Sunday was Mother's Day, Troy Nelson and I should have known better, BUT we decided to try to squeeze in a major hike of some sort. After attempting to convince Paul and Jim to join us and forgetting to remember Isabelle, we set off to hike to the top of Yosemite Falls. Remember I noted before the height of the falls is 2,425 feet. The hike begins at Camp 4, starting at 3990 feet and climbs to 6600 feet with an elevation gain of 2670 feet in three and a half short miles. We awoke around 5:15 AM and arrived at Camp Four around 6 AM. Here is a shot of the entire falls (not where the hike begins) at around quarter to 6, notice no one is around.
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The hike begins by winding through steep switchbacks that climb through big oak trees, I quickly stashed my sweater behind a rock.
The first leg of the hike up to Columbia Rock is about a mile and climbs a thousand feet
The sun was just breaking out into the valley
The northern wall still lay mostly in shadow.
The valley floor didnt look too far away, you can see the swimming pool at Curry Village in the middel of the picture.
The trail climbs moderately towards the bottom of the upper falls, along the away there are many great vistas of the falls
The closer you approach the more mist and spray fills the air, you can see the spray cloud at the base of the cliff.
Right beneath the falls is spectacular, click for a bigger picture.
As you come along side the upper falls you get a good sense of how far out the water is projecting off the side of the cliff.
Periodically just the right combination of water and rock produces a ricochet that sounds like gun fire echoing down the canyon. When we left at 6 am, I said "Well its early enough I don't anticipate anyone passing us on the way up, and I don't anticipate passing anyone on their way down." I was wrong on both accounts, two men both older than us, and obviously in better shape passed us, we even managed to get one of them to stop and take our photo in front of the falls.
As you turn the corner and start up towards the top of the ridge the canyon walls rise very dramatically above your head, it is hard to believe how far back you have to crank your head to see the top. This is the point at which the hike turns down right mean, here you begin a set of switch backs that cross a littered stretch that is covered in small granit rocks. Trail work has stacked these into what can loosely be called steps. Each "step" is irregular and requires tedious and treacherous attention.
But as you climb you are offered continual views of the falls as you climb higher up the canyon.
Finally you arrive at the top and are a short distance from the mouth of the falls.
Troy and I some how missed the turn and went towards the overlook before making our own way towards the mouth of the falls. Here we look down on the bridge that crosses Yosemite Creek.
There are signs warning you of that there is a waterfall close by and a misstep spells death.
Of course you can't see the mouth of the falls from the bridge, so we headed down the rocks, here we are looking back towards the bridge.
You see the rushing stream heading straight for the edge.
And finally the mouth of the falls comes into view.
We sat on the rocks for about a half an hour and rested and ate breakfast. An apple has never tasted so good.
Next we made our way back to the overlook which is just north of the mouth of the falls, here by creeping to the ledge and leaning over you can see the middle falls where the water cascades down to the lower falls.
I look really tired don't I?
There are sweeping views of the valley 2700 feet below.
Half Dome as always looms across the valley floor.
Looking down into the valley you can truly appreciate how far up you are.
Unfortunately the valley floor lies another 3.2 miles down. Here the trail becomes tortuous. Typically with hikes that climb in elevation it is 3 times to get up and 1 time to get down. However the rock field you crossed to get to the top cannot be traversed any faster down than up, in fact it is almost even slower going down. Your not winded like you are climbing up, but your muscles, particularly your calves are soon fatigued. Three days later, my calves still ache walking down our stairs.
All in all, it took us 5 hours to climb up and back, including our half hour break at the top. Stacey and Heather were not entirely happy with how long it took, but were understanding given the circumstances. We broke camp and headed home. I can't wait to do it again next year.