Vernal and Nevada Falls

The alarm went off this morning at 5am and we both quickly packed our bags for the day. After a slow start we were ready to go at 5:45am. It was about a 40 minute drive into Yosemite Valley, and we were still not quite sure if we needed to buy a permit to enter the park as there was conflicting information on the internet. We drove into the park entrance and the park booth was closed so we continued through.

It was still dark as we drove through the valley and we could just make out towering walls of rock above us. We stopped at the visitor centre which was closed but we took some photos of the interactive maps. We were hoping to grab some maps to decide where to walk. I had downloaded some maps on AllTrails the night before so I said to Scott let’s do an easier hike first to Vernal Falls.

We drove to the trailhead parking and got out our day bags. There were signs everywhere saying that Bears frequented the area and not to leave any food in the car. We had brought all our food for the day and didn’t want to bring everything with us. We asked a girl who was also doing the same trail as us and she said that Bears can open doors and she wouldn’t leave anything in her car. There were also bear boxes to store food in so we decided to bring everything with us.

I had downloaded a walk to Vernal Falls which was meant to take a few hours and would be about 8km so I thought it would be a moderate walk to start us off with. It was a 1km walk to the trailhead along a well pathed track. We then started on the John Muir trail which almost started going up immediately through a forested area. It was quite steep in sections and was quite strenuous. We made it to the river and there was a stop to fill up our water bottles. We had a rest and decided we would keep walking until there was a nicer lookout.

The next section of the hike zigzagged all the way up the hill to Clark Point. As we climbed higher in elevation we could see more of the valley and even glimpses of the Half Dome. It was absolutely stunning and we kept stopping for short breaks to take photos.

We made it to Clark Point and decided to stop for breakfast. The view over the valley and to half dome was beautiful. I noticed a sign that said it was about 2 miles to Nevada Falls so we thought we would head there first. The hike to Nevada Falls wasn’t to much higher in elevation and the falls were beautiful. We crossed the river and walked down a track next to the falls. We continued to Emerald Pool before arriving at the top of Vernal Falls.

The lookout at the top of the falls wasn’t the best as we couldn’t get to the bottom of the falls due to track maintenance. We started walking back up to Clark Point and we were in the full sun and it was really hot. There were a few other lookouts on the track with views of the falls before we made it to Clark Point. We continued down to the drink station, filled up our water bottles and had lunch next to the river. There were heaps of people coming up the trail now and it was quite crowded, we continued to the bottom of the track before walking to the carpark.

We both really enjoyed the hike with amazing views of the waterfalls and the Half Dome. In total we walked 18.38km with an elevation gain of 802m.Baca lagi