Four Mile Trail is a misleading name. It sounds easy. Four miles isn’t that far. In reality, it’s a 4 mile hike each way with 3,200 feet in elevation gain.
Four Mile Trail connects the valley floor to Glacier Point. Along the way you get full views of both the upper and lower portions of Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, and sweeping panoramas of the entire valley.
After a morning spent on a leisurely hike around Mirror Lake, my adventure buddies suggested we move on to Four Mile Trail. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t loving that idea. This trail sounded HARD. We already had a hard hike planned for the next day; could I survive two in a row? I survived, but those two days did lead to my new mantra that “My life is sponsored by Diet Coke and Advil.”
Despite my hesitation, I can’t say how glad I am that did the work and hiked a hard hike. The views were incredible.
They seemed to get better with each step as my perspective kept changing. I took countless pictures of Yosemite Falls because it looks completely different from a higher elevation than it did while I was on the ground.
Since we were visiting in April, there was still snow at the higher elevations and therefore the trail was closed beyond about the 3 mile mark. Thankfully it was open past where the trail bends revealing the best view I’d have of Half Dome the entire trip.
After a snack break and a photo shoot at our highest elevation, it was time to descend. I was exhausted, but excited. This day was the perfect reminder that putting in the work is almost always worth it. Take another step and keep climbing. Just remember to look around and enjoy the view.
