Vernal Fall

Vernal Fall 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 the falls, 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 best views of Vernal Fall are achieved from the Mist Trail, which gets quite intimate with the falls in another quarter of a mile but is considerably steeper, involving a seemingly endless series of stairs cut into the bedrock, constantly pounded by the billowing clouds of spray from the falls. The trails converge just past the top of the falls. As stated before, the falls are dangerous and extreme caution should be exercised around the river above and below the falls. DO NOT under any circumstances cross the guard rails at the top of the 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.While Vernal Fall isn't displayed quite so prominently in Yosemite Valley as are Bridalveil and Yosemite Falls, Vernal is most certainly among the most popular and frequently visited waterfalls in Yosemite National Park, if not all of California. Accompanied by Nevada Fall, its upstream sibling, the two lofty cataracts are known as The Giant Steps - a title drawing from the very distinct glacially carved cliffs over which the falls plunge almost back-to-back. While Nevada Fall maintains contact with its cliff for the majority of its fall, Vernal Fall is a truly free-falling waterfall and thanks to the large volume of the Merced River it is both the most powerful and broadest free-falling waterfall in California. Like Nevada, Vernal Fall was first properly examined by USGS surveyor Francois Matthes in or around 1913, at which time he determined the height of the falls to be 317 feet, and that measurement has been assumed to be accurate ever since. However, topographic maps make it seem almost abundantly clear that this figure could not be physically possible and instead indicate the height of the falls to be more like 200-230 feet. Given what the Topo maps show, we were quite skeptical that a measurement taken 100 years ago would prove to be accurate, yet when we surveyed the falls in May of 2013 we measured the falls to stand 309 feet tall, so Matthes' figure of 317 feet is not only within an acceptable margin of error, but is simply too close to our measurement to assume it to not be accurate. Why the discrepancy between Matthes' figure and the Topo maps exists is unclear, but given the USGS isn't known for high accuracy when it comes to showing waterfalls on their maps, we'll just chalk it up to the fact that there hasn't been a substantial updating of the contour data in Yosemite in a long time. Because of its popularity Vernal Fall is also among the most deadly waterfalls in California. Since 1924 at least 17 people have been swept over the falls after having strayed too close to the river and more may have fallen victim to the river below the falls as well. Most recently in 2011 a group of three crossed the guard rail at the top of the fall to pose for a picture closer to the river, and all three lost their footing, slid into the river and were swept to their death while hundreds of onlookers watched helplessly. When visiting Vernal Fall, please heed all warning signs and stay within the guard rails where provided.According to Lafayette Bunnell the natives of Yosemite Valley called Vernal Fall Yan-o-pah, which means along the lines of "little water cloud". The current name was proposed by Bunnell for the fact that the combination of moss, mist and bright sunlight striking the falls reminded him of Spring, and owes its origins to a poem by Lord Byron.