Yosemite 2026

​Day 1

We arrived at Yosemite early afternoon on a perfect Monday in mid May. 

El Capitan gave us an imposing welcome as we made our way through Yosemite Valley to our campsite at Camp 4.

Camp 4 sits below Yosemite Falls (zoom in on the upper left of the picture above) and quickly fills with groups of climbers and hikers. REI gear everywhere. 

We set up camp, then headed east through the valley. After an obligatory (and lovely) photo op at Lower Yosemite Falls, we made our way to the trailhead for the Mist Trail. 

Lower Yosemite Falls

My son Alec is one of my favorite adventuring companions. Nearing the end of his medical residency, he planned a quick trip to Yosemite to decompress and enjoy the best of California before moving. Happily, that coincided with my birthday. Win, win!

First stop on the Mist Trail is Vernal Falls. The waterfall is impressive…as are the stairs that make up over half of the trail. With 7 miles round-trip and 2000 feet of elevation gain, that’s a fair number of stairs.

Leaving Vernal Falls behind, we hiked another short but steep 1.3 miles up to Nevada Falls.

Some of the more gentle stairs along the way…

Liberty Cap (above) forms a stunning backdrop to Nevada falls

Because we started late in the afternoon, we had Nevada falls mostly to ourselves.

The John Muir trail was closed between Nevada falls and Vernal falls, so we made our way back down the hundreds (thousands? sure felt like it!) of stairs to the trailhead. 

Once down the trail we headed back through the valley to Camp 4, walking the last couple of miles under the stars. All in all, between the Mist Trail and walking through the valley, we hiked/walked over 13 miles. After a month of almost no exercise (broken toe and pneumonia), it felt great to move again!

Half Dome at night

Notice the tiny light halfway up the cliff. Yosemite is a rock climber’s playground. The bigger cliffs can require multiple days to climb, so climbers will sleep suspended off the side of the cliff in specialized hanging tents called portaledges. From down below, the headlamps twinkling on the cliff face look like stars. We saw just one on this cliff, but El Capitan (which takes most climbers 3-6 days to climb) can have dozens of hikers sleeping thousands of feet in the air.

Day 2

Celebrated my 59th birthday in style! Perfect setting (hiking in Yosemite), delicious food (because nothing tastes better than a peanut butter and honey sandwich at the top of a hike), great company, views galore.

After a quick breakfast, we walked a short way from our campsite to the trailhead for Upper Yosemite Falls and Yosemite Point. 9.5 miles round trip, with around 3000’ elevation gain. And stairs from the get go. 

Yosemite Valley facing east, with Half Dome in the background

Yosemite Valley facing west

Did I mention stairs? Despite the fact that I rather hate hiking stairs, the trail construction in Yosemite is pretty amazing.

About halfway up the trail we reached a viewpoint that offers phenomenal views of Upper Yosemite Falls.

Upper Yosemite Falls and Half Dome

From the overlook, we continued on to the top of the falls.

Took some sketchy stairs to a rather underwhelming overlook. 

The view from the top was much better.

A bridge crosses the creek just a short way before it tumbles over the cliff.

Across the bridge, the trail continues on to Yosemite Point (6900’ elevation), where you can see the whole valley and beyond.

Looking east down the valley

Looking west (Half Dome on the left)

Gotta have the Half Dome selfie!

From rocks to waterfalls, towering trees to wildflowers, Yosemite highlights so many textures and vibrant colors.

After lunch at the top, we made our way back down. Of course I couldn’t resist taking more photos of all the same views in slightly different light.

It’s hard to fathom that we stood on top of the cliff just above and to the right of the waterfall.

Back in camp, we relaxed for a bit, then spent the rest the afternoon wandering the valley, walking two miles to the showers, meandering through meadows, and playing tourist.

So many double trees look like that many giants standing on their heads with just their legs sticking up above the ground.

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls and a distant view of our morning hike.

The Merced River winds through Yosemite Valley

Yet another waterfall pic before spending a quiet evening in camp.

Day 3

We decided to have a lazy morning for our last day in Yosemite. Since our camp was just west of Lower Yosemite Falls, all of our valley jaunts started there.

Had to get up close and personal with the falls, of course, before wandering through the Ansel Adams gallery.

Alec bought me a print of Yosemite Falls showing the lower, middle and upper falls, and as we strolled through the valley we saw the exact vantage point of the photo.

This is my photo. The professional photo is much better, naturally, but fun to see the spot.

We broke camp, then took a final quick and easy 5-mile walk past Mirror Lake.

Half Dome 

Mount Watkins, across from Half Dome

We found a peaceful spot on the river to contemplate.

Calling Mirror Lake a lake is a bit of a stretch, but the views are great.

A garden of cairns adds a little whimsy along the Mirror Lake trail.

We began our Yosemite adventure with towering cliffs and ended with delicately balanced rocks. Between hikes and valley wandering, we walked 35 miles in 3 days…so much easier than backpacking! I believe Yosemite is quickly climbing the list of my favorite natural parks.