A trail to Yosemite Falls is one of the numerous beautiful trails in this huge national park. History of the park can be tracked as far as 3500 years back. Back then an Indian tribe of Ahwahnechee settled down there. Their main village was located at the base of the falls. They believed that the plunge pool of the Falls is inhabited by the spirits of several witches. There is a legend to confirm this theory. A woman who once tried to pull water out of the plunge was getting a bucket full of snakes every time. The same night the spirits caused extremely strong winds which sucked the woman and her newborn child right in the pool and nobody has seen them since then.
Yosemite Falls trailhead
Planning your hike along Yosemite Falls trail take a lot of water not to provoke the witches’ spirits 🙂 The water will be useful anyway – the trail is demanding and it’s exposed to full sunshine most of the day. The burning sun can make even the easiest trail extremely difficult, believe me.
Yosemite Falls trail
Yosemite Falls trail – views!
A trail to Upper Yosemite Falls, despite the witches and sun is definitely worth doing – the views from up there are stunning! 🙂 The elevation from the trailhead to the top of Upper Yosemite Falls is around 830 m (2700 feet). If you don’t feel able to hike up there you can stop at Lower Yosemite Falls from where all the falls are perfectly visible. I mean, they would have been if there had been any water 🙂 Unfortunately with all the terrible droughts in summer, there was not enough water in Yosemite Creek to make a waterfall.
The view at the falls – with no water!
It’s worth hiking the steep trail all the way to the top of the (missing) falls. You’ll be proud of yourself and the views from the trail and from the viewing platform near the top of Yosemite Falls are just breathtaking.
Half Dome. View from Yosemite Falls trail.
View from Yosemite Falls trail.
Viewing platform at the top of Yosemite Falls
Viewing platform at the top of Yosemite Falls
There was no falls but instead we could relax by the remnants of Yosemite Creek.
If you still don’t have enough after reaching the top you can go further to Yosemite Point from where you’ll have a perfect view at the famous rock formation – Half Dome.
Half Dome. View from Yosemite Point.
Half Dome. View from Yosemite Point.
I strongly recommend you to do the Yosemite Falls trail. Be well prepared though. Start early to cheat the burning sun and take a lot of water. We drank around 3 liters per person! There is no possibility to refill your bottle at the top. Unless you want to mess with the witches and try to play ghostbusters… 🙂
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