Yosemite - Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall

Rusted metal signs point the way to Vernal and Nevada Falls

For our third day in Yosemite, we began and ended our day with art (mosaic workshop at the Yosemite Art Center, and a John Muir performance).  But in the middle, we did a lot of walking and hiking, about 12.5 miles over nearly 5 hours.

After the art workshop and lunch, we began the main event of the day, which was our hike to Vernal Fall. Google Maps incorrectly identifies this body of water as "Vernal Falls."  But technically, Vernal has just one fall of water, not multiple falls over various obstructions.  The water descends in one straight shot 317 feet down, so it just a "fall" not a "falls."  It's also a "year round producer," unlike
Yosemite Falls, which dries up in the summer.

The easy part of the hike up to Vernal Fall

To get to Vernal Fall, you follow a fairly steep paved path with several hundred other hikers, plus one crazy runner and one crazy cyclist (there are always two in a crowd).  Then at a certain point, the paved path turns into a very long set of stone stairs, including a section along the side of a cliff.

The harder part of the hike up to Vernal Fall

Along the way you are rewarded with spectacular views of the wide expanse of Vernal Falls, and many rainbows.  Plus, if the first part of the hike has heated you up, you are treated to a fine misting from the fall.  That's why it's known as the "Mist Trail."

Getting wet along the Mist Trail

Then, after a wet and weary climb you reach the top, and with luck, some sunshine.  You can walk to the edge of the guardrail and watch the water fall.  Numerous signs are posted telling people to stay out of the water and behind the rail, but we watched one idiot do just that, with one hand on the rail and one hand with a selfie stick.  He climbed back over the rail safely, but not all are so lucky.

Samuel and Steven enjoy the view from the top of Vernal Fall

We decided to continue further up, because we wanted to see Nevada Fall, which is over 200 feet taller than Vernal Fall, with a 594 feet drop.  We didn't end up going to the top of Nevada Fall, as we had tickets for the Yosemite Theater that night and I was worried we'd cut it too close.  As it happened, I was right, but not for the reason you think.  We descended the trail fairly quickly.  What we didn't anticipate were the crowds waiting for shuttle buses that never seemed to come.  So after cooling our heels at Stop #16, we got up and walked the rest of the way back to our hotel.

Smaller but steeper Nevada Fal

*According to Google, on our third day at Yosemite, we walked and hiked 12.5 miles over 4 hours and 45 minutes.  We also spent 42 minutes on a shuttle bus that went a mere 5.1 miles.  How does Google know all this?  Google was tracking our route on Steven's Android phone.  It also sensed that we were on a bus because of the number of stops we made. I'll leave the Big  Brother aspects of this tracking to another post.

Google map of our wanderings on April 12, 2017.
The bright blue line is walking.  Dark blue is for the shuttle bus.