Yosemite – Hike to Vernal Fall

6:45am we were awake and cold. I want to highlight that for once Wolfram was the first one up. He freely chose to get up that early.
Consequence, by 8am we were at the starting point of the trail to reach first the Vernal fall and then the Nevada fall.

Happy Isles
After parking the car and making it food free (you know, let's not be bear careless) we walked to Happy Isles, and quickly got on the little island. Based on the map we could pass 3 bridges and get to the trail. Except bridge #3 was missing. We tried twice and when we came back at the center and checked the map again we realized that the line representing the bridge had been erased. Badly erased as half was still there, but erased. Facing the option to walk back all the way down to the next bridge, we decided given the little water in the river to cross. After all those rocks must be used every now and then.
A few clumsy steps later we were on the other side. We quickly climbed up the hill through the bush and made it to the trail. People walking the trail at that moment must have wondered where the hell we were coming from, just appearing out of nowhere.

From happy Isles we went up on the Mist trail. Just 5.5km uphill.

Later we would go down on the John Muir trail. 11-12km loop for the day. Easy! at least we hope.

As we were “climbing” along the river, Wolfram seized the opportunity to teach me how to get “silk water” on my pictures.
Note for myself: use Tv mode, changing time of exposure and have the camera perfectly still!

Up: usual P mode / Down: Tv mode

Practising....

Slowly (because of the many stops for pictures) we're making our way to the fall.

We can already hear the water. Once again, it's fall so there is little water in the river. All these rocks must be immersed in the spring. A whole different story.

Walking the trail was not as easy as we thought. Yosemite newspaper referred to it as “strenuous” and “very strenuous” in the 2nd part and they were right. It's becoming steep and steeper and steeper and steeper....

The last part before the Vernal fall was a bit of a challenge but definitely worth the effort. Luckily for us the weather was cloudy and therefore we didn’t have to walk under the sun.
At this stage, each step further up would reveal a bit more of the Vernal fall. I can tell you no matter how hard that step was, the view was worth it.

A few more steps and here is the pond at the bottom of the fall and a happy hiker who knows it's gonna be a good picture :)

If it wasn't was for the temperature (cold) I would have enjoyed taking a swim up here.

Before going up with the climbing to the top of the fall (i.e. the most strenuous part of this trail so far) we stopped for a photo.

I know it looks like we're standing in front of a poster, but we WERE REALLY there.

We climbed further up and reached the top of the water fall. Despite I could barely breathe in the last meters (damn my effort asthma), once at the top and on the edge the view was fantastic and I really enjoyed seeing the water falling from the cliff, from atop.

After a bit of rest it was time to go on. Next stop: Nevada Fall.