The Best View of Chilnualna Falls Ever, in Yosemite

For a while, we became obsessed with getting the best possible picture of Chilnualna Falls, in the southern part of Yosemite National Park. Everyone who hikes from the Wawona area to Chilnualna Falls, sees these falls from the north looking south. In fact, the trail is always north of the creek. We found a much better view by crossing Chilnualna Creek and positioning ourselves where we could see the falls from the south looking north, plus being there at the time of day when the sun's light reaches all the way to the bottom of the falls. Searching for the best possible view also invloved us climbing a rope up to a tree branch along the trail and also rappelling down the cliff face to the area at the right in this photo where the dried plants are located. That position got us too close to the falls to get it all in a single shot, so we figured on backing up further in order to take it all in. So that's what we did and how we got this image.

The falls can't be seen from the Wawona area because there's a big granite wall in front of it. After getting this shot, we also managed to get to the top of that wall and look at the falls straight on.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Granite arch in Yosemite, along Chilnualna Creek, Wawona area

During a backpacking trip in Yosemite during the second week of June, 2018, we were headed out on the last day along Chilnualna Creek and visited this natural arch. We had already found it years ago during a trip to this area. We think it was formed from a pothole in the granite that eroded downward until it broke through the bottom of a ledge. By estimating the size with Bob's tripod, we determined that the opening was about 1.5 meters or about 4 feet across. That puts it in the "minor" arch category, but still, an arch made of granite is a rare thing. We first approached the arch from the side of the creek where the trail runs along, but we took these pictures after crossing the creek upstream from this spot and positioning ourselves to see the maximum opening possible.

This was the third day of a loop backpacking trip we took along the Alder Creek trail and looping clockwise to come out by the Chilnualna Falls and cascades, which are dramatic in their own right. We really took our time in this area, almost 4 hours, before heading down the trail which loses about 2000 feet (610 meters) in elevation to the trailhead where we parked the car.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!