Buena Yosemite: Nevada Fall, Illilouette Fall, and Half Dome View

Yosemite National Park

DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7 | DAY 8

static map — Purple line for day 7. Click for interactive map

While we thought we'd met quite enough people on the previous day, we were prepared to meet even more on this day. Still, it is super annoying to have to wait for a bathroom miles into the backcountry where no fewer than 4 are provided side by side. It's on the side of the camp where the day hikers, with their precious permits won in a lottery or their hopes that someone with an extra spot will let them through, slide past and they frequently stopped for it.

467: lighter rock over dark trees — Half Dome looms over the camp at Little Yosemite Valley, just about to get hit with dawn sun.

We headed back to the trail on the opposite side of camp from the stream of day hikers. That trail joined the John Muir Trail soon enough and every few minutes another group came along.

471: swimming hole — The Merced River is stomped all over at any possible swimming hole edge.

472: trail down — Somehow just us on the John Muir Trail for a moment.

474: small dome — Liberty Cap, just about to Nevada Fall.

The top of Nevada Fall had a group here and there. It was actually less crowded than the trail since it is a slight diversion from the common route to Half Dome. It would be reasonable for day hikers to plan to stop by in the afternoon when the sun might hit the water. We ignored those that were there for anything beyond a polite hello as we scrambled around looking for the various views.

475: bridge and lots of flat granite — Just one person visible at the bridge above Nevada Fall.

476: canyon walls — Yosemite Valley is just two big turns from here.

There's a steep, rough trail down to an old view point on the north side of the waterfall. We tried that first.

478: top cascade — The top cascade of Nevada Fall.

480: directly down — And the rest of Nevada Fall.

That lookout point was not quite what we were hoping for to look at the waterfall. We moved on.

482: churning water — From the bridge we see the upper section of Nevada Fall has lovely potholes.

I tried to interest the boys in heading on down to see Vernal Fall, maybe even from the bottom. Not myself, since I've seen it in so many water levels, and although it's not all that far, there's some elevation on the way. There was little interest. There'd been no interest in sneaking up Half Dome late in the day, either, but this wouldn't have any legality problems. We headed for the Panorama Trail, but I did want to take a short spur along John Muir to the best view I knew of of Nevada Fall. Daniil came along.

482: domes and a waterfall — Nevada Fall and those domes again.

483: just the waterfall — Closer in on Nevada Fall.

The trail was even more treacherous than I remembered. It still has moisture dripping from above and slick rocks to walk across, but now a chunk of the rock it is blasted into has shifted outward. There was caution tape keeping us off the cleaving section. The closure to repair it was already scheduled because otherwise when that rock goes, it'll find quite a few tourists. We went as far as there is good open space to look out, then turned back to climb to Panorama.

484: rock wall — Mystery wall that could be part of that old road from Glacier Point to Little Yosemite Valley. If so, it was constructed at a steeper grade than the trail now uses.

We got a few more looks at Nevada Fall along the way.

487: waterfall top — Another view of Nevada Fall, or at least the top half.

Our original plan had been to take a slightly more backcountry route to finish our loop, but we decided to brave the crowds and pass by Illilouette Fall as it was likely more scenic. We stayed on the Panorama Trail.

489: three domes and a mountain, but not by name — Half Dome and Liberty Cap have another between them: Mount Broderick. The peak behind is Clouds Rest.

490: waterfall with holes at the top — One last look at Nevada Fall, just the top.

491: canyon — And at the upper Merced River.

We followed the trail around to spaces above Illilouette Creek to an old spur to a viewpoint to see something that looked more like what we saw at Glacier Point than what we'd been looking at.

492: Yosemite Valley — Yosemite Valley panorama from Panorama Point. Royal Arch front and center. Half Dome now on quite a chunk of granite.

And then we found ourselves in a canyon that was a bit less interesting at first glance.

493: canyon with a lot of green coverage — Illilouette Creek has a very green canyon.

We descended into the canyon and worked hard to see Illilouette Fall, but none of our efforts seemed to pay off. The trail slips in close to the cliff, but that doesn't offer anything but audio.

494: details of the far side of a cliff area — The far side seems to have caves and dribbling water and interesting audio effects, to be sure, but no waterfall view here.

496: people playing in the water — Illilouette Creek from the bridge, downstream view.

After crossing the bridge, we found a trail following the creek toward the waterfall. This gave us some view, but not really what we were looking for. It had a better view of the interesting caves of the gorge below, though. There's lots of fun potholes to look over near the waterfall, too.

498: top of Illilouette Fall — Just the very top of Illilouette Fall.

499: shallow caves — Just shallow caves, but caves in the gorge wall.

502: waterfall cut as a window — The waterfall view of the valley, sort of.

It was actually the easiest viewpoint to get to that offered something near a complete view of Illilouette Fall. Just off the edge of the switchback on the way up the other side we finally got to really see it.

504: waterfall from top to probably very near the bottom — Illilouette Fall.

505: structure of the top of the fall — The lovely details at the top of the waterfall.

506: waterfall with the vast scenery — Illilouette Fall in context.

507: potholes at the very top — A closer look at the chutes and potholes at the very top.

Having finally got a good look at the waterfall, we were ready to climb a little more and then turn off this crowded trail. We found our way upstream, high above the creek. Eventually we got down near the water again.

508: wide canyon with peaks peeking from the left — Following trail high above Illilouette Creek.

509: water and trees — Sometimes Illilouette Creek can manage to be mundane.

511: gently curved rock with water down the middle — Sometimes it seems like a channel.

513: chutes and potholes in another drop — More drops, albeit little, decorated with potholes.

514: holes in the rocks — Potholes of all ages.

We were expecting a dry camp, so grabbed water a little before the trail started leaving the creek once more. Then we passed the only group we'd seen since turning off the crowded trail by the waterfall. We climbed a little, turned at a junction, and climbed a bit more, heading for a specific contour on the map that looked surely campable.

515: lumps of granite — Mount Starr King.

516: purple bulges — Mountain jewel flowers are always a treat.

We found ourselves in an old burn, the 2004 Meadow Fire. Sometimes there was secondary burn from the 2017 Empire Fire, the burn we started in. Getting close to full circle.

517: peaks and clouds — Still not our turn for weather. Red Peak is out there under those clouds.

We got out to the spot that looked so campable on the map and found that others had thought so too, but not today. It was all ours today. And the view from it was spectacular! It was, maybe, a little exposed. But it was just over 2 miles from the road, so legal.