Hello! New to this forum and excited to join in on the conversation!

I just had a few questions and wanted to get some confirmation on the info I have obtained. I've been planning this for months and I like to play it on the safe side by re-checking everything 10x or more (lol). Better safe than sorry is my motto. I'll be taking this trip the first week of June. Oh, and I'll be exiting off the Upper Yosemite Falls trail.

I've read the forum post covering "Old Big Oak Flat Road from Tamarack to the Valley" and got a lot of useful information off that post (thank you to all the contributors!).

1. I was planning on parking my car close to the Yosemite Falls trailhead and taking the shuttle to stop E4 (El Capitan Bridge) and hike up 0.7 miles to the trailhead entrance for OBOFR. Is this information still accurate?

2. Going east of Cascade Creek, I noticed that the trail runs along Fireplace Creek. Is there reliable water source there usually or should I stock up at Cascade?

3. It seems that the rockfall area is the "hardest part." To date, is that portion relatively clearly marked and is the "zig-zagging" still the current trail to get past that section?

thanks in advance!

I can't answer 2 and 3 because I have not done that hike. As for 1, the El Cap shuttle usually starts in mid June so I would call the park to see if it will be running when you are there. I am trying to visualised the area near where you can access OBOFR from Northside Dr. and if memory serves, I think that there is a area by the gate that you could park a car. Maybe someone else here has a better recall of that area. The gate is sometimes open but I would not take a chance of driving through the gate to park your car since you might get locked in.

Quote
gkim
Hello! New to this forum and excited to join in on the conversation!

I just had a few questions and wanted to get some confirmation on the info I have obtained. I've been planning this for months and I like to play it on the safe side by re-checking everything 10x or more (lol). Better safe than sorry is my motto. I'll be taking this trip the first week of June. Oh, and I'll be exiting off the Upper Yosemite Falls trail.

I've read the forum post covering "Old Big Oak Flat Road from Tamarack to the Valley" and got a lot of useful information off that post (thank you to all the contributors!).

1. I was planning on parking my car close to the Yosemite Falls trailhead and taking the shuttle to stop E4 (El Capitan Bridge) and hike up 0.7 miles to the trailhead entrance for OBOFR. Is this information still accurate?

2. Going east of Cascade Creek, I noticed that the trail runs along Fireplace Creek. Is there reliable water source there usually or should I stock up at Cascade?

3. It seems that the rockfall area is the "hardest part." To date, is that portion relatively clearly marked and is the "zig-zagging" still the current trail to get past that section?

thanks in advance!

1. This time of year I usually park at the side of the highway, next to the entrance to the old road. The old road can be a mud wallow in the Spring, though you can hike next to it. Later in the season, you can drive up to where it veers away from Ribbon Creek, and then park wherever you want, depending on what the dump trucks have been doing. This is where the park road crews take fallen trees to be cut up. Some will become firewood. I've never seen the gate locked once things dry out a bit.

2. All the named creeks will be flowing. I don't think they dry up completely, even in late summer.

3. Slanting up or down the talus via the old stonework at the upper corner of the Z, is much faster than following the old switchback.

If you wanted to come in from the campground, a relevant question this time of year would be how to get to it. The gate at highway120 is locked until the campground opens, though you can hike or bicycle in once the snow is gone.

1. There is no TH parking per sey at "Upper Yosemite Falls TH". When you get your permit
they will give you a little map and tell you where to park. (it's just W of North Pines)
(or at Curry Village itself)... depending on crowdedness, etc.
You could MAYBE get away with parking somewhere here or there but just park
where they say and then you don't need to worry about anything.
I'll leave it at that.
2. The trail does not "run along Fireplace Creek". No idea what you are talking about.
The trail CROSSES Fireplace on OBOFR ... you can get water there or you
can hike the extra mileage to Cascade Creek and get water for the uphill climb
to Ribbon Meadow. Ribbon has water year round. as does Cascade and Fireplace.
Although if it was mid Sept. this year I would question Fireplace as viable.
3. Depends what your definition of "hardest" is. It's not well marked.
Loads of people put up cairns to try to make a trail. People like me go thru
and knock them all down. There are various ways up including staying on
the old road nearly the entire way...
Read the links in this thread and it should be clear.
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,53907,53909#msg-53909
Hardest may be the 2.3 mile nearly 2000 ft. climb after getting off the old road.
Think about starting from Tamarack CG.

Good luck

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Ok, I read what whatever wrote... and yes, I would park at V9...
but I would hike from Yosemite Falls back to V9 too... which
it sounds like you didn't want to do.

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DONE! Just finished this hike last week and it was nice to get away for a few days. Thanks for all the posts and information regarding the rockslide!
Quick recap:

- I ended up getting lost right where the zig-zagging part of the rockslide was. Had to scramble up north to find my way back up to the main trail. Wasn't fun lol but the view of Bridalveil was magnificent.
- The El Capitan Trail still had some snow on the trail but wasn't troublesome to cross. The elevation gain from the Cascade Creek & El Cap trail junction was a beast. I was the group mule and had one hell of a time hiking up that portion of the trail.
- I'll try and post some pictures up later but all in all, it was a good trip.
- I didn't see a single soul for a day and a half, which was really nice. When we reached El Capitan, that's when we started seeing other day hikers and backpackers.

Thanks again Yosemite News community!