A recap of how to get there.....
Heading west a little past El Capitan Meadow park in the pullout with a locked gate on the right. Walk up to Old Big Oak Flat Road, turn right and walk down a few hundred feet. The entrance to the use trail is next to a boulder partially hidden by a manzanita. There's a cairn at the entrance.The lower part of the trail is not always obvious but there are numerous cairns to keep you on track. The trick here is to stay near Ribbon Creek. If you lose the trail you'll run into it again. You should be able to hear the creek all along the trail. The trail comes within sight of the creek in a couple of places. The second half of the trail is quite steep, has few cairns but is mostly obvious. Far up, the trail makes a hard left turn and briefly flattens out. Go about 20' to a spur trail that branches to the right. This will take you right to the amphitheater. There are a few cairns on the spur trail. If you miss the spur trail you'll end up at the wall for climbers. It took us old guys about 1 hour 50 minutes to get to the amphitheater. Bring mosquito repellent. They were awful on the trail but gone in the sun of the amphitheater.
