Saturday was my last day in Yosemite. My plan was to hike Vernal Falls then to the top of Nevada Falls. Yep, that was the plan. The hike was no where near as tough as Upper Yosemite Falls. Though still 3.4 miles one way (compared to 3.6 for UYF) it was not nearly as steep and hardly any switchbacks. It was a pleasant, mild, clear day for a walk. As I got to the base of Vernal Falls the spray from the falls covered everything. Climbing up to the middle of the falls the over rough hewn steps the chill of the water, runoff of melting snow, being driven against my face was numbing. (video) When I got to the top of Vernal and back into the sun I had to dry off my soaked hoody. There was an incredible rainbow in the mist and as the water droplets moved through it, the rainbow looked like flames being stoked in a fire. From Vernal I made my way up to Nevada Falls and I got to within half mile of the top and I turned around. I doesn’t sound far, but I had already been on the trail two and a half hours, it would have been 45 minutes to the top, 45 at the top and 30 down to where I turned around and I wanted to see some other things before I made the three hour trip to my next hotel. On my way down the day had turned from sunny to snowy, You couldn’t tell the mist from the flakes. The trail had become considerable more crowed and less enjoyable. It was still a great walk with two spectacular falls, plus Illilouette Falls in the distance coming off the side of the cliff face. (Here I attempted to track with my iPhone again)
(click photo for slideshow)
Back in the Yosemite Village the weather had changed. One side of the valley was sunny and the other was dark and in a snow storm. The one landmark I had ignored for the past three days was El Capitan. An incredibly magnificent megalith. I walked up the base just to stare 3600 feet straight up at it’s shear north face. A marvel to look at and I can’t comprehend the the climbers that spend days ascending to the summit. I made one last attempt at getting a valley shot from tunnel view, but that snow had engulfed the most of the park.
Yosemite, what a beautiful place. It had a little of Kings Canyon and Sequoia inside it’s borders. I will try to get back here real soon.
Sunday it’s Sacramento for some museums and the Pacific Rim street festival. I will post that, probably my last for this trip, in a few days.
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