Upper Yosemite Falls and Yosemite Point
I woke up at 2:30am and started driving to Yosemite. I needed to get to the Yosemite Falls trailhead before 7am, because I wanted to make sure that I’d have a parking spot near the Upper Yosemite Falls trailhead. I thought maybe I could car camp outside the park, but because of work, I couldn’t quite get to Yosemite on Friday night.
As soon as I started the trail, I found the trail to be unrelenting in elevation gain. It starts off with switchbacks after switchbacks, and then, when I thought that there couldn’t possibly be more, that’s exactly what I got.
After about 30 minutes of hard hiking, I arrived at Columbia Rocks. This is when I found out that I definitely over-packed warm layers. It was just 7am in the morning, and the ambient temperature couldn’t have been above 50 degrees, but I found myself taking off my sweater and converting my pants to be shorts. If I were smart, I would’ve worn my running shorts and would not have brought my jacket (which I also had in the backpack).
I hadn’t put in my headphones until this point, as I thought I should “enjoy the sounds of nature.” But that was me trying too hard to be someone I’m not. I put in my headphones and started listening to an audiobook. Being able to concentrate on the audiobook made the hike so much more bearable. Without it, I would focus on how much I was struggling and how tired my body felt, but with the headphones in, all that extra stuff seemed to melt away. My various body parts became less human, with their own needs and emotions, and became more robotic—they just moved as they were supposed to, without (much) complaint.
The Upper Yosemite Falls came into view, which meant that the switchbacks were back, and the hike became really tough. When I try to remember this portion, my perception of time seems to both standstill and fast-forward. Standstill in that I have vivid memories of certain sections and specific people I saw, but fast-forward in that this entire section is a blur.
Before I knew it, I was at the top. I walked to the Yosemite Falls Overlook, and got to experience the super sketchy stairs built into the rock-side with metal railings to hold on to. The steps are no more than 1 ft wide in places, with a 30+ ft drop to hard granite rock. But I made it down without drama. There was no one down at the overlook, so I ate a quick snack, put on some sunblock, and caught my breath. I then hiked back up the sketchy steps and perched myself next to the river and made small talk with a hiking friend I made.
I couldn’t chat too long, as I wanted to finish the hike before noon, so I quickly made my way to Yosemite Point. I didn’t originally plan on going here, but it was only a mile away from the overlook and I was ahead of schedule. So I went, and there were more switchbacks. Even though these switchbacks were less steep than the ones on the Upper Yosemite Falls trail, they somehow seemed just as hard. Maybe it was the elevation.
Once I got to the Yosemite Point, I enjoyed the views, put on more sunblock and made small talk with a couple that was resting there. Funny enough, the three hikers I made small talk with were all from San Diego! We talked about our favorite hiking trails at Yosemite, shared snacks, and enjoyed the conversation. The couple told me that they were going to go up to Glacier Point that night to enjoy the stars. What a beautiful idea!
After a bit, I bid them adieu and started hiking down. On the way, I stopped by Yosemite Creek to put my feet in the water. I was only able to dunk it in for about 5 seconds (the water was freezing). Still, those five seconds were wondrous.
As I started hiking down, I kept having to stop because there were so many people coming up the trail. I was glad that I started hiking at 6:30am instead of 8am. Because there were so many people, I took out my headphones. It was really fun being a trail cheerleader, telling people who looked really tired that they were doing great or that they were close to the next point of interest. I think most people appreciated it, so I felt like I was doing some good. I also noticed that about 10% of people would have these faces of intense concentration or fatigue, but when they noticed that I was letting them pass on the trail, would do a complete 180, and shine a beautiful smile in my direction. Those people really made my day.
As I stopped at almost every switchback to let people pass, it made me realize the actual number of switchbacks I had gone up, I didn’t remember more than half of these! Going down the trail, I felt like a ping pong ball going down a repetitive Rube Goldberg machine.
This is also where the hiking poles earned their stay as one thing I will not hike without in the future. It just helped me so much in terms of stability, especially going downhill. With my feet slipping on granite covered in sand, the hiking poles saved me from falling countless times. Also, when I had to jump from higher up places, my arms could cushion my fall and help my feet stay fresh.
After I was down on the valley floor, I looked up, saw Upper Yosemite Falls one last time. I felt so proud that I had hiked the most difficult of my life without struggling as much as I thought I would. It made me beam for about 15 seconds. And then I felt tired. I wanted to eat lunch. And so, I got in my car and started driving home.
What I Learned:
I packed too much warm clothes in my backpack. I mean, not a huge deal because I had wanted to carry 10+ lbs on my backpack for testing-myself-purposes, but for the future, I really need to get out of the habit of over-packing clothes. In 50 degree weather, I now know I can hike comfortably in shorts and a t-shirt.
One of my goals for this or next year is to hike up Kennedy Mountain at Kings Canyon. The hike to Kennedy Mountain is double this hike—instead of 10 miles and 3500 ft elevation gain, it’s 20 miles and 7000 ft of elevation gain. It sounded impossible before this hike, but after proving myself… I am now beginning to believe.
I always thought of myself as not-a-morning-person, but today showed me that maybe I should try to be. I loved hiking before the temperatures got too hot, preventing me from over-heating. There were also far fewer people on the trail early in the morning, and people make me anxious.
I am a full trekking-pole convert. I don’t even know how I used to hike without them. They help so much when going up (by allowing you to use your arms to help pull you up) and going down (it must have prevented me from falling at least 5 times).
I drank about 1.5L of water during the 10 miles, with another .5L drunk when I was done. What I should have done was to carry 1L of water and a filter as there were small streams every few miles. That would have saved me 2 lbs.
I bought extra snacks to share with hiking friends and it worked well. I will continue to bring small treats for random trail friends.
I was surprised at how many iPhone pictures I ended up liking compared to my Fuji. It has something to do w/the fact that I only brought a 50mm lens, which was awkward for the types of photos I wanted to take. In the future, I should just bring my Fuji with something wider (35mm) or not bring it at all.
I hiked this in trail running shoes, and it worked out really well. I had no blisters and didn’t have any ankle support issues.
10.1 miles, 5 hrs and 43 min, 3589 ft of ascent
Hike Review:
This hike was the hardest hike I’ve ever done in my life (I’ve never hiked more than 2200 ft in one day) and it was easier than I had expected.
On the way up, every time I thought, “this has got to be the last set of switchbacks”, there were more switchbacks.
After Columbia Rock, there’s a point where the trail loses a bit of elevation, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach—that was elevation that I had earned on the switchbacks and I was going to have to earn it back.
The view are gorgeous just about everywhere on this trail. It’s even partially shaded!
I thought it’d take 3 hours to hike up to Upper Yosemite Falls, but I made it there in 2.
On the trail to Yosemite Point, there are switchbacks which are not clearly marked, so it can get a little confusing.
I hear that if you do this hike in September or October, that the pools on top of the Falls are swimmable.