Top of Yosemite Falls & North Dome

The Yosemite Falls Trail wastes no time getting after it — switchbacks start almost immediately out of Camp 4 and don't really let up for the next four miles, climbing about 2,700 feet before the grade finally eases off anywhere near the rim. It's one of the most-hiked trails in the park for a reason: Columbia Rock partway up gives a preview of what's coming, and by the time the switchbacks finally end, you've earned a straight look down the top of Upper Yosemite Fall, water disappearing over the edge into open air on its way to a 2,425-foot drop. From the rim, the trail continues on toward Yosemite Point, and the views open up even further — El Capitan's granite shoulder filling one side of the valley, the full length of Yosemite Valley stretching out below.

That would already be a full day for most people, but the trail keeps going east from there, rolling through forest and over granite toward North Dome, with enough ups and downs that the mileage feels longer than the elevation gain alone suggests. Tioga Road was still closed for the season in mid-May, so there was no shortcut from Porcupine Creek — the only way in was the long way, all the way up from the Valley floor, turning what's normally a moderate day hike into a serious undertaking layered on top of the climb to the falls.

It's worth every extra mile. North Dome's whole reputation rests on one thing: it stares straight across Tenaya Canyon at Half Dome, close enough and head-on enough that it doesn't even feel like the same mountain you'd recognize from the Valley floor or Glacier Point, with Clouds Rest visible just beyond it. Two completely different rewards, two summits logged, one very long push from the Valley floor and back.