Vernal Fall Mist Trail
— — the trail that walks you straight through a waterfall.
Not only on a wall.
“A switchback of granite steps cut into the south wall of Little Yosemite Valley, climbing alongside the spray of Vernal Fall on the Merced River. The waterfall drops 317 feet over a single granite shelf, and the spray comes off it so heavily in late spring that hikers arrive at the top soaked to the shins. There are about six hundred steps cut into the rock. The trail keeps going above the fall, across the granite apron at Emerald Pool, to the brink of Nevada Fall another mile up. Rainbows form in the gorge on sunny mornings; the route is closed in winter when ice sheets the steps.
Vernal Fall Mist Trail, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
The place, in three passes.
Vernal Fall drops 317 feet over a granite shelf on the Merced River in Yosemite Valley, California, about a mile and a half upstream of the Happy Isles trailhead at the east end of the valley floor. The Mist Trail is the National Park Service route that climbs the south side of the gorge alongside the fall, gaining roughly 1,000 feet of elevation by way of about six hundred granite steps cut into the rock. The trail continues above Vernal Fall to the brink of Nevada Fall, another 594 feet tall, on the same river. The full Mist Trail loop, returning by the John Muir Trail, runs around 5.4 miles. The route lies entirely within Yosemite National Park.
The spray that gives the trail its name comes off Vernal Fall most heavily from late April through June, when Sierra Nevada snowmelt drives the Merced River to peak discharge. In a strong runoff year the fall pushes well over two thousand cubic feet per second over the lip, and the lower switchbacks can be walked under a steady curtain of windblown water. Rainbows form across the gorge in late morning when the sun is right. By August the river drops, the spray pulls back toward the base of the fall, and the steps dry. Vernal Fall is one of two named waterfalls fed directly by the Merced inside the valley, the other being Nevada Fall above it.
The Mist Trail begins at the Happy Isles trailhead, reachable on foot from the Yosemite Valley shuttle stop or by a short walk from Curry Village. The round trip to the top of Vernal Fall and back runs about 2.4 miles with roughly 1,000 feet of climbing; continuing to the top of Nevada Fall extends the loop to about 5.4 miles. The granite steps are wet from spring snowmelt and slick, so the Park Service closes the steeper upper section in winter and routes hikers over the John Muir Trail instead. Sturdy shoes, a light rain shell, and water are standard. Traffic is heavy from late May through July; early morning starts move around the queues.