Yosemite Nevada & Vernal Falls Hike, 8.74 miles, 2700 kcal, 6hrs

Kudos to the team especially the first time hikers to Yosemite.. The team that never rests and keeps going.. Well Done!!!

We had originally planned to hike the Panorama Trail from Glacier Point. But unfortunately, Glacier Point road was closed due to heavy snowfall on Thurs/Fri. We therefore quickly changed plans and decided to repeat a hike we had done a couple of years back. The one major difference this time was we had a much larger group. The road to Yosemite Village from the park entrance was like a winter wonderland with both sides of the forest covered with snow. The initial part of the hike till the Vernal footbridge was pretty crowded but quickly decreased as we ascended up the steps of the wet,slippery steps of Mist Trail. Beautiful rainbows accompanied us as we ascended up through the mist generated by the falls. Even though the flow was much lesser than in 2013, it was still an impressive sight. Once we reached Emerald pool at the top of the pools, we had our first snack break of the day.

We then continued the uphill trek to the the top of Nevada falls. This part of the trail had some steep stretches and required clambering over rocks. But in contrast to 2013, the cool weather this time allowed us to ascend pretty quickly. Once at the top of the falls, we rested by Merced river and dug into the rest of our snacks. After the obligatory photo session, we started the descent via Muir trail. It was perfect afternoon weather and we took advantage of it to increase our pace and reached the valley floor in one and half hours.  It was a perfect end to an incident free hike in gorgeous late spring weather. The caption of the hike was 'Living on the edge'. Guess what, everyone signed up for next year's hike. We enjoyed the rest of the evening with drinks and plenty of food to recover the lost calories :)


Route: Yosemite Nevada & Vernal Falls Hike
Time: 6.00 hr  
Difficulty: 7/10
Total Elevation:6,000 Ft

Upper Yosemite Falls Trail, Yosemite, 4000 K Cal,7.5 Miles, 7Hr, Elevation 2,640 ft from Trail head base, Base Elevation 4000 FT

It was time for our annual hike in Yosemite. We reached the park @8am. The weather forecast indicated pleasant temperatures around upper 60's but ended up being much higher than that. I have read about this hike on several sites. One thing that is commonly mentioned on every site is that it is a very difficult and strenuous hike and one that would increase one's heart rate to its peak. I was not worried about all this until I watched the YouTube video of the last few steps that takes you down to the observation deck.To tell the truth, I was very stressed about it and hoped that we wouldn't do those last few steps.We started the hike with lot of enthusiasm which evaporated with in the first quarter mile of hike. It's a constant climb over granite rocks, pebbles and gravel rocks through innumerable switchbacks and in the first mile we gained over 1000 ft elevation. Columbia Rock at around 5000 ft gave us our first views of the falls. We had glorious views of Half Dome, the valley and the falls itself. It was at it's peak and the spray allowed us to cool down a little. The next part of the hike was the most stressful, exposing us to direct sunlight that seemed to be amplified by the granite walls surrounding us. We had to watch every step we took to prevent twisting our ankle or worse. We started to feel dehydrated and had to take frequent stops. We took a snack break at around 12 noon. We slowly climbed our way to the top but celebrations were premature. We had to climb down to the observation deck on steep narrow steps, clinging on to rails one side with a sheer drop on the other side. The wind generated by the tremendous force of the falling water added to the danger. But we finally made it. We spent around 15 min there and then went back up and had our lunch and relaxed for an our. We then hiked down another half a mile to a wooden bridge that crossed over to the other side of the river.  We  finally started on our way back, making frequent stops to pour cold mountain water on our heads & face to cool us down. Two of the team members took a spur trail at Columbia Rock to the Oh My Gosh! point from where they saw all the three sections of the fall - upper, middle and lower section. The final set of switchbacks was very frustrating, especially since the mosquitoes would not allow us to sit for even a minute. We reach the valley floor at 4:30 pm and rewarded ourselves with  an ice cream. While the sense of satisfaction on completing the hike was great, I doubt I would want to repeat it again!


Route: Upper Yosemite Falls Trail
Time: 7 hr 
Difficulty: 8.5/10
Total Elevation:6,640Ft

At the start of Trail. Soon the smiles
vanish away

At Columbia rock, beautiful views

Yosemite Valley from top

Everyone at their own pace

At the observation deck

Narrow steps to observation deck

At the summit after taking lunch,
resting for few min.
 Feels so good even on the rock

top of Yosemite falls

On our way down.We had to watch every step

From OMG point beautiful view of Falls

On our return home deer greeted us

Last year fire that damaged 2057 Acres
 in Yosemite park

View of Upper Yosemite Falls

Dreadful climb