Distance: 17.5 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 6644' (high point on Panorama Trail)
Elevation Gain: 4200'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 3.3
Round trip time: 9 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 116 oz.
Parking/Fees: $35 National Parks Fee (one car for one week)
Difficulty: Strenuous
Leisa and I took drove to Yosemite Valley for a multi-day waterfall tour. On our biggest day, we visited Vernal Fall, Nevada Fall, and Illilouette Falls. Illilouette was new for us and is usually a short hike from Glacier Point. However, Glacier Point and the road to it were closed for renovation, so we had to get to it the hard way. Our path started at the Mist trailhead. We began at sunrise to avoid crowds on the way up. They would annoy us on the way down.
We had visited Vernal and Nevada on our Half Dome hike five years ago, but they were flowing much stronger in spring. A super soaker spray rose from the bottom of Vernal to drench everthing in the vicinity. As we climbed toward Nevada, we could see Illilouette Falls far away on the other side. When we reached Nevada, it roared with the same ferocity as Vernal. We had not been to the lookout point just below Nevada, so that was a new perspective.
From Nevada Fall, we took the Panorama Trail that runs along the north valley rim. This area was new for us. All of the trails were in great shape. A series of switchbacks took us another 1000' above the rim, with most of the trail a running stream. There were also a few trees down on this section that required going around or under. We had great views of Yosemite Falls on the other side and a great look back at Nevada. Eventually, we started descending down toward Illilouette Creek. We crossed a bridge over the wide creek, then ascended a short distance to the optimal viewing point for Illilouette Falls. We took a long lunch break here. We returned the way we came. On the way back, we took a short use trail through some cut manzanita to Panorama Point, an unofficial Peakbagger summit. There was a broken metal pole there and a missing benchmark. Back at Nevada, there was a throng of people and it was conga line descending back to Vernal. To shake the crowds, we took the JMT back to the trailhead, trading elevation gain for some peace. The vertical valley walls added some noise to the GPS track, so the stats lack precision, but are in the ballpark.
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