We did some awesome hikes in Yosemite National Park. One of our favorites, though, was Mirror Lake. This hike is short, flat, and easy for all levels. In fact, it is paved, so some people even bike to Mirror Lake.
The first thing that you should know is that Mirror Lake isn’t really a lake. It’s more of a wide spot in the river. The second thing is that everybody likes to wade or swim in this section of the river. Yosemite doesn’t encourage this behavior, but there were at least a hundred people in the water when we were there, and the park doesn’t forbid it.
This hike starts at shuttle stop # 17. There are two different trails. We opted to take the unpaved trail on the right to walk out to the lake. It was a little rocky, but nothing difficult and not steep at all. After about three-quarters of a mile, we started to see people in the river. We continued to the one mile marker, and there was a sign for Mirror Lake. It would more aptly be called Mirror Wide Flat River, because there is definitely no lake.
We took off our shoes and walked in the shallow water. Adults walked all the way across without getting their shorts wet. Then we hiked through the water back toward the trailhead for awhile. When the water started getting deeper, we waded to the far side and picked up the paved trail back to the shuttle stop. It was a really nice way to cool off after some of the more strenuous hikes in Yosemite.
If you do the Mirror Lake trail, make sure to take a towel and flip-flops. You’ll want plenty of sunscreen, too. When you visit Yosemite, make sure to give Mirror Lake a try. Check out all of the hikes we tried in Yosemite here.
Actually, Mirror Lake *used* to be a lake (it’s the remnant of a glacial lake that filled most of Yosemite Valley after the last ice age); our family was there a few times in the ’60s, and it was still very much a lake. It’s been silting up since then, till now it’s just the few pools at best, like you saw.