Yosemite Photos (Part II)

Many of the photos from the second full day at Yosemite are from the Mist Trail, one of the most popular hiking trails in Yosemite National Park if not the entire country, which takes you up the roaring Vernal Falls as it sprays you all over. If you so desire, which I did, you can continue on to Nevada Falls upriver. It is a trail that everyone who visits Yosemite should look into, even if the elevation gain is significant. The views are worth it. There's nothing like it in the world.

Now, I only mention this because this popular trail is the site of many deaths each year, usually due to people taking a dip in the Emerald Pool after the climb up Vernal Falls. It looks like a calm swimming hole just a hundred feet from the top of 360-foot Vernal Falls, and it sure looks enticing to cool off after that tough climb. But people die every year swimming in it and being pulled over the nearby waterfall.

I was disappointed in the lack of prominent signs near the area, especially since last year was such a particularly bad year for Vernal Falls deaths. In fact, we already have a death this year of a 19-year-old who was swept over Nevada Falls while swimming in what looked like a calm area.

Now I wonder: are people getting most of their hiking information from the internet? Sites like mine? And are those internet resources giving hikers fair warning about the dangers of swimming in the river above huge waterfalls, even if the river looks calm? Perhaps this is the reason last year was particularly tragic. So here goes, my duty as an oft-ignored blogger writing about the Mist Trail: Never ever swim above a waterfall! If you plan to go on this amazing hike - and you really should - plan on not swimming. Seriously, no matter how calm it is, no swimming in the Emerald Pool or anywhere close to the waterfall's edge.

Thank you, and now on to photos!

Half Dome sunrise

Vernal Falls: one of the world's most stunning falls, plus rainbow.

Vernal Falls detail

On the trail above Vernal Falls, just past the deadly Emerald Pool

From left to right: Half Dome from the back, Liberty Cap, and 597-foot tall Nevada Falls

Classic Vernal Falls view

View from the top of 360-foot tall Vernal Falls, plus double rainbow.

Half Dome lit up with sunset

Only the tip touched the sun

Merced River

Merced River reflection

Where the sidewalk ends: Mirror Lake is slowly becoming a meadow.

Our group that made it to the top of Nevada Falls: Enrique, Mona, Alison and Joel, Rebecca, Dad, Courtney, and Me

Courtney watches Vernal Falls

Us at Vernal Falls