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wherever
Anderson Spur. Have you ever wondered why the trail out of Happy Isles crosses the river to go up the north bank, even though that side is rockier than the other side, and then climbs too high before it goes back down again to the Vernal Falls Bridge? Well, the John Muir Trail didn't go that way originally. (It was Mr. Snow's Trail then.) That original trail is now the horse trail, which so many hikers have stumbled down after taking a wrong turn at dusk. But there is nothing wrong with the route of the horse trail, especially now that horses are much less common on the trail than they used to be. Certainly not wrong enough to warrant building a new trail and a much bigger bridge than would have been needed at Illiouette Creek to improve the old trail. The answer goes back to the Mist Trail and the Anderson Trail, and a race to get an easy and safe trail both to the top of Vernal Falls and to Snows Hotel which was built on a large flat spot on the north bank, just above the Silver Apron and below Nevada Falls.
Remember, in those days most of the trails were built as toll trails, to generate profits. The Mist Trail was built about the time of Snow's Trail, which circles far above Vernal Falls before coming back down to it. But to get up Vernal Falls, the Mist Trail had a long, damp and mossy wooden ladder. At least one person fell off it and died. The attachment bolts for this ladder are still accessible on top of the outcrop. Much later, someone blasted rock so as to turn a small crack into the current ledge with railing that climbs next to the falls.
But at the time Anderson set out to build a competing trail, the Mist Trail was bad. He built a trail with much better construction technique and views than the Mist Trail, and his route would avoid the shower bath that you receive on the Mist Trail. His plan was to end his trail by blasting a ledge to the top of Vernal Falls on the north river bank, with convenient access to the falls, Emerald Pool, and the hotel. He did fantastically good work, but it took too long and the money ran out in 1882. His trail sat abandoned for a while, then in 1885 the park service took it over, and ran an extension down to the new Vernal Falls Bridge near the start of the Mist Trail. This allowed them to send horse traffic down via the old trail, much to the relief of all.
But there is still a bit of Anderson's trail above the current route. As you climb up, just before you cross a boulder field and start down to the new bridge, you will see some stonework on your left. This is the next Anderson switchback going up. You can follow it for a while, until it just ends where his dream collapsed.
In 1870, Snow built a trail from Register Rock (where the current Mist Trail and Muir Trail split below Vernal Falls) with switchbacks up over Clark Point and back down to the river between Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. That trail segment is still in use He then built a hotel on the north bank of the river, with a splendid view of Nevada Falls. Some of us remember the Hotel at Glacier Point, which burned down in 1969. But nobody alive today remembers Snow's Hotel, also known as La Casa Nevada, which burned in 1900. I would love to have stayed there.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/historyculture/upload/LaCasaNevada.YA.Winter2004.PDF
He opened half of the rectangular building in 1870 as shown above, the other half in 1871, and the chalet building in 1875, for a total of 22 bedrooms plus parlor, kitchen, etc., serving about 40 guests.
You could just sit on the back porch and watch the falls, which you can see on the left in this photo.
As you climb up from the valley today, you cross the bridge at the Silver Apron, then follow the Upper Mist Trail around to the right until you reach an open flat place at the foot of Liberty Cap where the hotel stood to your right. To your left is a grove of trees, through which a foot path passed between Liberty Cap and Mt. Broderick to Little Yosemite Valley (the current trail from there up to Nevada Falls had not yet been built).
But back to Anderson and his trail. I had previously mentioned the spur of his trail which still exists, going upward from the high point in the present trail (before the present trail drops down to the bridge and comfort station below Vernal Falls). Chick-on sent me this photo from that trail:
You can see that the old stonework is still is good shape, after 130 years of neglect. There are some bushes to deal with, of course. If you look closely, you can see the poor sods toiling up the lower Mist Trail. But that is a long way down. Chick-on didn't say exactly where he took this photo, but it looks like it was from the part of the trail above Vernal Falls. I had not mentioned it, but of course Anderson had run a spur of his trail down from Snow's Hotel. It stops just as the lower spur does, at the blank granite wall where he ran out of money and blasting powder. Chick-on sent this map, showing the two abandoned spurs of the trail. The red X shows where the present trail detours around the spot where the hotel used to stand.
This upper part of the trail is still quite walkable, except for one spot next to the Emerald Pool that gets slippery in high water. At normal water levels, it is part of my preferred route up to the Diving Board. But that's another thread.
So, after Anderson failed, what became of the ladders alongside Vernal Falls? First they were up-graded, then replaced with the current blasted and pipe-railed route to the top of the falls. Here is a photo from Hutchings book of 1888 of the "improved" ladder:
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2014 08:58AM by wherever.
. I believe that Harold and Emily wintered in the Groveland area and may be buried there.
