The Yosemite Mist Trail is one of those National Parks bucket list hikes every serious hiking enthusiast has either done, or thinks about doing. I recently did this hike (3rd week in June 2023), so I’ll share some tips and tricks on getting you from Happy Isles to the top of Nevada Falls.
What is unique about hiking this trail in the summer of 2023, is that California has had an anomalous amount of precipitation this winter. So heavy amounts of snow in the Sierras (record snow pack for Yosemite) are now translating to record water flows down Yosemite’s falls. And that includes the Mist Trail’s Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls.
Check for JMT closures
The John Muir Trail, or JMT, is a popular return trail, after climbing up to the top of Nevada Falls. Not only does it afford some great views of Nevada Falls in the distance, but using it means you don’t have to deal with the treacherous, steep, wet, granite staircases next to Vernal Falls, and on the switchbacks next to Nevada Falls on your way back.
It was closed when I was there, so I had no choice but to go back down those steep staircases. But I would have much rather gone back down the longer, less dangerous, more gradually sloped JMT.
There is a sign, as you’re walking the path from Happy Isles to the Mist Trail trailhead, that will tell you the current closure status of the JMT.
There’s also an information stand at the day use parking area, next to the Yosemite Valley Lodge parking area, where you can ask about the JMT.
Lastly you can look online on Yosemite’s Wilderness Conditions page to check the current status of the JMT in the Yosemite Valley. Just note the cell reception in Yosemite Valley is not reliable, so use your hotel’s Wi-Fi to check before you head to the trail.
Get there early
I started the hike at the Yosemite Valley Trailhead Parking Lot at around 8am. It’s a bit of a hike just to get to the JMT/Mist Trail trailhead from the parking lot, so keep that in mind. But more to the point, the lot was already almost full by the time I arrived. And the Mist Trail was already full of people by the time I walked the 0.6 miles to the trailhead!
I’d say your best bet of beating the crowd is camping at Curry Village or the Upper Pines Campground then getting going at sunrise.
Or alternately, you could stay at Yosemite Valley Lodge and drive to the Yosemite Valley Trailhead Parking Lot at that same time. I say drive, because the free bus, that can take you from the Lodge to Happy Isles, will take forever; you could lose an hour just waiting for, and taking the bus.
Staying at Yosemite Cedar Lodge or Yosemite View Lodge is a good option
I actually stayed at Yosemite Cedar Lodge, which is in or near El Portal on CA-140. I think I left the hotel somewhere between 7am and 7:30am and got to the lot around 8am. In that 7 to 7:30am time period, there’s very little traffic on Highway 140, and there was only like 4 cars in front of me, when I arrived at the park entrance kiosk, where you pay to get in.
I’ve stayed in Yosemite West before, and I think getting to Yosemite Valley via Yosemite Cedar Lodge is faster: the road is less curvy, and you’re not going to drive off a cliff, like you would on Wawona Road, coming from Yosemite West, if you make a wrong move, so you can drive faster. Plus you don’t have to deal with slow poke busses and camper vans, like you do on Wawona. Finally, you don’t have to deal with the tunnel and Tunnel View, with all the people crossing the road, bottle-necking the traffic there.
I also noticed three one-way sections on Wawona Road, between the town of Wawona and the Valley, when I was coming from Los Angeles, where cars had to stop at a stop sign, or in one case, a temporary traffic light.
Bonus tip for starting early: Bring your Jetboil or equivalent backpacking stove to your hotel
A good way to get a head start on the day is to use a Jetboil, or other backpacking stove, to heat up water and re-hydrate some of those freeze-dried backpacking food bags for your breakfast. This is a much faster option than going to a restaurant, or Yosemite Lodge’s Base Camp Eatery to get you fed for the trail. Plus it’s hardier than just a Cliff Bar and peanut trail mix; keep in mind you’ll be burning some serious calories on this hike.
I brought my Jetboil and used it on the balcony, in front of my hotel room. I had scrambled eggs and oatmeal one morning, and sausage gravy and biscuits then next.
Get in shape before you attempt this hike
The Mist Trail is mostly all uphill. It starts off at an elevation of 4022 feet above sea level and tops off at 5983 feet, over 2 and 2/3rds of a mile, according to Cal Topo. The granite staircases involve asymmetric stairs that are often at a much steeper slope than a residential staircase. The height between stairs is sometimes significantly greater than those of a residential staircase too. You need lower body strength and balance to do the hike. Indeed the only folks that didn’t seem to have a problem with the stairs were active, long-legged children and teens!
My Pre-Yosemite Routine
Here’s what I did to get in shape: I kept hiking the same steep trail, over and over, near where I live. If you’re in Los Angeles or the San Fernando Valley, the trail is called the Grotto Trail, from O’Melveny Park to Mission Point. You climb 1000 feet over a little over a mile, with three ultra steep sections. Then you go up another 500 feet over another half-mile, after a momentary pause in the climb.
Related: Check out my article on the Grotto Trail at O’Melveny Park by clicking this link.
I also did lower body strength training, using a routine from Fitness Blender’s Youtube channel. I used two 15lb dumbbells to do the routine. Back in the day, I used to use two 25lb dumbbells for this routine, but I’ve got a bulging disc in my lower back that I didn’t want to flare up before my trip. After doing this routine, I would immediately drink a Naked Mass + milk shake to replete protein and carbs. Then I wouldn’t hike for the next two days afterward to let my legs rest and regain their muscle mass. Doing this routine made my O’Melveny Park excursions significantly easier.
Related: Check out my review of Naked Mass Chocolate protein/carbohydrate powder. There I explain why and how you can use a mass building supplement for endurance training. Hint: your muscles need both protein and carbs to replete their losses during heavy endurance training, and consuming them together synergistically amplifies their effects on your muscles.
Prepare to get wet
Because of the record snow pack at Yosemite this year, the waterfalls are raging like they haven’t raged for decades. You will get wet.
90% of the soaking you’ll receive comes from Vernal Falls. There’s water flying at you sideways from the Falls and river spraying the area. There’s large pools, and small streams of water flowing down the granite staircases in select places. Wind from the power of the Falls comes at you too, carrying water droplets. Basically you feel like your in a rainstorm in places during this part of the hike.
Nevada Falls has a lot less ‘mist’ to soak you, but there is one spot before the switchbacks that the droplets are coming down credibly. And on the granite staircases on the switchbacks there is a stream flowing down them in one place.
What to wear on the Yosemite Mist Trail – the basics
Tops
For your top, you should wear a base layer made out of merino wool, or a synthetic blend fabric with NO COTTON. These base layers dry out quickly in the sun. It was cold during the first part of the hike, so I used a long sleeved, medium weight merino wool base layer. Merino wool keeps you warm, even when it gets a little moist.
Bottoms
For your pants, again use synthetic base layer leggings and/or dedicated synthetic hiking pants.
Because it was cold at first, I had both REI men’s leggings and Columbia convertible hiking pants. These both dried out really quickly after getting a bit moist (from sweat or mist, I’m not sure, since I also wore rain pants during the Vernal Falls staircase climb). The hiking pants also were durable regarding scraping up against the various granite walls on the stairs and switchbacks. And they didn’t mind me scooting around on the giant slabs of granite found at the top of both Vernal and Nevada Falls as I sat to dry out.
I noticed lots of women elected to go with sports/yoga leggings. Not sure how they held up to scraping against the granite, but they worked for drying out quickly.
Underwear
Again non-cotton, synthetic or merino wool blend underwear is your best bet for drying out quickly after getting misted/showered. I used REI merino wool boxer briefs and felt dry all day.
Socks
Merino wool lightweight socks are a good option for quick drying. That’s what I used.
What to wear – choose your own adventure
Option One – Try to stay dry as possible
To try to stay as dry as possible, you may want to do what I did: I had a rain shell jacket, and rain pants packed in my pack. I also had a rain shell for my pack. Further I put a trash bag liner inside my pack to protect a fleece mid layer I brought. And things like my phone battery and headlamp were placed in zip lock baggies. I also brought a poncho, but ended up not using it.
When the wet part was coming up for Vernal Falls, I pulled my rain gear out of my pack, put it on, and once to the top of the Falls, I took it back off and placed all of it on the slabs of granite to dry out in the sun. Within 15 or so minutes, everything was dry and I could repack it.
I also went with waterproof Gortex hiking shoes. A little bit of water would trickle down from my rain pants and into the insides of my shoes, but it was rather unmentionable and dried out for the most part by taking my shoes off at the top of Vernal Falls and letting them sunbathe, while I ate a snack.
My gear line up
My gear line up was the following: Columbia Men’s Glennaker Rain Jacket, 33,000ft brand rain paints from Amazon, and Salomon X Ultra 4 GTX hiking shoes. The Columbia rain jacket felt a bit moist on the inside once I got to the top of Vernal Falls, either from the water saturating its nylon material, or from the sweat I was producing, climbing all those stairs. Either way, it dried very quickly at the top.
I also had in my pack waterproof gaiters, but elected not to use them, as the loops that go under your shoes could possibly grab hold of a stray bit of cobbled granite on the stairs and trip me up. They would have been perfect for the JMT if it would have rained, like it was supposed to, but it ended up not raining and the JMT was closed, as previously mentioned.
Option Two – Just get wet and dry out at the top
You’re other option is just let yourself get wet, then sit in the sun at the top of Vernal Falls for 15 to 30 minutes and dry out. The sun hits the massive granite slabs at the top, and warms them up, so you can place clothing on them and between the heat from the granite and the sun above, it dries quickly.
That means bringing fast drying trail running shoes, like Altra’s, and lightweight synthetic socks. A synthetic top would likely dry faster than a merino wool one, so go for that. It’s just not as warm.
Don’t wear sandals
I saw some folks walking in sandals. I don’t recommend this option as 1) the friction coefficient on a sandal outsole isn’t near as good as that of a dedicated hiking shoe, and 2) your going to stub your toes on all that granite cobbled together like a jagged puzzle on the trail.
Related: See my article where I calculate the friction coefficient for my various hiking shoes and sandals.
The main advantage here is that you’re not bringing a bunch of extra stuff in your pack, so it’s lighter.
Keep your phone/camera dry!
If you don’t use my ‘try to stay as dry as possible’ option above, be sure to find a way to keep your phone/camera dry. A Ziploc baggie might do the trick, especially if you also bring a baggie with a quick drying towel.
I brought a towel in a baggie called a PackTowel from REI. It was helpful 2/3rds up Vernal Falls when my glasses lenses were totally soaked.
Hiking Navigation and Communication
90% of the time, the Mist Trail is perfectly marked, and starkly obvious regarding which way to go. As long as you travel in a group, and/or hike the trail between 8am and 5pm in the summer, when it’s full of people, you likely could get away without having a map, compass, Gaia GPS app, satellite communicator device, or even phone. Even if you don’t know where you are between the two falls, you can just listen for the sound of the river, and follow it back down to Vernal Falls. And most of the time you can see the massive Liberty Cap which is right next to Nevada Falls.
However there were a few places between the two falls where you could easily wander off the trail, lose your sense of direction, and get lost going the wrong way. This is especially true if it’s dark. Hence you’re going to want to bring a phone with the free Gaia GPS map app on it (it’s good to have even for driving around Yosemite Valley, if it’s your first time in the park), a paper map and compass in a Ziploc bag (and know how to use these items), a headlamp, a whistle, and a charging battery for your phone.
Zoleo Satellite Communicator
I also bring a satellite communication device – a Zoleo – everywhere I go now, as I’ve seen too many stories of wilderness deaths that could have been 100% prevented, if the person that was lost would have just activated the SOS button on their device, had they had one. I had close to zero cell service on this trail, so my Zoleo also let me text my girlfriend and dad, as to my progress on the trail, since I was going at it alone.
Check out my review of my Zoleo device here, if you want to give your trail safety a giant boost, and protect yourself and loved ones in the wilderness.
One more note on the Zoleo: if you’re truly unsure of your outcome, as you’re lost in the Yosemite wilderness, don’t hesitate to hit the SOS button. You won’t be charged for emergency services helping you get back on trail, or even coming to get you if you get stuck somewhere weird. That’s true in all of California, and in a lot of other states too. Though in some other states, they could try to charge you, if you do something, like blatantly disregard conspicuous warning signs on a trail.
If you want more info on hiking navigation and communication, please visit my page dedicated to that topic.
Leave your trekking poles in your car
I use trekking poles on most day hikes, and all backpacking trail camp hike-ins. Indeed you can read an article I wrote about why I use them by clicking this link.
You need your hands, for the Yosemite Mist Trail
But with the technical areas of the Yosemite Mist Trail, i.e. these steep granite stairs areas, that felt almost like mini-scrambles, I’d say you’d want to keep your hands free to grab adjacent objects here and there, to assist your climb. There’s sometimes railing to grab, granite walls to grab, and even stairs to grab in front of you in exceptionally steep areas. Cal Topo says the steepest slope on the trail is at a 69° grade.
Choose you pack’s rain shell usage over poles
Further my particular poles, from Cascade Mountain Tech (see my review of them here) would not allow me to put my pack’s rain shell on, were they attached to my pack in the places I needed my hands, which of course were the wet, misty areas. See how my poles attach to my Gregory Zulu 30 pack here. They’re just too long, even when folded up.
Not enough room to use poles properly, with all the people
Also, the amount of people, constantly surrounding you, jumping in front of you, and going the opposite direction, along with the narrow areas of the stairs, prevent you from ever using trekking poles properly. I saw maybe 5-10% of hikers had poles for this trail. Almost none of them were using them properly, to transfer some of the load from your lower body to your upper body when climbing. It felt like they were mostly using them as a security blanket or training wheels.
Choose your camera over poles
And lastly, if you’re going to take pictures, then finding places to set your poles down on the more treacherous but beautiful areas of the trail, especially with all the people going by you, is going to be difficult. I regularly video document my hikes (as I did this one, for sure), and I know how much of a pain it is to lean my poles against a tree, or place them on the ground, get my shots, then retrieve them.
Bring lots of food calories and hydration on the Yosemite Mist Trail
Can you bring food on the Yosemite Mist Trail?
Yes, you can pack food with you for lunch and snacks on the trail. I spent over 6 hours on this trail with a little over 4 hours of moving time, according to Strava. So definitely bring lots of calories, because this hard hike will make you hungry, and will require lots of energy to complete.
Related: Use my hiking calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you’ll burn on this hike.
Do you need a bear canister or Opsak to day hike the Yosemite Mist Trail?
No, you do not have to bear-proof your lunch or snacks, if day hiking the Mist Trail. Of the hundreds of people I hiked with on the Mist Trail, none of them had bear canisters. They just pulled their food from their packs like any other day hike, at the lunch spots.
If a bear seems interested in your food, use the black bear hazing techniques Yosemite Park recommends to scare curious bears away.
Bring salty snacks and/or electrolyte sports drinks/powders on a hot day
Because this is a multi-hour hike, where you could be sweating for long periods of time, and because you’ll naturally be consuming lots of calories/water to complete this trail, be sure to bring salty snacks, or electrolyte solutions (i.e. Gatorade) or powders, to replete the salt you’ll lose through sweating. This is especially true in the summer months.
Related: If you want to read about electrolyte and mineral losses through sweat while hiking in the heat, or figure out your sweat rate, check out the following articles I wrote on these subjects:
- Sweat, Mineral, and Micronutrient Losses Related to Hiking in High Temperatures
- How to Calculate Your Sweat Rate
- Measuring Your Sweat Rate When Hiking
- How Much Sodium Do You Lose in Sweat?
Can you leave food in your car when day hiking the Yosemite Mist Trail?
It’s never a good idea to leave food in your car in Yosemite National Park. The Park prohibits you from leaving food in your car at night, as something like 100 cars per year are destroyed by bears at night, looking for a snack. However Yosemite does allow you to leave food in your car during the daylight hours as long as your windows are completely rolled up, and there are no food items, or storage containers (even empty ones) in sight inside your car. That includes water bottles.
I left food in my car during the daylight hours of my first and last days in the Park, respectively before and after I had checked in and out of my hotel. But I stored it in the back of my Prius Prime hatchback under the black screen that keeps anybody from seeing what’s back there. I also stored it in Opsaks to significantly reduce the smell of the food to animals. These are basically just large, heavy mil Ziploc bags with large welds along all their sides.
Check out the Yosemite Bears and Food Storage page for more info.
Can you bring bear spray on the Yosemite Mist Trail?
No, you cannot bring bear spray on the Yosemite Mist Trail. Yosemite National Park does not allow you to pack bear spray into the park. Check Yosemite’s Weapons/Firearms webpage to see a full list of what animal deterrents are and are not allowed by clicking here.
Prepare for the emotional challenge of the hike
The Mist Trail is a hard hike. It felt a lot harder than day hiking down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back.
It drains you physically (or at least it did me, as I was carrying 15lbs of stuff in my pack).
You’re at (lower) altitude and have a slight risk of acute mountain sickness (I quantified the risk at less than 10% in my article on the subject).
At Vernal Falls, you’re climbing wet, slick, steep, granite stairs, next to a raging, whitewater river, which sounds like a loud jet engine of a commercial airplane. There is a chance at any moment you could slip and fall down one of those ultra hard rock staircases. All the while you can’t see, because of the large quantity of water droplets hitting you horizontally (I had glasses on, because I can’t see to take pictures with my contacts in), and because you’re wearing your rain jacket’s hood, giving you tunnel vision. The water hitting you is ice cold. The wind is blaring.
The steepness of the stairs at Vernal Falls, and on the switchbacks near Nevada Falls, and the terrifying vertical drops you’re sometimes standing a few inches next to, on those latter switchbacks, activate your fear of heights. You can feel apprehensive about how you’re going to get back down these vertically challenging sections safely.
People hiking faster than you are sometimes jumping in front of you. You’re constantly coordinating with people coming the opposite direction, regarding narrow sections, and sometimes you get a safe area of the trail, and sometimes you get a not-so-safe area of the trail, by luck of the draw. Children and teens with no sense of danger are power walking past you.
Take it one step at a time – literally
Basically all your senses can get overwhelmed in places along the Mist Trail. You literally have to prepare yourself for just taking the trail step by step in those challenging areas. Being able to block everything out, and just concentrate on the climb is the key to getting to the top.
And actually, once you get to the top, eat your snack, re-hydrate, and rest on the giant slab next to Nevada Falls, things get better. Going down really wasn’t that bad, once you can look down and see the entire trail before you, and once you’re no longer breathing hard. It was much easier than I thought it would be; fun even.
Take Pictures!
And of course you’re going to want to take lots of pics! Especially if the dicey, emotional parts of the Yosemite Mist Trail may have diminished your memory imprints of it, and you’ll want a little assistance in remembering your hike, the next day, the next year, decade, and beyond. Type 2 fun!
Further Reading
Thanks for checking out my article on the Yosemite Mist Trail! Next check out my main Yosemite page, where I talk hiking, places I’ve stayed around the park, and food in the area.