Snow Creek: Is Yosemite Valley's Hardest Trail Worth Hiking?
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- After hiking nearly all of Yosemite Valley's trails, I saved the hardest one for last. The Snow Creek trail off of the Mirror Lake loop rises over 2,600' in only 2 miles (1,300'/mile) . For comparison, Four Mile is 3,200' in 4.4 miles (725'/mile) and Upper Yosemite Falls is 2,700' in 2.6 miles (1040'/mile). I managed to complete this brutal hike - but was it worth it?
0:00 Introduction to the Snow Creek Trail
2:09 Hike to Mirror Lake
4:07 Mirror Lake to Snow Creek Trailhead (Unlisted)
5:50 Begin Snow Creek Trail
9:22 Cool Switchbacks and Big Valley View
11:00 Sunrise over Half Dome
15:17 Switchbacks Forever
16:10 Topping Out
17:05 Foot Bridge and Snow Creek
18:15 Finding Promontory Point
19:00 Ridge Edge Views
20:04 Thanks for Watching and Blooper
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What's the hardest trail you've ever hiked???
Actual trails? Probably the Cactus to Clouds from Palm Springs, near sea level, to the summit of San Jacinto Peak, which is about 10800 feet at the summit. I did that in the latter half of October of this year. It’s two combined trails-the semi-official Skyline Trail and then the much better maintained trail system to the summit. Return trip after the summit push was via the cable tram and a taxi ride back to the truck. My username and avatar aside, 😉I’m a 48 year old man. I’m fairly fit but no great athlete. That was hard work, but doable. I got it done. 🙂
Hardest Day Hike was the Grand Canyon down and back up. Hardest longer trail so far 77 mile Foothills Trail in SC and NC.
@@ms.debourghofrosings6829 Nice work for a man or a woman! LOL! :)
@@hikingmovie Dang! Yeah that sounds amazing!
What a tough hike you did and good wishes on the Mt Tallic trip. Hardest hike was taking a short cut in the American river canyon and crawling on my belly for hours under manzanita throwing my pack ahead of me praying for no rattlesnakes.
Yes,.Snow Creek is a brutal but beautiful hike. It's so worth the hike and the next 6 miles are all up hill with plenty of switchbacks. The beauty of the area makes a difficult hike so worth it. 😊❤
Woo, I'm out of breath just watching you hike that! What amazing views. I've been to Yosemite once (2018) and was thoroughly amazed (and worn out) from all the great hikes there. Someday I'll be there again, might keep this one in mind. Rock on!
Yeah and I didn't even show the breaks lol! Great hike but man it was a cardiac waiting to happen. :)
Beautiful hiking trail Doug. You definitely see some of the best scenery on earth. Cool video my friend 👍🏻👍🏻
Glad you enjoyed it! The scenery is *almost* worth the politics. ;)
Well done. Quality work and thanks. Cannot wait for your Camino journals.
Thank you! Yeah I hope to have one someday! :)
@@BackcountryPilgrim What county are you living in？I don't need the city name, to be so close to Yosemite. I grew up in Modesto; Stanislaus County.
Great video Doug. The views on that trail were amazing.
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow 4:20 is so beautiful! I love a good creek and that backdrop was perfect for yours. Great video!
Thanks! Beautiful place all around, and that's actually Mirror Lake with the water low haha. :)
I've come to love the Snow Creek trail. Is it steep? You better believe it. But it's awesome - I'm so glad that I too finally bagged this trail this year after 40 years of avoiding it. Great video! You really captured the majesty and solitude of this trail. This is almost exactly the hike I did 3 weeks ago today.
Excellent summary of this great trail! Thanks for watching!
I did this trail and its 108 switchbacks on a 95 degree day. The fun stopped about 1/3 of the way to the top, but the Yosemite quality scenery made it all worthwhile. Enjoyable video; continued happy trails.
108? Whoa! Glad someone thought to count them haha. :) Yeah I might not have made it on a 95 degree day - respect!
Brilliant video - thank you ever so much
Glad you enjoyed it!
Outstanding video. I lived in Yosemite national park for 3 years. This brings back such happy memories. Thanks 🙏
Glad you enjoyed it! What a time for you!
Huh? lived in the park for 13 years from 87 to 2001 maybe i know you
I adored this video !! You rock !
Thanks! I sure had fun making it!
I've done the hike a number of times. One of the times my hiking partner and I counted the switchbacks as we came down. We each came up with 106!
Wow! That's a lot!
Hiked down from Tioga Rd...camped out at the point - next morning went down the brutal switchbacks - arrived at Mirror Lake with major heatstroke - serious stuff...and that was going DOWN.
@danielhawley6817 Yikes! I get it though, once you're past the creek there is no water for a long time!
Awesome video. I hope to do this someday. I hike the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver,BC, Canada, twice per week among other activities. It takes me 55 to 65 minutes. Its 1100 meters in elevation gain over 2.5 Kilometers. That's 3600 feet over 1.6 miles. So it's comparable I think. I'm 67 years old.
YSpunds like you'd have to short rope me! Great trail though!
I've been very curious about the Snow Creek Trail. I did the Mirror Lake Loop starting from Camp Curry last summer and stopped at the Snow Creek Trail junction to ponder it. I'm not sure I want to tackle that steep elevation gain over such a short distance, but maybe I'll try it some day. Thanks for filming this, it's the first video I've ever seen on this trail.
Great thanks for watching!
Yes, first detailed video I have seen also. Couldn’t find much on it .
Doctor:
Love the Yosemite series of videos! Where to now?
I find for me that the difficulty of any hike is related to my conditioning (or lack thereof!). I've done Tallac a few times when I felt like crying and calling the Rangers! I swore off ice cream, that's how difficult it was. Other times, piece of cake (relatively!)
Love vids, keep them coming!
Most of the Yosemite stuff I want to do now is either long trails or off trails. Pretty much done with all the stuff on the map. :) I hear you on conditioning and diet. My thing is mochas. LOL!
Fantastic hiking trail.
It sure is!
Beautiful!
It really is!
Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The switchbacks looked pretty brutal. You really have a limitless playground out there Doug! The hardest trail over ever hiked was in the weirdest place you would ever think.....IOWA. Im not kidding...
Yeah I can see the Iowa trail from the tops of my mountains LOL! I need to hear about this trail, I have a buddy trying to get me to move to Iowa and I just didn't think I could stomach the lack of trails...
Great summary of Snow Creek trail…this inspired me to complete this trail this last camping trip to Yosemite. I was camping in Upper Pines; so close by to Mirror lake loop trail. Took me almost 3.5 hrs to summit from the trail head. The overlook area at the top was amazing…..great views !!…lots of water flowing at the end of April. Date of climb was April 30, 2024…I have hiked the Upper falls trail several times; but I feel the Snow Creek trail was much better….the switchbacks were brutal; but you don’t have the step climbing trail like Upper falls…
Agreed on all points, I am not a fan of the Yosemite Falls steps haha. Glad you liked it!
Hello! How many miles to summit to summit Snow Creek? There’s not much info out there. How would you compare the hike up to Yosemite Falls as far as difficulty ? Thank you
Nice job Doug, Mount Diablo in Desolation Wilderness 9,000 feet of elevation is the hardest hike last year with the last couple of miles over tallac stone.
Awesome! I've only done 3 hikes in DW, want to get to know the place better!
I had a trip all planned out and was so excited to finally see Yosemite in March of 2020...Unfortunately, the world events prevented my trip out there:( But still on my bucket list! Is there a bad view in Yosemite!? JK..loved the hike, so beautiful! Thanks for sharing
Yeah I had a 3-week hike in Spain go down for May 2020. Stupid pandemic! The only bad view of Yosemite is the way out! ;)
@@BackcountryPilgrim Absolutely!
If you or anyone else does this trail start out at 12:00 pm so you get to Promontory point around 5:00. That way the sun will be shining on the face of Half Dome and the rest of the canyon.
If you do, bring a headlamp!
Nice, Doug! I looked at that approach to Clouds Rest in October, but my wife came with me, and she would NOT be into that kind of elevation gain! 🤣🔥 Can’t wait to do it at some point- so many great hikes in Yosemite!
Snow Creek to Clouds Rest? That'd be a LOOOONG trip lol!
@@BackcountryPilgrim this was a backpacking trip, not a day hike! But we approached from Tioga Road and ended up with our first cases of altitude sickness. 🙃
Oh ick. Maybe start in the valley, camp at LYV to acclimatize a bit, then CR.
@@BackcountryPilgrim hopefully I’ll be in better shape the next time. I think that was one factor. And I’ll probably go solo so I can do it my way! 🤣
@@BackcountryPilgrim Snow creek to clouds rest and back down to the valley as a day hike - planning to do it this June. It'll be brutal, I know, having hiked nearly all of it in sections. I'm planning for 16 hours car to car. Wish me luck!
Great video. Snow creek is on my list as well. Thank you. btw, Half Dome summit is my hardest so far. 5,000 feet elevation gain, roughly 8.5 miles up. Not as steep overall as snow creek, but mist trail to Nevada falls is steep and hard, followed by a flat area and then medium steepness up to the subdome, which is steep before getting to the cables. The cables are visually intimidating, but not as hard as they look. Love, love, anything and everything yosemite!
Yeah Half Dome is a beast!
I’m going to hear that bear bell in my sleep tonight, lol. Beautiful hike though, even if it is tough. Makes that reward all the better. I remember growing up thinking that upper Yosemite falls trail was the hardest I had done. But recently we found some parts of the solitude loop trail in the bighorns was pretty rough. I think the big difference is that much of that trail is above 10,000 feet. I definitely endorse the celebratory fruit snack cup.
Yosemite Falls is tough! Nice to below 10k though! :) You need to come back and visit!
@@BackcountryPilgrim most definitely. Life has thrown me a few curveballs recently so a trip away may be needed.
Anytime buddy!
Is the promontory nearby the bridge where you stopped to look around? I'm adding this hike to an upcoming visit to Yosemite. Thanks for the amazing and informative video!
I thought I answered this! Yes it's basically just a hard left off the trail on the return trip. :)
When I hiked it there was still a lot of snow up on top. Thank you
Was thay recently? I'm sure there still is this year!
@@BackcountryPilgrim No I’m thinking early 2000’s. Trying to pinpoint the year. My friend I use to go with worked in Yosemite early 60’s. She’s 85 now..amazing stories and amazing sharing of Yosemite.💙 she just moved off Donner Summit this mid-winter(evicted after renting 30 years) Soda Springs..she has a lot of wonderful life stories.
It was the only Valley floor hike she hadn’t done.
Wow!
I did this hike on 19th June 2022 with the intention to spend 4 nights in the wilderness starting in Snow Creek doing a loop above the valley, around Half Dom and heading out in Happy Isles. However, there was a fire before Snow Creek. I suffered the plus 100 switchbacks with a 40-pound backpack just to have to turn around... These switchbacks are relentless... I guess wilderness was showing its true colors... Having seen Half Dome from all its sides, I have to side that getting a view of Half Dome from this trail is a very underrated 12:16 part of the park, I guess it's due to its difficulty level. This trail is worth it if you are physically prepared.
Fun fact: There is a closure area once you finish the switchbacks, it was apparently a popular place to camp. A ranger told me it was because a bear had learned how to steal the bear canisters and push them off the cliffs ... so they had to intervene..
Agreed! Also although camping is not allowed in the closure area, it makes a great lunch spot (see 19:02). Just make sure to LNT in the bear's territory :)
@@BackcountryPilgrim I came here to see what I missed! Thank you for the video!
I had intended to do Snow Creek to Tenaya to Clouds Rest to the valley as a day hike on June 21, 2022 - just a couple days after your adventure. While the fire was out by that time, the trail was still closed, so I ended up just doing Tenaya - CR - Valley, which is still a heck of a 17 mile day hike! Planning to try the big loop again on June 21 of this year.
that bear creek warning on snow creek has been on the website for years
Yeah he hasn't left yet as far as I know! :)
I’d argue the Pohono Trail out of Tunnel View is more difficult. It doesn’t have many switchbacks, and so tends to just climb to the south rim of the Valley. It proceeds to go up and down past different lookout points leading past Sentinel Dome and on to Glacier Point. I’ve hiked it and returned via the (Four Point Eight :-) Mile Trail.
WELL....ACTUALLY *[pushes nerd glasses up nose]* . . . The steepest part of the Pohono is 1,900' in 2 miles so not nearly what Snow Creek is (although it may be made more difficult by other factors) and it's also not a Valley trail per se since it starts farther up. So I am still right. ;)
I've only done the Taft-Sentinel Loop and Crocker to Dewey Points sections. I might have to try the rest of it out!
@@BackcountryPilgrim It’s a great trail. I’ve made a loop of the whole thing with minimal road walking. I parked on the road across from the valley end of the Four Mile Trail, took the Valley Loop Trail to Bridal Veil Falls, and then walked along about a quarter mile of Highway 41 to the old stagecoach road that goes to Artist Point. That might be a better tunnel view than Tunnel View. :-) That joins the Pohono Trail eventually.
It’s almost like a couple of trails turned into one big trail starting in the Valley, joined by a bit of road. So… if I give it a name-call it ‘My Trail’-I’m right. 😉
I decided to finish the Pohono trail this week until I saw the weather. Dangit! :)
Anytime you hike over 1300FT in a single mile, that DEFINITELY classifies as a hard hike! I think the single steepest gain per mile we've ever done was on the Maroon Peak trail in CO ... it climbed over 2600FT in a single mile! What! So the next time you're looking for a challenge.... you know where to go 😂 -E
Yikes!
2600!!! That's psycho lol! Nice!
Just to clarify my question, at 18:09 you indicate that you are turning left off the trail to head to the promontory point. Is this soon after the bridge? Thanks for the excellent video. I'm super excited to try this hike. Thanks!
Oh yeah OK, the video preview looked like a different one haha. On the way toward the valley from the bridge, you're going straight toward it. When the trail heads off to the right paralleling the valley you can just take a 90-degree left any time and just keep walking until you reach the edge. I'd recommend stopping there haha. Enjoy!
@@BackcountryPilgrim I definitely plan to follow your advice and stop at that point. Love these videos. Very inspiring
Comments like this inspire me! I hope you have a great hike!
Snow Creek should be hiked in the spring during peak runoff. The falls are the star, without them…it’s just a long steep slog..
I wouldn't think they could be seen even then but I guess I'll have to go back!
Hello! I’ve backpacked to Yosemite falls and have also done Half Dome in a day (approx 19 miles ) . How would you compare Snow Creek to both? How many miles ? I couldn’t find the info . I have a permit to backpack Snow Creek, I’m a bit intimidated after your video lol . I’m 53 y.o female and it would be a solo trip . Any advice ? Thank you .
I'd say harder than the falls but not HD. The gain per mile is what makes it rough but you're not going as far. The hard part is about 2,600' in 1.5 miles. Give yourself time and you'll make it. :) If you want some help with route planning shoot me an email at backcountrypilgrim@gmail.com. Happy to help!
👍
I always appreciate your thumbs up!
my friend and i got dropped off at the porcupine flat trailhead where we went to indian arches and then ultimately camped on top of north dome but the next day when we were heading down it felt like he hiked 20 miles and we probably didnt even hike half that but we took the snow creek trail down and i was already wore out but that 2 miles or so was the must ball busting bone shattering suffering hike i ever did lol ...i think its the same elevation as yosemite falls but a mile less than the falls for the same elevation....unless u really are a glutton for punishment' or training for a super hard hike i would never ever recommend this trail
Well I don't remember it being quite that bad haha. Good times! :) #Type2Fun
@@BackcountryPilgrim lol thats because i just am not in shape where i want to be then or now, but i think it had to do with not eating or drinking much from when we left north dome to the end i may have had a handful or 2 of trail mix and a bottle of water or so ...yeah def good times yosemite hikes i love them but i sure do curse them a lot haha...my think is just getting stronger going up in elevation or many miles with a lot of elevation...whats funny is i wasnt in great shape by any means but when i did the upper yosemite falls trail i took my time stay hydrated and wasnt at all that bad until i got to the top and then breakfast left my body i guess eggs and getting hot dont mix very well :)
Food and rest make a huge difference!
If you haven't hiked the abandoned Ledge Trail from Camp Curry to Glacier Point, you haven't hiked the hardest trail out of the valley.
"Abandoned" is the key word here. The Ledge "trail" is (now) basically a 2 mile-long 3k' class 3 scrambling route haha. Definitely harder than any of the actual trails out of the valley!
@@BackcountryPilgrim : I’ve done it three times between 1968 and 1983. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart. I’m too old to do it now. Snow Creek is certainly the hardest regular trail out of the valley.
@lanefrank6208 Good on ya! Yeah I've done a bit of research into it as I do like off trail routes. This one seems to be a bit of a sufferfest for the payoff but I may give it a go someday. :)
Comparing Yosemite Falls trail and Snow Creek trail scince i have hiked both trails i think Yosemite falls trail much harder than snow creek .
Difficulty can be measured by many factors - but typically trails are rated by a combination of distance and elevation gain. Yosemite Falls trail is 3 miles with 2,850' of elevation gain and Snow Creek trail is 1 mile with 2,630' of elevation gain (if you stop at the bridge). That makes Snow Creek nearly 3x steeper than Yosemite Falls - and when you add in the 1.5 miles you have to hike just to get to the trailhead, it's not even that much shorter!
Shut the music off please.
Thanks for the tip.