Now, I’ll start this by making you aware that whilst I like a hike, I am by no means accomplished when it comes to exploring nature. Why am I telling you this? Well, it explains why we stuck to well marked single day trails when exploring Yosemite. Were I to get the chance to visit again, would I go further? Definitely. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Getting out to Yosemite took a good four hours of driving, not helped by the fact I had got off of a plane in San Francisco (having landed from London) and hopped straight into the hire car. Driving through the night made this a long drive, but once out of town the night sky was incredible. I went from struggling to keep my eyes on the road from tiredness to struggling to keep my eyes on road from looking up at the heavens. There were stars everywhere (with the odd aircraft moving through as well).
After a good night’s sleep and a hearty full American buffet breakfast, we headed into Yosemite National Park itself (for clarity, I was travelling with a close friend from uni; Sam). Given we had arrived at our hotel in the dark, we had had no chance to see the scenery and the drive into Yosemite was more than sufficient to confirm that we had done the right thing by coming. Even the foothills looked like mountains!
But the true wonders were to follow. Entering into Yosemite you enter into a different world. A world were the landscape is big and rocky, nature is peaceful and quietly managed and animals roam free. The road into Yosemite, quite aptly in my opinion, passes through a rock archway, enticing you to come and see more.
Once the entrance was safely navigated, the road twists and turns, winding through forest with glimpses of mountains through the trees. After five minutes or so, the trees step back from the road and the waterfalls emerge. Luckily (and entirely by chance) we were visiting in April. This meant that it was warm (temperatures ranged between 20oC and 30oC) yet early enough in the season that the rivers and waterfalls were running as they are fed by snow melt.
There was even a waterfall on the other side of the road:
At this point, we didn’t really have a plan for what we would do once we got into Yosemite. On previous trips, I have spent time driving around mountains and enjoying the scenery and not straying too far from the car. Fortunately we had both brought boots because we found a series of recommended walks posted outside the Visitor Centre.
We decided that for our first day, we would start off with a hike listed as 5 to 6 hours and strenuous. We had started early and so had plenty of time and figured why not. It wasn’t the most challenging of the hikes listed. Setting off from the Visitor Centre, the views were fantastic and I could fill up the rest of this blog post just with photos taken en route to starting the hike. So I have made do and just offer a sample.
Looking back along the valley
Sam missing home
Olly on a rock
After an hour or so, the path began to climb (it is worth noting that there is free shuttle bus that we could have taken to save time, but it was a lovely morning and we were feeling fit and eager). The path was easily followed and, as we found out later, this part of the trail is the most accessible in the park. The path loosely follows the river, heading up into the mountains.
For some reason, on the map we had been looking at, this trail was called the Mist Trail. We had assumed that this was a quaint name given because parts of the trail would be a little misty in the mornings. How wrong we were. Rounding a corner, we got both a great view of Vernal Fall and also rather wet! The waterfall kicks up a phenomenal amount of mist. Don’t get me wrong, it was refreshing but certainly made us rather damp and I wouldn’t like to imagine how cold it had been there just a month or two earlier.
The waterfall was rather pretty as it came pouring over the rocks and into the valley below.
Climbing upwards, the path leads up the side of the rock face, emerging to put us at the top of Vernal Falls. According to the map at the Visitor Centre, we had climbed 1,000 feet and walked about 1.5 miles. Not a bad start, and well worth doing.
But, the top of Vernal Falls was not our target. We were heading higher up, to the top of Nevada Falls which lay another thousand feet up and 1.2 miles further along. It was an absolute pleasure doing this walk. The skies were blue and once past the Vernal Falls, the mass of walkers disappeared and the path was peaceful. Half an hour of walking brought the Nevada Falls into view.
Now, as I’ve mentioned earlier, I am very much one who enjoys the natural world. The views on offer during this walk were outstanding. Seeing the Nevada Falls off in the distance spurred us on and we set about wending our way up the path, determined to reach the top.
From the top, we got to enjoy views back down the valley and revel in our success. We had made it to the top! Not bad given that the day before I had left London without a plan for what to do in Yosemite other than gaze at mountains.
It was quite a steep drop!
Our planned route down was to take us along the John Muir trail, completing a loop and meaning that there was to be no backtracking. However, it seems the Yosemite had other ideas. Shortly after passing the Nevada Falls, the path was closed owing to the risk of landslides. I mean, I appreciate the concern for my safety but it doesn’t stop the immediate sense of disappointment that accompanies a change in plan and the need to backtrack, heading down the way we came up. It did give me a chance to be arty with my photography though!
And my sense of disappointment didn’t last long. How could it? I was in Yosemite National Park, walking in proximity to waterfalls, with blue sky above me, mountains all around me and a good friend by my side.
Heading down was certainly less strenuous than heading up. Although, it would appear that I lack confidence in my legs and have preference for taking things rather slower than most when heading down. I suppose that may help explain my inability to ice skate! Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to retrace our steps all the way down the Mist Trail as well. The path branches off, meaning that we got to look down on Vernal Falls from above.
Coming down off the mountain offered both a sense of accomplishment, but also a sense of leaving nature behind. I mean, I was still in the National Park so I wasn’t distraught, but walking up the falls had been excellent and coming down was the beginning of leaving the wilderness behind for the evening. I was glad we were coming back the next day. Driving out of the park gave us more brilliant views of mountains and waterfalls, but it was interesting how rapidly these had become less spectacular having spent the day hiking in the presence of mountains and waterfalls. However, day two promised to be awesome!