Mist Trail

Yosemite's waterfall staircase, the Mist Trail climbs granite steps beside two of the valley's great cascades, taking its name from the spray that soaks hikers each spring as the Merced River thunders past.

The lower goal is the top of Vernal Fall, about 3 miles round trip with roughly 1,000 feet of gain up a steep, wet stone stairway. Continuing to the brink of Nevada Fall makes a loop of about 7 miles and 1,900 feet, often returned via the gentler John Muir Trail for changing perspectives on both falls.

Practical detail: no permit is required for the day hike, though hikers continuing to Half Dome need the separate cables permit issued by lottery. The granite steps are slick and crowded; sturdy footing matters, and the spray can be genuinely drenching at peak flow.

Late spring delivers the fullest water and the most mist, though it also means the wettest, most slippery steps; by late summer the falls thin and the spray fades. The trail starts near Happy Isles and forms the classic first miles of the route toward the Yosemite high country.