Yosemite / Vernal & Nevada Falls

Day 2 in Yosemite National Park | Hiking to Vernal & Nevada Falls via the Mist Trail | Lower Yosemite Falls | December 2025

For our one full day in Yosemite, we set our sights on hiking the 8.5 mile loop trail to Vernal and Nevada waterfalls, via the Mist Trail and John Muir Trail. This was the longest hike that we both really wanted to complete in the park, one that I had heard so many people say was one of their top hikes out of all the trails in the US national park system. We rose early and packed plenty of snacks and water, planning for this hike to take up the majority of the day.

We set out on the road heading for the trailhead, which wasn’t that far from the campground, only to have the friendliest bus driver we’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering pull over and offer us a lift. It was so early that no one else was on the bus or on the roads. He chatted and even sang to us on the drive over, and dropped us right at the start of the trail. The whole experience had me believing that I want to someday be a bus driver in Yosemite just so I can make other people’s mornings as bright as he made ours.

With that delightful start, we began our hike strong, heading towards Vernal Falls. We followed the Merced River deeper into the valley, the trail starting out easy and paved but soon starting to gain elevation. We took it one stretch at a time, taking our time to admire the tall granite walls as they ever so slowly came into the sun. Illilouette Falls was another welcoming reason to take a break. This was honestly the reason why we expected the trail to take us most of the day — we knew we’d be stopping often to take in the beauty!

When we came to the fork in the trail, we chose to take the Mist Trail up and planned to return on the John Muir Trail. This would mean a shorter but much steeper trek up to Vernal Falls, and a longer but slightly more gradual trail back down. The one struggle we were having was that at the trailhead and at each trail junction, there would be signs detailing possible construction on the trail which would mean scheduled closures. We had also read about this beforehand on their website, but it felt like the more information we saw, the more confused we became. Curtis called it ‘sign blindness’, meaning there was way too much information being presented so that we couldn’t figure out the one thing we needed to know: what trails were actually closed right now? It appeared that the Mist Trail and John Muir Trail were open, at least to Vernal Falls, so we walked confidently in that direction, hoping to make our entire loop without being turned around.

The Mist Trail was exactly what we were expecting it to be: extremely steep, ascending steep granite steps, but also incredibly scenic as it walks right along the rushing river and the two waterfalls. Both waterfalls had a good amount of water flowing, but not really enough to make the Mist trail live up to its name. We were fortunate that the past few weeks had been warmer so there wasn’t any ice or snow on the steps (though I’m sure they’d close the trail if it were actually dangerous – yet another one of the signs that listed potential closures). I was especially glad that we wouldn’t have to come back this way though, because of how steep the steps were and without railings. It’s easy enough to push through when you’re going uphill, but downhill on the steps seemed riskier, especially with how busy they can be. And of course, anytime we needed a break between all the sets of staircases, we could easily just step to the side and marvel at the giant waterfalls.

With one last final steep set of stairs (which actually had a railing, which I was incredibly thankful for) we made it to the top of Vernal Falls. We took our time here, relishing our accomplishment, but at this point we had only gone up 1,000 feet in elevation, which was halfway to our goal of the day, at the top of Nevada Falls. At least the second half wouldn’t be quite as steep, not going straight up multiple staircases! We continued on the Mist Trail, crossing the Merced River, and now ascending alongside the very impressive Nevada Falls. As we walked, we noticed from a distance that there seemed to be people working on a trail on the opposite side of the falls, and hoped it wouldn’t affect our plans.

We finally made it to the top of the falls, and stopped here for a snack and to celebrate our little accomplishment. We passed the junction where the John Muir Trail continues for many more miles, to the trail up to Half Dome and beyond. Naturally, we wished we had the daylight hours, equipment, and skills in order to summit Half Dome, but had to accept that it wasn’t meant to be this trip. If we were at all confident in ourselves being able hike 16+ miles in a day (a December day at that, with limited daylight) and to climb up the cables, which were still out but not supported by the posts the way they are in the summer, then we actually had ideal weather today to summit, and we heard that there was not much ice on the slope, if any at all. There’s also the obvious advantage that we wouldn’t need the highly competitive permits at this time of year. Knowing all this had us regretting our preparedness a little, but we’ll just have to trust that if it’s meant to be, someday we’ll return and make it happen. We also dream of through hiking the JMT someday, so I guess we’ll see which one of those reasons brings us back here!

Anyway, after our lunch at the top of the falls, we crossed over to the other side of the river and finally came across the first sign that was actually clear: this stretch of the JMT was definitely closed due to blasting that was clearly happening right now. Unfortunate, but we were still thankful that we made it to the top of the falls to enjoy the views of the valley from high up. We turned around and returned down the Mist Trail, back to the top of Vernal Falls. All that really mattered to me was that the JMT was open from here so that I didn’t have to go down the steps! And I guess this means we’re saving that part of the JMT for ourselves for when we return to hike the entire thing.

Once we turned onto the JMT, we had a little more elevation to gain up to Clark Point, and from there it was downhill for the rest of the hike. We really enjoyed the views of Nevada Falls from this point, though I’m sure the views are even better if we could hike the stretch closer to the falls that was closed. There was a part of me that regretted going down when we were already this high up — the views of the valley from above are incredible and I wished we could have more time to stay at this elevation and hike more trails. I knew we were limited in how much we could do at this time of year and with only three days in the park, but now that we had gotten a taste of the park’s beauty, leaving was going to be even harder.

The John Muir Trail consisted of many long switchbacks back down to the valley floor — not as steep as the steps, but still steep. We started passing more and more people, and even more as we rejoined the paved trail heading back to the trailhead. When we made it back to the beginning, we waited for the bus which took us back to the campground. While the trail had felt warm to us both in the sun and in the shade, the valley floor came with an unexpected chill. Throughout the hike I imagined that I’d want to shower and change into short sleeves when we were done, but my mind quickly changed when we made it back to the van!

After taking a short break, we decided we needed to make the most of our remaining daylight, and so we caught another bus heading into the heart of Yosemite Village. We started at the visitor center for our NPS stamps, and then made our way to Lower Yosemite Falls. It was busy, but worth the walk and the time we spent there marveling at the base of the falls, and further back taking in the view of both upper and lower falls. From there, we wandered some more on the valley floor, following a trail that took us to the river, where we sat on a bridge over the water until the valley started to grow dark. We made our way to a bus stop and headed back to the van, where we enjoyed one more night at the campground.

When we had first scored our campsite, we had discussed whether we wanted to try to extend our stay, but at this point we had decided we were content with the two nights we had. While we would have loved more time to enjoy the trails, the camping was a bit too crowded for our liking. (Maybe if we were surrounded by other vans or campers who are similar to us it would have been fine, but somehow we feel like those closest to us are always the giant RVs who take over the entire area with their gear, or the type of campers who bring a guitar and have a long, late night around the campfire.) Anyway, all that aside, we were still very thankful for the two nights we had here, and next time we return we’ll have our expectations set appropriately and have a plan for how to enjoy all the parts of the park that we missed!

If you’re interested, check out our Alltrails recording for our hike here.