Leon Turnbull Photography

I slept horribly in my vehicle. I do not think I got even two hours sleep. I crawled out of my sleeping bag at 4AM and drove into the park. There were a surprising number of people already up and driving into the park. Ugh. So crazy.

I was still tired from hiking the day before. My leg was still feeling cramped. On the previous day I tripped over a branch and my leg cramped up badly. I was down on the ground for five minutes before I could move. The rest of the hike I was very careful not to fall again. I was not sure how much hiking I could do on this day and I had a tough one planned.

I have always wanted to hike to the base of Ribbon Falls (on my bucket list) but this was not my initial plan. I was planning to hike up a certain trail to a new waterfall. This trail seemed to be an old road at some point in the long ago past because it had been paved and there were still remnants of this. It must have been a very bad idea to build a road here. A large number of rock slides and fallen trees have now obliterated it. It was not easy climbing over all the fallen trees and slides especially considering I was so tired to begin with, but I continued up the trail as far as I could. I was within about a mile of the waterfall and then the trail became impassable. It was just too overgrown and there was poison oak as well. Perhaps it could have been done but I did not feel like bushwhacking the last mile. I turned back. I will try this one another day via a different route.

It was still early so I decided to do the Ribbon Falls hike. If I had known how difficult it would be I probably would not have done it but then I would have missed out on something very special. There is a well defined trail up along the creek, a short distance to the waterfall. It is up hill of course but how bad could it really be? Ummm, how about very bad? You gain a whopping 1300 ft. in elevation in about a mile. There is no joking around on this trail. It is straight up!

I was dead tired when I finally came into view of Ribbon Falls. Holy camoley! What a glorious spot! The entire 1612 ft. drop of Ribbon Falls is right in your face. It is absolutely breathtaking! The entire area is very misty and wet and cold and windy, making it quite difficult to photograph. I moved back as far as I could to take photos. I rested on a rock, enjoying the tremendous view and ate my lunch. It was only 8AM or so but I was very hungry and tired.

I was just a little upset to find a large garbage bag hidden behind a rock up here. It was way too big for me to carry back down. What the hell? What jerk would haul this big bag up here and then just leave it? You can bring it up 1300 ft. and not take it back down? Unbelievable.

Reluctantly, I picked myself up and hiked back down the trail to my car and drove home. It was a glorious day in Yosemite National Park.

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