YOSEMITE TO SIERRA POINT
(4 miles—3 hours—Round trip 1/2 day)
For years there was a search for a point in Yosemite from which the five great waterfalls—Upper and Lower Yosemite, Vernal, Nevada and Illilouette—might be seen. The quest was finally ended when in 1897 Mr. Charles A. Bailey and a friend computed the location of such a point by triangulation. To their surprise it was not one of the dominating summits, but occurred rather low on the west flank of Grizzly Peak. The first ascent on June 14, 1897, proved the calculation to be correct and the crag was named Sierra Point in honor of the Sierra Club.
The trail starts from Happy Isles, which are 2.3 miles distant from Yosemite. Here we turn south on the main Vernal and Nevada Falls Trail or cross Happy Isles by the footpath. A quarter mile takes us to a spring and water-trough, where the Sierra Point Trail branches to the left and ascends the flank of Grizzly Peak by switchbacks. A leisurely ascent may be made in forty-five minutes. From the point is not only a good view of the falls but an impressive panorama. The depths and distances are accentuated by the promontories being above the observer and the canyons far below.
TRAIL TRIP 13
LITTLE YOSEMITE
(Round trip, 14 to 20 miles—6 to 12 hours)
Little Yosemite, although quite accessible and most charming in its diversity of scenery, beauty and absolute restfulness, remains unknown to most tourists. It deserves at least one day in one's Yosemite itinerary. Fishing is reported good and those interested in geology or botany will be well repaid by the trip.
Above Nevada Falls the canyon of the Merced expands to broad level meadows walled in by precipitous cliffs 1500 to 2000 feet high. Here in Little Yosemite are exhibited all of the Yosemite features—dome structure, exfoliation, glacial phenomena, "royal arches," etc., but on a somewhat smaller scale. Even the forests and flowers are similar, for the altitude is here only 6000 feet—two thousand feet higher than Yosemite. The level floor, which has also resulted from the filling in of an ancient lake, is broken in but three places by the crests of terminal moraines, which extend across the valley and cause the Merced to cascade beautifully in "silver aprons." In three miles the polished granite walls again converge to form a narrow canyon from which the river emerges, plunging over a beautiful cascade and into a picturesque glacial tarn. The most outstanding scenic feature of the valley is the perfectly formed Sugarbowl Dome (lately renamed Bunnell Point) at its head. Lost Lake, near the south base of Half Dome, is a swamp part of the season and later a boggy meadow. It is interesting only as being in the transition stage between mountain lake and mountain meadow.