Yosemite Hiking

Mike Cottle and I took off on Sat around noon for a hike up the Mist Trail in Yosemite.  Below are some of the photos we took along the way.  The trail begins from the valley floor and is roughly 7 miles round trip and starts at an elevation of 4,000 feet.  It's about 1,000 feet up to Vernal falls, and 1,900 feet to Nevada falls, which is where we peaked.  The trail is a popular one, especially for those wishing to hike up to Halfdome.  We weren't ready for Halfdome, but plan to do it on our next trip.

Here's the first and only water stop on the trail, at the Vernal falls foot bridge.

Here's Mike at the same bridge, but looking up river towards Vernal falls. 

We've started the stair master portion of the Mist trail hike, lot's of stairs carved out of the rocks, with wet misty spray making everything a bit slippery.

You can see the stairs and the falls there in the background.  These are the falls that had the recently heavily publiced three hikers go over, when they crossed over the fenced boundaries.

Feeling misty before the last big push up the trail to Vernal falls.

The mist really helps cool you off on a warm summer day.

All the sun and water made for some amazing rainbows.

Vernal falls.

Here's the top of Vernal falls, looking back down at our hiking path.  

Might be hard to see, but the path is there on the left, with lots of people coming up.  Very crowded hike.

As you can see you can get very close tot he edge of the falls, without crossing the boundary. Not sure why the hikers would feel a need to get even closer.

Moving past Vernal falls, we kept heading up to Nevada falls.

Looking back down towards the top of Vernal falls.  Hard to describe how fast that water is moving.

At the base of Nevada falls.

Amazing the work that goes into making these trails.  The boulders are laid out well for a nice path, but who had the gusto to create it?

Moving up the path to Nevada Falls.

At the top of Nevada falls.  Quite a spectacular view.  It was a great hike and such amazing scenery.

While we took the mist trail up, it was recommended to take the John Muir trail back down.  It's a bit longer, not as steep, not as crowded and a bit farther from the water.

That's Nevada falls in the background.

Might need to zoom in to see Mike claiming to be King of the World.