Yosemite Falls Trail

California March 10, 2021 beardedgoatsgear

Trail Description The trail starts out with a short meander through the back of Camp 4 before starting what will be your future for...

Overview

We had the opportunity to stay in a tiny home AirBnB for Jeney’s birthday weekend and took full advantage of being just 1 hour away from Yosemite.

The Yosemite Falls trail was a blast with a ton of elevation gain, some incredible views, and opportunities to fill up on water as needed (in March).

Highly recommend hitting this trail up if you’re ever headed to Yosemite. From the top you can continue on to many areas including El Capitan.

Image Gallery

Notes

I’m sure this gets crazy in the summer, but even in early March with snow and some ice there were some human traffic jams due to the narrow trail and slippery trail in places.

We recommend getting an early start so you can skip the big crowds and enjoy some quieter time at top or just move on to other trails and viewpoints.

Trail Description

The trail starts out with a short meander through the back of Camp 4 before starting what will be your future for the next couple of hours – switchbacks!

If switchbacks aren’t your thing, this isn’t for you.

Right off the bat you start climbing, since you have about 3000ft to climb in 4ish miles.

You’re in the trees for the first bit but eventually come out to a flatter section where you’ll experience a slight downhill and then come across the beautiful falls. Great place for pictures and will definitely be crowded as the day moves on.

From there you start up the steeper stuff with more switchbacks and depending on the time of year, some icy/snowy conditions.

It’s back and forth the rest of the way up, which gives you a lot of opportunities to see the amazing views of the Yosemite Valley, Half Dome, and everything else.

We did this hike in early March so water was plentiful, as was icy conditions.

Upon reaching the top we spread out on some warm rocks to grab some lunch and soak in the views.

There’s areas to explore including a handrail down to a viewing area that is right up against the falls – not for the vertigo-challenged.

Heading back down was pretty straightforward, with the added challenge of dodging the conga-line of people that were coming up in early afternoon. Be ready to answer the continuing question of “how much further is the top??”. I just told people there was free beer at the top…hopefully they don’t track me down!