Falling for the Beauty of Water

Two famous falls and two popular footpaths are the highlights of a six-mile hike that many consider Yosemite National Park’s most scenic.

Vernal Fall is a cascade of uncommon beauty--a 317-foot Merced River spill that plunges over bold granite cliffs. Another Merced-River-fed creation, Nevada Fall, also commands attention. Mountaineers have remarked upon the 594-foot fall’s resemblance to an avalanche of snow.

Mist Trail is a memorably steep ascent on a stair-stepped trail. En route hikers are bathed in the considerable spray of Vernal Fall. Linking the two falls with the Happy Isles Trail head is the John Muir Trail, which extends another 200 miles or so to Mt. Whitney.

Yosemite Valley visitors who are short of time should at least make the 1.6-mile round trip pilgrimage to Vernal Fall Bridge. You’ll get views of two smaller waterfalls.

In spring, Yosemite’s waterfalls are at their most majestic, and Yosemite Valley is relatively uncrowded. March and April are often particularly good months to hike the valley, which, because of its fairly low elevation (about 4,000 feet), usually does not have much snow on the ground during early spring. It’s prudent to check with rangers about trail conditions.

Directions to trail head: Park in the Curry Village day use lot and take the shuttle bus to the stop for Happy Isles. If you take this hike during the off-season, you’ll have to walk a mile from Curry Village to the trail head.

The hike: Head out on a paved pathway, soon crossing a bridge over the Merced River. Ascend amid oak and bay, and reach Vernal Fall Bridge after 0.8 mile.

Climbing onward, you’ll choose Mist Fall Trail at a junction and ascend mist-slickened stairs carved into the rock. Passing close to Vernal Fall, you’ll emerge from the mist and begin tramping a dirt trail to the top of the fall.

Upriver you climb, past Emerald Pool and Silver Apron, a beautiful, river-washed rock formation that resembles a fan. You’ll junction with John Muir Trail about 1.5 miles out and follow it toward Nevada Fall. Again you follow the Merced, on a mellow half-mile ascent to the base of Nevada Fall.

You’ll cross the Merced on a bridge and begin your return to Happy Isles on the John Muir Trail, negotiating slippery switchbacks. Nearing the Merced again, you’ll meet a bridle trail, but stick with the footpath, bearing right to return to this walk’s first junction with the Mist Fall Trail. Bear left and retrace your steps to Happy Isles.

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Mist, John Muir Trails

WHERE: Yosemite National Park

DISTANCE: From Happy Isles to Vernal and Nevada Falls is a 6-mile loop with 2,000-foot elevation gain; add another two miles when shuttle buss is not running.

TERRAIN: Merced River Canyon

HIGHLIGHTS: Two of Yosemite’s famous waterfalls.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Moderately strenuous.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Yosemite National Park, P.O. Box 577, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389; tel. (209) 372- 0200.