Re: Sentinel Fall (base of)

Probably most people just zip by Sentinel Fall(s) and say "slow down!":

Getting this view on the way out:


So why not take some time and hike to the base?
The quickest and easiest way up there is to take the 4 Mile Trail and when the
initial switchbacks are over and you've climbed about 500 ft... and the
trail levels out and makes it's traverse in front of Sentinel Rock... instead of continuing
just go straight up...
I was coming down from GP so I ended up going to the end of that switchback
and then heading sort of WSW ... eventually getting to the creek itself.

Like this:


At that point you could maybe go up the creek... but it's all steep... and there are
willows and lots of boulders to deal with... and still at least 400 ft. up to the base.



If you like boulder hopping you would enjoy this... a bit of willows to content with...
but good fun:


At the base it's a nice fall with a pool at the bottom...


If you went up this way... then you'll quickly see that the best route down is right next to the wall
that makes up Sentinel Rock area...


So... my recommendation... is to try to get to that base as quickly as possible from
the 4 Mile Trail... and then you're home with great views and simple xcountry.
Getting to the base is very steep though with boulder hopping.

Have fun and be safe

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Set of photos here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/SentinelFall

Two videos were posted here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,53316,53964#msg-53964

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That's an impressive picture from the top of the falls. We'd like to go to Taft Point in a couple of weeks. Hopefully Sentinel Creek will be down to a trickle and it'll be easy to cross. Last June it was a snow bound raging river.

Looks like a great hike! And awesome pics, especially from the top. Is the top hard to get to?

Quote
hotrod4x5
Looks like a great hike! And awesome pics, especially from the top. Is the top hard to get to?

The top is just barely off the Pohono Trail... but to get a couple of those you will have to climb out
onto some outcroppings or down around a bit... there may be a bit of exposure...

Have fun

(the answer was no, it's not hard to get to)

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Quote
Calaveras
That's an impressive picture from the top of the falls. We'd like to go to Taft Point in a couple of weeks. Hopefully Sentinel Creek will be down to a trickle and it'll be easy to cross. Last June it was a snow bound raging river.

Funny thing was... (ok, maybe not super funny)

I led this guy over Sentinel Creek by the fall/precipice... and dang... this guy was
really really ... uh... not too good at crossing logs... (found him a larger one
upstream so he didn't go in the drink) (he said he didn't care... but I told him
"doooood, seriously... you can be in a world of hurt if all your junk gets wet" )
Anyway... I completely forgot you had to cross in closer to the TH... Old Dude
told me this.. and oooops... he was right. I wonder how feaked he was when he
ran into the crossing up there...
Last two May's I crossed it using massive snow bridges...
Anyway, what I am getting at is... what you may want to do... if you think it is
an issue at all... is maybe stop just after (or even before) Pothole Meadows
and go zippity quick look at the creek.
The Ski Trail is just after Pothole...
Then again, the creek is fairly close to the TH so it's probably a moot pt...
along with the creek will almost certainly be a non-issue in no time.

Have fun

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So cool. I've been wondering about this for a long time.

Looks like you also found the rockfall.

cool shots, how long did it take you out and back to the road? Also, im getting that GPS so ill be harassing you for a bunch of maps here soon.

Quote
ryanmj
cool shots, how long did it take you out and back to the road? Also, im getting that GPS so ill be harassing you for a bunch of maps here soon.

I actually came down 4 Mile and OD picked me up at 4 Mile TH... but looking at the GPS
times... figure about 15 minutes on the trail each way... and 1 1/2 hr to play around taking
it fairly easy (I took a zillion photos). So 2 hours should be plenty. 2 1/2 to hang out up
there for a bit.
No prob. on the maps. Happy to help u

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Quote
chick-on

If you went up this way... then you'll quickly see that the best route down is right next to the wall
that makes up Sentinel Rock area...

Looking at your tracking map:



I noticed that you followed the base of Sentinel Rock only partway down, then left it to get back to the Four Mile Trail. Is there a reason why following the base of Sentinel Rock all the way to where it intersects with the Four Mile Trial would be not doable or very difficult. In other words, are there some hard to circumvent obstacles of trying to take that route either up to or down from the base of Sentinel Fall?
.

Take a look at this:


The black line I drew in there... that is a HUGE gully... maybe 30 ft. high... that you probably want to avoid.
The orange dots... the bottom portion may be do-able... but where they meet close to the black there...
it very steep right there.

I'll look to see if I have a picture of the gully and looking from where I zigged down later... but I think the route
I took is about the best... you don't save a lot by going further towards GP... (i.e. you don't go up much at all in elevation)
and I don't think it is open like the upper portion shown in the pictures... otherwise I would have just
kept going that way. I could be wrong though... give it a go.

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Quote
chick-on

The black line I drew in there... that is a HUGE gully... maybe 30 ft. high... that you probably want to avoid.
The orange dots... the bottom portion may be do-able... but where they meet close to the black there...
it very steep right there.

Thanks for the heads up. I thought there probably was a good reason why you decided to diverge from the base of Sentinel Rock at the point, that's why I asked. It just wasn't obvious to me by looking at the topo map.

.

Didn't take a picture of the gully... but I did take one when I decided to quit following
next to the cliff wall. It looked like this:


Looks not so delicious... but it's quite possible you go 100 ft. and it opens back up...
but I doubt it.

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What are you using to make these maps?

Great shots. Thanks for sharing.