#waterfalls
16 trips tagged “waterfalls”
waterfalls backpacking at a glance
CaliPeaks documents 16 California backpacking routes tagged waterfalls, ranging from 4 to 30.8 miles with 700–6,200 feet of total climbing. Difficulty spans 0/100 (Easy) on Rancheria Falls up to 48/100 (Strenuous) on Full North Rim, which also carries the tag's biggest climb at 6,200 feet. All of these routes require a wilderness permit — each trip page links the booking window.
These routes cross Trinity Alps Wilderness, Desolation Wilderness and Yosemite National Park, and the months most of them share are September, July, August. Every stat below is cited on its trip page, so you can compare them like-for-like and follow any number back to the managing agency.
Canyon Creek Lakes
Canyon Creek Lakes are the Trinity Alps' most popular prize: two granite-bound lakes at the head of a waterfall staircase, reached by a mode…
Pyramid Creek to Ropi Lake
Pyramid Creek is Desolation's steepest little adventure: 2 miles up granite slabs beside Horsetail Falls to Ropi Lake's swimming slabs. Shor…
Rancheria Falls
Rancheria Falls is Yosemite's easiest spring waterfall camp: a gentle 6.3-mile stroll around the north shore of Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to a …
Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley
Glacier Point to the Valley is Yosemite's classic easy traverse: 11.5 miles from the famous overlook down the John Muir Trail past Illilouet…
Pohono Trail
The Pohono Trail walks the entire south rim of Yosemite Valley: 13.7 miles from Glacier Point to Tunnel View, past the overlooks of Taft, De…
Chilnualna Falls
Chilnualna Falls is Yosemite's quiet waterfall: a 9.2-mile round trip from Wawona to the top of a 2,200-foot cascade on the park's lightly t…
Upper Yosemite Fall
The Yosemite Falls Trail climbs 2,700 feet in 3.7 miles to the brink of North America's tallest waterfall — a short, brutal, spectacular ove…
Glen Aulin
Glen Aulin is the friendliest river trip in Yosemite: a 6.3-mile descent from Tuolumne Meadows along the Tuolumne River to a High Sierra Cam…
Waterwheel Falls
Waterwheel Falls is the Tuolumne River's most theatrical moment: at peak runoff the river launches over a granite step in a wheel of spray t…
Little Yosemite Valley
Little Yosemite Valley is the backcountry camp below Half Dome: a 4.8-mile, 2,150-foot climb from Happy Isles past Vernal and Nevada Falls t…
Lake Vernon and Rancheria Falls Loop
This loop is Hetch Hetchy's grand tour: up out of the reservoir valley to Lake Vernon's granite shore, down through Tiltill Valley's meadows…
Half Dome via the John Muir Trail
Half Dome is Yosemite's bucket-list summit, and the classic backpacking approach is 8.1 miles up the John Muir Trail from Happy Isles: past …
Eastern North Rim
The Eastern North Rim crosses the Valley's northern skyline between the Yosemite Falls and Snow Creek trailheads: 18 miles of rim with a det…
Happy Isles to Tuolumne Meadows (JMT)
This is the John Muir Trail's first act: 22 miles and 5,900 feet of climbing from Happy Isles past Vernal and Nevada Falls, below Half Dome,…
Full North Rim
The Full North Rim is Yosemite Valley's skyline walked end to end: 29 miles from Old Big Oak Flat Road over the tops of El Capitan, Yosemite…
Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne
The Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne is Yosemite's great river trip: a 30.8-mile traverse from White Wolf to Tuolumne Meadows that drops into a …