We awoke early to meet our tour guide for our hike this morning. We have no idea what to expect. I was thinking of a hike through a lovely wide meadow.
Ummm...hello idiot, you are in a valley. An extremely narrow valley with incredibly high cliffs all around you. Where exactly did the NPS hide this enormous meadow?
Our guide, Zach, helps me get over this idea and suggests a hike along the Mist Trail which takes us up to Vernal Falls. The trail is only 1.5 miles long. Zach is knowledgeable and patiently answers all of our questions. As the trail begins we cross the swollen Merced River and head up an incline. One that never stops. We get views of other falls on the way. The going is steep but the kids are up to the challenge. We reach the bridge near the base of the falls in about an hour and a half. Zach asks if we want to continue but he warns us that the going will be damp. "We will get soaked," he says.
That is fine, we brought the kids' rain jackets and the temps are climbing. We start around the corner in the trail where we put on our rain gear and are hit in the face with cold mist that is everywhere across the gorge and trail. And look! Stairs!
Cut into the rock are stairs that twist and turn all the way up. In fact, this hike has a total elevation of 1,000 feet in 1.5 miles. The last half is all stairs. Slippery stairs. There are rainbows in the mist and it seems like they follow you all the way up the trail. Zach has never seen the river and falls this full.
We head up and make it to the top in another half hour. Zach is impressed. "Most families I take only make it to the bridge in three hours." He actually breaks out his map to see where we can go now. We decide that after taking this time to eat lunch and dry out that we will head back the way we came. But before we do we check out a nice little spot above the falls where the water runs over the rock and you can walk right up to the edge of the river, running at about 50 miles an hour today.
Just as we are about to leave I hear Samantha cry out. She has fallen on the rock in a small pool and landed on her wrist. Yes, that wrist. The one she has broken three times and the one that was in a cast until the very last day before we left. It is sore and doesn't feel good so Zach breaks out his first aid kit and puts her arm in a temporary splint. Now we need to descend the wet stairs with Sam in a splint on her right arm.
We make it down without incident and the trail is getting crowded. Sam is feeling better and after Zach removes the splint we head back to camp. It is getting warmer and we decide to go swimming. What a treat to swim and get views of two water falls. We head back for dinner, exhausted but happy.
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