8 min
Overview
A nearly 13 mile loop that hits some of the highlights of Yosemite National Park. This route starts out with a refreshing soak from Vernal Falls on the Mist Trail, then treats you to great views of Nevada Falls and Half Dome before giving wide vistas of the Valley Floor from the Panorama Trail and Glacier Point. A knee-busting descent on the Four Mile Trail takes you through some welcome shade and back down to the valley floor. This is a challenging but incredible way to spend a day in the park. Yosemite National Park has a well-deserved reputation as an outdoorsperson’s paradise. The landscape is rugged and breathtaking, and the trail system is top-notch. I’ll always remember the first time I set eyes on Yosemite Valley, and if you’ve never been there yourself, you’ll most definitely have the same experience. There’s so much to see, it’s tough to soak it in all at once – but if you want to get a few great tastes of what the park has to offer, you should consider spending a day on the High Sierra Loop. The trail starts at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley. Cars are kind of a hindrance on the floor – especially during the summer – so ditch the wheels at the central parking area and take the free shuttle to the Happy Isles Nature Center stop, then hop off and look for the signs for the Mist Trail. This stretch of the trail is likely to be crowded. Not only is it the starting point for Half Dome, but it’s also a great short hike to the drenching cascades of Vernal Falls – a very popular destination on hot summer days. The Mist Trail is a 2.6 mile trail that follows a branch of the Merced River as it tumbles down from the Sierras. It starts off on a manageable paved path, but after crossing the river becomes a more uneven, but still fairly wide path. There are railings on some of the steeper drop-offs, but you should exercise extra care here, as most of the time the trail is completely drenched from mist from Vernal Falls. Many of the waterfalls in Yosemite are fed by snowmelt, and can be reduced to trickles by th
Trail Stats
23.3 km
952 m
2219 m
1251 m
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