Upper Yosemite Falls trail and the Mariposa Grove

Mariposa Grove

This will be my last post on Yosemite…at least until I return again.  Packed up all of my gear and headed to the Ahwahnee for my $50 breakfast (see a couple posts below).  Visited the park office and spoke with a ranger who recommended the Upper Yosemite Falls trail as a good option for a 3-4 hour hike.  I knew that I wasn’t going to try to make it all the way to the top of the falls because I also wanted to try to make it to the Mariposa Grove to see the redwood trees.

The UYF trail is a slight incline that quickly becomes a long series of ass-kicking switchbacks up the mountainside.  I can’t remember how many switchbacks I counted before the trail levels off but it has to be 50 plus.   Once you reach the top, there is a 20 or 30 minute relatively level walk to you get a good view of the falls.  I stopped once I got to the viewpoint and took photos for 30 minutes or so and then headed directly back down.

I hopped in the car and took CA route 41S for the 90 minute drive down to Mariposa Grove.  45 minutes of the drive was spent behind a blue VW Beetle that  drove an average of 30 miles an hour.  I felt like I was in a funeral procession as there was a 15 car long line of vehicles behind this car.  Some people are just totally oblivious; my biggest test of patience the entire trip.  It was so bad that the drive in the car behind the VW must have dozed off and almost drove off the side of the mountain–their car quickly swerved to the right and kicked up huge puff of dirt.  They would have fallen several thousand feet if they wouldn’t have caught themselves.

Oh well, that was the excitement for the day but both trips were great and I have many photos to share below.