It's been a dry winter, but the waterfalls are already waking up. The "mist" portion of the Mist Trail was refreshing--not dry, but not the buckets of water dousing hikers during peak runoff in wet years.
Although they still don't hold a candle to the warning signs I saw in Hawaii, a few more signs for people to ignore have cropped up around Silver Apron:
We stopped for lunch (leftover pizza--no, not Curry...) just upstream of the Nevada Fall bridge.
The wife soaked her feet in the chilly water while we rested and enjoyed the perfect weather.
We stopped at the Nevada Fall viewpoint after lunch. Despite spring being only a week or so old, there wasn't much left of winter that was visible from this point.
Nevada Fall Photosynth
The portion of the JMT between the Clark Point junction and the Panorama Trail junction was gated closed, but it had looked very clear from the Nevada Mist Trail. In fact, there was enough snow and ice on the trail that navigation would be tricky--if not downright dangerous--without traction devices (such as microspikes). There was one spot with an icy downclimb of maybe 5 feet, and in several places the best bet was to walk on the rock wall, which was often lower than the snow and ice still on the trail.
Ice Cut Photosynth
The views from the JMT were excellent as always.
I managed to check out a spot that a little birdie had told me about. No surprise, it looked like a birdbath:
Once at the Vernal Fall bridge, we quickly descended to Happy Isles. (As we'd later learn, it was opening day for the Vernal Bridge bathroom, water station, and Happy Isles snack stand...) From here, we continued along the road and bridle path to Mirror Lake.
The freshly-fallen granite at the Ahwiyah Point rockfall area was bright under the sun.
Looking at the Snow Creek trail, where I had been only 5 or so days ago, it was hard to believe that just past the rim of the valley was still miles and miles of significant snow coverage.
Off in the distance above Clouds Rest white clouds were forming--the next few days' forecast called for rain, but today would be a perfect spring day in the valley.
More Pictures
