California Day Hiking

Yosemite’s Mist Trail: The World’s Best Day Hike

Posted on May 11, 2015

Recently I took a quick trip to Yosemite National Park with my husband and a couple of friends.  The highlight of the trip was hiking the Mist Trail which I have to say is the World’s Best Day Hike.  Ok, I haven’t hiked everywhere in the world (yet!) but I still would be hard pressed to find a day hike better than this.

Yes, it’s busy, but it’s definitely worth it.  You have gorgeous views of 317-foot/96.5m Vernal Falls and 594-foot/181m Nevada Falls along the way: You get to see them from down the valley, from the base, from the side and from up top.  As well,  if you return by the John Muir trail you get to see Nevada Falls from an entirely different vantage point.   To cap it off, you have to drive up to the Glacier Point viewpoint after you do this hike so you can see the whole hike from above.

There is tons of info on the National Park website and elsewhere online about this hike so I won’t go into detail about it here.  Instead I’ll let my photos tell the story.

The first view of Vernal Falls

Posing in the mist in front of Vernal Falls

Rock stairs to the top of Vernal Falls

Looking over the top of Vernal Falls to the Mist Trail below

Lunch break at the top of Vernal Falls

Climbing rock steps next to Nevada Falls

Michelangelo dormio

Looking over the top of Nevada Falls

Summary of my feelings about hiking the Mist Trail

Half Dome, Liberty Cap, Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls from Glacier Point

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Hike the world's best day hike, the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park, California Hike the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. It's the world's best day hike and passes by Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. If you only do one hike in Yosemite, make it the Mist Trail. Click here for more info.

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Hiker, adventure traveller, Leave No Trace trainer and connoisseur of alpine meadows. My home is in Vancouver but my heart is in the mountains.

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4 Comments

  • Reply
    Flavio Chan
    April 29, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    It looks awesome! We saw some videos from the Yosemite Park YouTube channel and this is one of their day hike suggestions. We’ll definitely do it, but I’m not sure the waterfalls will be full of water in October. Did you camp in the park? Thanks! 🙂

    • Reply
      Taryn Eyton
      April 29, 2016 at 5:31 pm

      We did camp in the park. Make a reservation as early as you can. We planned our trip only a few weeks in advance and getting a reservation was difficult. I checked several times a day and managed to get some permits that came up after other people cancelled their trip. Its definitely worth it to camp in the valley if you can get a spot.

  • Reply
    Flavio Chan
    November 8, 2016 at 10:52 am

    Hi Taryn! We went to Yosemite last month and we loved it! Mist trail is really one of the best hikes in the world. Thanks for your tip! We also loved the Four Mile Trail and the Cathedral Lakes. It’s an awesome park and wish I could have more time to stay there. We were lucky because all the waterfalls were still full! Thanks again! 😉

    • Reply
      Taryn Eyton
      November 8, 2016 at 6:32 pm

      Oh so great to hear! I hope you had good weather. I hiked part of the Four Mile Trail but didn’t have time to go all the way to the top. Yosemite is such a beautiful park and I feel like I’ve only seen a small fraction of it.

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