LITMIR.BIZ

      4 Base of El Capitan

      Trailhead Location: El Capitan Meadow, west end of Yosemite Valley

      Trail Use: Hiking

      Distance & Configuration: 0.8-mile out-and-back

      Elevation Range: 3,970 feet at the start, with 280 feet of ascent/descent

      Facilities: No amenities are at the trailhead. The closest toilets are at Bridalveil Falls, and toilets and water are available at Yosemite Lodge.

      Highlights: Surreal views of a 3,000-foot granite face

      Middle Cathedral Rock from El Capitan Meadow

      DESCRIPTION

      The unmarked use trail to the base of El Capitan gives you an unusual panorama of the imposing granite face—straight up and up and up. From the base you lack the perspective gained from standing in a nearby meadow, making it difficult to estimate the wall’s height. Combine this walk with a visit to El Capitan Meadow to admire the mountain from a bit farther back.

      THE ROUTE

      The unmarked, but obvious, trail begins at the far eastern end of El Capitan Meadow, about 300 feet after the two roads entering the meadow merge. Walking along the right-hand edge of an open black oak and ponderosa pine woodland, you reach a large opening through which the Valley Loop Trail passes (0.15 mile from start). Walk north to the back of the opening—in the direction of El Capitan. Here you will find a use trail that zigzags quite steeply up to the monolith’s base. The many climbers heading for the rock have created a well-worn route, allowing you to avoid burrowing into the dense manzanitas and huckleberry oaks that cover the slope. As you exit the scrub at the base of the rock, take a look at where you are—the start of the trail here is a little hidden on the return (0.4 mile).

      Now walk up to the base of El Cap and touch the nearly 3,000-foot wall. Without trees for scale, the wall feels dimensionless to me and I’d be hard pressed to decide if it were 100 or 10,000 feet high. Look up, up, up through binoculars if you have them, maybe glimpsing climbers high above you. You are standing just to the right of the most famous route, the Nose, which approximately follows the corner where the eastern and western halves of the face meet. Notice how few newly fallen rocks are at the base of the wall. Like most of Yosemite Valley, it is composed of very solid rock. The vegetated slope you just walked up is composed of rock from much older falls, so rock is indeed shed here as well, but by chance there has not been recent activity.

      When you are finished, retrace your steps to the car (0.8 mile). Before you drive away, walk into El Capitan Meadow, just across the road, to gain a second perspective on the peak and to enjoy some of the other walls and pinnacles gracing the western half of Yosemite Valley, including Cathedral Rocks and Cathedral Spires to the south.

      TO THE TRAILHEAD

      GPS Coordinates: N37° 43.452′ W119° 38.071′

      Two roads, Northside Drive and Southside Drive, run the length of Yosemite Valley. For most of their length they are both one-way, with traffic traveling east (toward Half Dome) on Southside Drive and west (out of the valley) on Northside Drive. El Capitan Meadow is accessed from Northside Drive. It lies 2.5 miles west of Yosemite Lodge, just beyond where a crossover road merges with Northside Drive.