Mist Trail, Conquered

I'm not the one to let good money go to waste. I once again invested $80 on the national park pass when we were at Crater National Park and I had to make use of it to get my money's worth. So we decided to go back to Yosemite almost on a whim, before it gets too cold.

It was a day trip this time. I figure I would be completely spent after a day hike and pretty much useless the next day. It's better to come home and rest on my own bed anyway, instead of the dumpy Half Dome Village tent that cost $140, $160 if heated.

I aborted the hiking on Mist Trail the last time and that that's been on my mind. I know how dangerous it can be to be ambitious -- I got another sample of that 2 weeks ago after climbing Telegraph hill -- but we were tantalizingly close to Vernal Falls Bridge the last time and I wanted to come back and try again.

Turned out, we weren't that close the last time. It was quite a ways uphill from where we turned around to the bridge. Then it was another 0.7 miles from there to Vernal Fall, for the total of 1.5 miles.

We made it all the way to the fall. I walked very slowly -- probably less than 50 steps/min -- in zigzag going up. And I had to lean on my wife on the way down. But it was 3 miles with 700 feet elevation gain, so this one goes in the book as a bona fide hiking.

We made stops at El Capitan picnic area, waded water for a while at the beach right after it, took pictures at Bridalveil Fall and Tunnel View before turning around and driving into the sun. It must be nearing the Autumn equinox -- the sun set at 7:05 PM on the Central Valley.

The day ended with 17,000 steps on my fitbit, the most ever since I got sick. That topped 16,000 steps I did in NYC last year.