Backpacking to Dewey Point in Yosemite National Park

The view from Dewey Point with El Capitan to the left.
The view from Dewey Point looks the High Sierras in the distance with El Capitan to the left.

The hike to Dewey Point from the McGurk Meadow Trail in Yosemite National Park is a hike to a fantastic view of El Capitan with Half Dome in the distance and the majestic tops of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in the background. While many people do this hike as a day hike, we decided to backpack in and spend the night at Dewey Point.

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Hiking Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park

Mirror Lake at Yosemite National Park.
The scenery at Mirror Lake at Yosemite National Park can be stunning.

Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park is a beautiful hike that is pretty easy and hikes through forests and next to big granite rocks. Upper and Lower Mirror Lake live up to their name where the reflections in the water of the landscape around them can be gorgeous.

There are several places you can start the hike from, and we jumped on the Yosemite Valley Loop Trail off of Ahwahnee Drive about .34 miles short of the Ahwahnee Hotel. The Mirror Lake hike itself is about a 2.4 mile loop, but we wanted to make a longer hike out of it, so we ended up hiking 7.2 miles.

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Mist Trail To Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park

Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park from a distance running down the granite rock with forest trees in the fore and background.
Nevada Fall in Yosemite National Park is a stunning waterfall.

The hike from Yosemite Valley up to Vernal Falls and then over to Nevada Falls is incredible, and one of many of many spectacular attractions of Yosemite National Park. But even hiking through the beauty of the forests, it does take work to make it to the top of either waterfall.

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Backpacking to Rancheria Falls in Yosemite National Park

Rancheria Falls in Yosemite National Park.
Rancheria Falls in Yosemite National Park can be stunning to watch from a vantage point off the trail leading to the campground.

At the right time of the year, backpacking to Rancheria Falls in Yosemite National Park can be beautiful with wildflowers all around, Wapama Falls with its powerful gushing water, and almost the constant views of the blue waters of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.

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Couple falls to death with alcohol in system

Ialways knew this post was inevitable, and more a question of “when” and not “if” I was going to write it. 

The “when” has happened. I’ve written about safety and situational awareness, and this falls under both, along with stupidity.  The autopsy report was completed in early January 2019 on married couple Menaskhi Moorthy and Vishnu Viswanath who fell to their deaths in Yosemite National Park in October 2018. They fell while attempting to pose for a selfie. The autopsy report stated they were, “intoxicated with ethyl alcohol prior to death,” according to the San Jose Mercury News.

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