The Road Trip 2012: Yosemite Day 2

We had a few things planned that we wanted to do. The forecast for today was beautiful and we planned to hike to the top of Yosemite Falls.

We drove to the trail head and got an early start. I have to remind you that Yosemite Valley is about 4,000 feet above sea level. The top of Yosemite falls is another 2,400 ft. The beginning of the hike was only a glimpse of how steep and high this trail was, but we had plenty of tree coverage for a while. 

About 1/3 of the way you get a great view of the upper falls. It is so high and massive! The mist felt great because it started to get hot and we were in direct sunlight the rest of the hike up.

As we climber higher it got a lot hotter and the elevation was taking it's toll on me, but we made a lot of friends on the way up.

 I kept reminding Wayne that if he pushed me off the edge he would have to drive back home all by himself.

And after 4 hours of hiking to the top, sore and tired legs, we made it to the top.

Do you notice the sign on the bottom right? It is basically telling you not to jump for swim in the water. DUH! It is rushing down a waterfall with a 2,400ft drop! What is sad is that they needed to put up a sign in the first place. People die every year at Yosemite for swimming in rivers and get swept away down a water fall.

We took an hour to rest and enjoy the scenery before making the dreaded hike down. If you are not a hiker you may think that hiking up is harder, but you are oh so wrong! It took up 3 hours to hike down, taking plenty of stops to rest aching knees. I hurt so bad! We went straight back to camp, made dinner and went to bed.