Scaling the falls

So, like I said, the first segment of the trip was really just a warmup, and the adventure didn't fully begin until we crossed over the bridge and made our turn up the Mist trail.

I need to be clear about something - I didn't go into this hike with any illusions about my capabilities. I knew going in I wasn't in peak physical condition, or anywhere close to it. One thing I was banking on, however, was the fact that I've always had pretty good endurance relative to my overall conditioning - which is to say that when I'm being smart about it, I can usually find a good solid pace that I can maintain for a long time. That was my intended tactic for the hike. The only problem is that setting a consistent pace is REALLY hard to do when the terrain keeps changing on you. As I recall, when we initially made the turn up onto the Mist trail, the hike was basically just a somewhat steeper version of what we had been doing previously. However, as we continued to trek toward the top of the lower (Vernal) falls, we encountered this:

And then this:

Followed by these:

And then... well, you get the picture. All of which provides appropriate context for this picture:

It wasn't all bad, however, as we got to do much of this in full view of this, which was the destination for this leg of the hike:

By now, perhaps you better understand my earlier comment about why you wouldn't come DOWN via the Mist trail unless you had a death wish. Those were very steep stone steps, many sections of which were quite slick due to the mist coming off of the falls. Going up them was difficult, and in fact exceeding such, but coming down them would have been absolutely treacherous. Somewhere on these steps I pulled a groin muscle - which is more significant later in the story. For this part of the climb, it was just an annoyance. But anyhow, we all finally reached the top of Vernal Falls, and took the bridge over the river to begin our ascent to the upper (Nevada) falls.

My recollection is that overall, the hike to Nevada Falls was not quite as steep and strenuous as the steps to Vernal. However, there were a few sections that left me wishing for the steps:

Really though, most of it wasn't that bad, and even that wasn't quite as treacherous as it might seem from the picture. It does, however, represent another reason not to descend via this trail. I remember being pretty pleased with how I was doing physically at this point. Don't get me wrong, it was hard, and overall, the hike was kicking my butt. We'd go for a while, I'd get tired, and the altitude left me pretty winded much of the time, but we were taking plenty of breaks, and usually just a minute or two would leave me feeling fine to go on for a while. I was feeling pretty optimistic about my chances of making it to the top.

Eventually, we made it to the top of the Nevada Falls - and the next restroom -, where we left the falls behind and made the transition to the next part of the hike.