Silver Apron

Silver Apron is accessed from the Happy Isles area of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park. From any entrance to Yosemite National Park, proceed to Curry Village at the very end of Yosemite Valley and park. Take the Shuttle Bus to the Happy Isles Nature Center (two stops from Curry Village) and begin hiking on the John Muir Trail, signed for Vernal and Nevada Fall, as well as the summit of Half Dome. Just over three-quarters of a mile the trail crosses the river below Vernal Fall, with a fraction of the falls visible from the bridge. Here the trail splits, the Mist Trail climbing alongside the river while the John Muir Trail takes a longer, gentler and drier route up the mountainside. The shortest route is to take the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Fall in about half of a mile, then continue upstream to the bottom of Silver Apron where sections of the falls can be seen through the trees. In another quarter of a mile the footbridge crossing the top of the falls will be encountered. DO NOT under any circumstances cross guard rails at the top of Vernal Falls, do not swim in Emerald Pool just upstream of the falls and do not attempt to get closer to the river to take pictures.Set in between the world-renowned Nevada and Vernal Falls, Silver Apron is the third of the three major waterfalls which comprise a section of the Merced River known as The Giant Stairway. Though the falls are only slightly less visible than its more famous siblings, and hundreds of people will see the falls every day during the tourist season, Silver Apron is a rather neglected and forgotten waterfall (though perhaps mainly due to being overshadowed by the much larger falls up and downstream).
The falls occur where the Merced River exits a small, narrow gorge leading downstream from Nevada Falls, and explodes into a mist of water droplets as it thunders over a small plunging fall of about 30 feet, and then spreads out over a long, smooth granite slide and sheets down another 60 vertical feet into Emerald Pool. About two-thirds of the way down the fall, one may notice an exceptionally well formed waterwheel during the spring and early summer months - much more accessible than those found at LeConte and Waterwheel Falls along the Tuolumne River, but definitely nowhere near as large.
Because the Merced River beckons with the siren's call during many a hot summer days, it has been the site of dozens of unfortunately fatal accidents where people have lost their balance and been swept over Vernal Falls just downstream. Due to this ever present and (what should be) very obvious hazard, no swimming is allowed in Emerald Pool, and this includes sliding down the face of Silver Apron - tempting as it may be. Please obey the signs and stay out of the water.Dating back as far as perhaps 1870 the upper plunging part of Silver Apron was known distinctly as Diamond Cascade, while the long sliding section below was then referred to as Silver Apron. In a historical context this may be the correct naming convention, however the name Diamond Cascade has become so infrequently used that few references mention it any longer. Because there is no distinction between the two "sections" of the falls, the entire formation should be referred to using one name, and given that the commonly accepted and proper name for the lower three-quarters of the falls is Silver Apron, that's probably the best one to go with.

Additionally, we've seen an 1872 image credited to Eadward Muybridge which captions the upper plunging part of the falls as "Wild Cat Fall". This seems likely to have been a one-off name that didn't stick or was applied without knowing of the other more accepted names already given to the falls.