June 28, 2017.
Yosemite day 3. Vernal and Nevada falls
Start time: 8:00 a.m.; end time: 2:00 p.m.
Distance: 6.5 miles
After another chill day in Yosemite, it was time to have another busy day of hiking and sightseeing. We decided to hit up one of the most popular trails in the park: the mist trail. The most convenient part was that the trailhead was just behind our campsite.
We had hiked to the vernal falls bridge the first night so we knew what to expect up until that point. When we got to the bridge, we went to the bathroom and refilled our water bottles since a copious number of signs reminded us that there wouldn’t be a refill station for the rest of the trail. Just past the bridge we encountered a rocky incline sprayed with mist from the falls (now I get it!). It felt like we were in lord of the rings. Bundled up in rain gear, pulling ourselves up with our hiking poles we made it to a small photo area (as seen below).
Thankfully after this point, the steps weren’t as intense and there was no mist trying to work its way into our eyes. We had made it to vernal falls. Then naturally it was off to the next one: nevada falls.
After making it to nevada falls, we had two options: go back the way we came or take the john muir trail back down. I wasn’t too keen on going down those slippery steps, especially with the increase in number of people on the trail and in the spirit of trying new things, we decided on taking part of the jmt. It wasn’t as exciting as the way up, but it was steady decline with the usual number of switchbacks (a.k.a. a lot).
