Lower Yosemite Falls Trail Map

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Map Notes:  Google Maps has a few glitches here - hey, you try mapping the whole world - but they're minor. First, Yosemite Village is not at the trailhead; it's about half a mile east. The Yosemite Lodge is right across from the trailhead, however.

Though it looks like there are multiple routes from the trailhead to the falls overlook, there's really only one trail here, and you can't miss it. If you cross the bridge and continue east instead of turning around, though, there are multiple routes you can take. There's one trail that skirts the very edge of the valley and returns to the road between Yosemite Village and the Ahwahnee Hotel, and another that wanders through the trees and returns to Northside Drive near the traditional trailhead. They're both pleasant; the former climbs a hundred feet or so and may give you the mistaken impression that it's about to lead you all the way to the valley rim.

Finally, there aren't any big blue lakes taunting gravity by lying vertically along the valley walls. People would have noticed.

The trail that winds uphill to the northwest of the Lower Yosemite Falls trail is the Upper Yosemite Falls trail. At one point along this trail is a short detour that leads to a view looking down on the lower falls overlook. So when you're at the bridge at the end of the lower falls trail, keep in mind that someone could be watching you. Besides the dozens of other people already there, that is.