Vernal Falls and Beyond...

After a quick breakfast, we departed for Yosemite National Park. We parked at Curry Village and took the shuttle over to the Happy Isles trailhead.


I was carrying two bottles of G2, two water bottles, two granola bars, trail mix, and sports beans. Duane carried his knapsack with more of the same and our son carried his hydration fanny pack. Unfortunately the belt wouldn't cinch small enough for his waist, but I managed to tie the straps together and make it just right. For some reason, there was no clip attached to the hose, so I had to snake it up through the belt for easy access.

We started off at about 10:30 am, several hours later than we are planning to begin this hike on June 20th. The John Muir Trail follows the Merced River which, at this time of year, runs strong and swiftly from all of the snow melt. We could see Illilouette Falls running in a distant side of the canyon. In fact, after hiking probably only a quarter of a mile, we had fantastic views of Illilouette Fall to the side of us, Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall ahead of us and Yosemite Falls behind us. The trail wound gradually up to a footbridge.

Here at the footbridge is the last flush toilet and water fountain. We took advantage of the opportunity! We crossed the river where the trail meanders through the woods for a bit. After that, the Mist Trail splits off from the John Muir Trail and we began our ascent up the approximately 800 granite steps, which would take us up to Vernal Falls, 1.5 miles farther and 1000 feet higher than where we began.

I won't say the steps were easy, but I will say that I expected something more difficult. The stairs themselves are rough hewn out of Yosemite granite, and most of the steps are higher than normal. I was particularly grateful that we had been walking up and down Communications Hill multiple times. As we got closer to Vernal Falls, we were treated to a beautiful rainbow off the mist, which also got us plenty wet as we went up the stairs. We had to put on our jackets for a time and even so, we got pretty wet, but it wasn't far from the top and the water felt good after our climb.

We rested and refueled at Vernal Falls, enjoying the beautiful view of the powerful water rushing over the slick granite. After our rest, we hiked up the Merced River about another 100 feet, before taking the connecting trail up to Clark's Point where we joined up with the John Muir Trail once again. We chose this route because we wanted to save our knees the pounding that would surely ensue going down all of those wet granite steps. The switchbacks, which still had snow, on the John Muir Trail was twice as long, but we didn't have rubber knees at the bottom.

We reached Happy Isles again at 2:00 pm, and quickly caught the shuttle back to the car at Curry Village. We had just enough time to make it to the Awahnee Hotel for Sunday brunch! This is one of my favorite things to do in Yosemite, not only because they have a killer buffet, but because the dining room is so beautiful.

In we walked, hot and sweaty and in our hiking clothes and they seated us anyway! (They do have a dress code for dinner.) Our son had fun picking out his favorite yummy lunch and I had some really great sushi and other treats.

At about 3:30 pm, we began the long drive back home. Duane took the first shift. Our son and I slept in the car all the way to Mariposa where we switched drivers and Duane got to take his nap.

We had a great time this week! We walked all over the place, we hiked in the mountains and we managed to come home with mostly clean clothes! Tomorrow it's back to reality...