Lower Yosemite Falls in Yosemite

A rare Mom and Dad pic in front of Lower Yosemite Falls.

Lower Yosemite Falls is the perfect hike for everybody. This hike is perfect for a stroller or wheelchair. It is short, flat, paved, and leads to an amazing waterfall just a quarter mile from shuttle stop # 6.

 

The hike has several ways to approach the falls, all of which are easy. We walked to the left after we got off the shuttle because there are bathrooms about fifty yards up the road. The trail then turns into the trees, but you can see the waterfall cascading down before you’ve taken a hundred steps. Lower Falls is really impressive. It cascades 320 feet into a large pool. You’ll also get a great view of Upper Falls, which drops an amazing 1,430 feet! From the top of Upper Falls to the bottom of Lower Falls is an astounding 2,425 feet!

You can see the falls from many spots along the trail, and throughout the Yosemite Valley.
This sign gives you info about all of the different trails to the falls.
This is your view as you head up the trail from the bathrooms.

The trail continues toward the falls until you reach a large viewing platform. It is pretty busy at the viewing area, but we found plenty of room to take all the pictures we wanted. The most difficult part was getting the entire scene in the view finder!

Lower Yosemite Falls is gorgeous. We enjoyed this trail so much.
We squeezed in for a picture between all the people.

From the platform, you can cross a foot bridge and walk back through the trees to the shuttle stop. This loop makes the trail about 1.0 mile roundtrip. If you’d like to keep your hike shorter, you can walk back the way you came, and it will only be about 1/2 mile.

The trail through the trees is beautiful, too.
There are lots of little bridges along the way. We loved this trail.

Make sure to keep your eyes open, though. Even though it was busy we spotted two deer and a bobcat. The bobcat walked right across the trail and plopped down about 20 yards away under a rock. We watched him for about 30 minutes, and dozens of people walked by without a clue we were having one of the best sightings of our lives! It was really amazing! (Note: we were close, but we were on the trail, and our pictures were taken with a telephoto lens.)

We were so excited to see a bobcat.
This Bobcat was beautiful! Our best sighting ever!
We liked seeing the deer, too.

Every visitor to Yosemite National Park can and should do Lower Yosemite Falls! For other hikes in Yosemite, check out our list of kid friendly hikes in Yosemite National Park.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Reply