairly easy, no real great climb. But then the trail starts getting steep and you hit the stairs, and I was starting to pant.
You know, the Mist Trail was so named because of the thick mist from the waterfall blanketing the trail and soaking hikers. There is so little water this year that the whole trail was dry.
The super dry stairways. It actually would get slippery and people have fallen down the steep slope to the left before.
Them mountain squirrels are everywhere!
There's Vernal Fall with, like, 1/4 of its regular flow.
A view from above (Vernal Fall).
After Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall wasn't too long of a hike to get to. But it was still a heck of a hike. I was getting pretty tired by that point, frequently stopping as we were climbing the stairs, making friends with other hikers I kept on passing who kept on passing me while I stopped. Hahaha!
Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall
A group of supply horses also passed us by on Nevada Fall. They were coming from the back country.
A view from atop Nevada Fall.
And back down to Happy Isles
The whole hike took us around four hours, which I am very proud of considering how the poster and guide book estimated it taking 5 - 6 hours on a strenuous trail. I'd say this trail is on the lower spectrum of strenuous.
The only reason I didn't choose to do Half Dome was because I didn't think I was prepared for that long of a hike. And I was probably right in making that decision because even though we finished this hike fast, I could barely walk without wincing in pain at Happy Isles. My feet were definitely not used to walking long distance!
Later that evening, we went to Yosemite Valley's nightly educational film at the theater. The film was on the making of short films for Yosemite Nature Notes, capturing the beauty around the national park. Here's an episode on frazil ice (which is a very cool phenomenon):
From the looks of it, Yosemite during the spring melt ain't so bad either!
