Yosemite Guide

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Yosemite National Park - Travel and Nature Video with Spectacular Mountains and Waterfalls - TV Special

NEW Yosemite National Park - Travel and Nature Video with Spectacular Mountains and Waterfalls - TV Special on Amazon.com

We have created a new Yosemite TV special for Amazon. You can watch this longer and more spectacular Yosemite video at this link - click here

We also have several Yosemite videos on YouTube

Yosemite Guide - A Guide To Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park is located in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Yosemite contains the spectacular Yosemite Valley which has many spectacular waterfalls including Yosemite Falls. Yosemite Valley is at an elevation of about 4,000 feet.

Yosemite National Park also includes back country, mountains, redwoods and high mountain meadows.

Keep reading this document for hiking and other information. I also have a Hiking Yosemite Page with day hikes and backpacking excursions.

The best time of year to visit Yosemite Valley to see the waterfalls is in the spring and early summer. This is when the falls have the most water in them. Often many of the higher elevation locations aren't accessibly until later in the year. The road through Tioga Pass usually opens sometime in May. However, the Tioga Pass road has opened as late as July 1.

Yosemite is well known for it’s rock formations. Many of Yosemite’s rock formations are popular with rock climbers Yosemite’s most famous rock formation is Half Dome.

Half Dome - Picture of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park

Half Dome - Click picture to enlarge.

Looking at Yosemite Falls from Yosemite Valley floor. Click image to enlarge. Read more about Yosemite Falls and hikes in my article about Yosemite Falls.

Yosemite Falls and reflection in Merced River. Picture taken from the "Swinging Bridge" which no longer swings...

Vernal Fall ( Vernal Falls )

Vernal Fall is located in Yosemite National Park. The Merced River flows over Vernal Fall.

Vernal Fall Video

Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park has a wonderful and very popular hike that climbs to the top.

The Mist Trail next to Vernal Fall is a spectacular climb along side Vernal Fall up to the top of Vernal Fall. Join us for this spectacular hike in our Yosemite National Park video of Vernal Fall (sometimes called Vernal Falls)

Nevada Fall ( Nevada Falls )

Nevada Fall is located in Yosemite National Park. The Merced River flows over Vernal Fall.

Other Yosemite Destinations:

While Yosemite Valley is the most well known and most visited part of Yosemite National Park, the park also include back country, mountains, redwoods and high mountain meadows. Tuolumne Meadows is at an elevation of about 8,600 feet.

Lembert Dome in Tuolumne Meadows - You can hike to the top..

Climbing Lembert Dome in Yosemite National Park. Our 4 year old daughter made it to the top! Not recommended for most 4 year olds.

The climb up Lemburt Dome isn't a technical climb (it doesn't require ropes) if you climb the correct way.

I have a page with more details and maps of the Lemburt Dome Hike.

Yosemite contains many hiking trails. Trails range from easy short walks to multi day backpacking treks.

One very easy but spectacular hike is the NATURE LOOP TO THE BASE OF YOSEMITE FALLS

One spectacular backpacking trip is BACKPACKING FROM TENAYA LAKE TO CLOUDS REST, HALF DOME, AND YOSEMITE VALLEY we did this trip many years ago.

A long hike or backpack from Tuolumne MeadosI is WATER WHEEL FALLS

John Muir lived in Yosemite, explored the area and wrote about it in his book "The Yosemite" You can read more about John Muir and read his book for free here.

Nevada Fall

Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park - Sometimes called Nevada Falls.

Nevada Fall Picture

Nevada Fall Video - Here is a video I created that shows Nevada Fall ( Nevada Falls ) and other places in Yosemite National Park with spectacular high water - click here to watch!

You can hike to Nevada Fall from the bottom starting at Happy Isles and hiking up the Mist Trail past Vernal Fall and then continue up the trail to Nevada Fall. Another option for hiking is to do a one way hike along the panorama trail starting at Glacier Point and hiking down past Illilouette Fall, Nevada Fall, and Vernal Fall ( hiking all the way to Yosemite Valley ending at Happy Isles)

John Muir said the following about Nevada Fall in his book The Yosemite:

The Nevada Fall is 600 feet high and is usually ranked next to the Yosemite in general interest among the five main falls of the Valley. Coming through the Little Yosemite in tranquil reaches, the river is first broken into rapids on a moraine boulder-bar that crosses the lower end of the Valley. Thence it pursues its way to the head of the fall in a rough, solid rock channel, dashing on side angles, heaving in heavy surging masses against elbow knobs, and swirling and swashing in pot-holes without a moment's rest. Thus, already chafed and dashed to foam, overfolded and twisted, it plunges over the brink of the precipice as if glad to escape into the open air. But before it reaches the bottom it is pulverized yet finer by impinging upon a sloping portion of the cliff about half-way down, thus making it the whitest of all the falls of the Valley, and altogether one of the most wonderful in the world.

On the north side, close to its head, a slab of granite projects over the brink, forming a fine point for a view, over its throng of streamers and wild plunging, into its intensely white bosom, and through the broad drifts of spray, to the river far below, gathering its spent waters and rushing on again down the cañon in glad exultation into Emerald Pool, where at length it grows calm and gets rest for what still lies before it. All the features of the view correspond with the waters in grandeur and wildness. The glacier sculptured walls of the cañon on either hand, with the sublime mass of the Glacier Point Ridge in front, form a huge triangular pit-like basin, which, filled with the roaring of the falling river seems as if it might be the hopper of one of the mills of the gods in which the mountains were being ground.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Vernal Fall

Vernal Fall is located in Yosemite National Park. The Merced River flows over Vernal Fall.

Vernal Fall Video

Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park has a wonderful and very popular hike that climbs to the top.

Trail Overview:

Vernal Fall Footbridge

Distance: 1.6 mi (2.6 km) round trip

Elevation gain: 400 ft (120 m)

Difficulty: Moderate

Time: 1-1.5 hours

Top of Vernal Fall

Distance: 2.4 mi (3.9 km) round trip (via Mist Trail)

Elevation gain: 1000 ft (300 m)

Difficulty: Strenuous

Time: 3 hours

Vernal Fall is 317 foot (96.6 m) high waterfall on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California. Vernal Fall is downstream of Nevada Fall.

The following picture shows the the top of Vernal Fall:

The top of Vernal Fall can be reached by hiking up the Mist Trail. More pictures and information about The Mist Trail are at the following link: The Mist Trail information and pictures and the following alternate The Mist Trail link.

The Mist Trail

The Mist Trail next to Vernal Fall is a spectacular climb along side Vernal Fall up to the top of Vernal Fall. Join us for this spectacular hike in our Yosemite National Park Mist Trail video of Vernal Fall (sometimes called Vernal Falls)