Alder Creek Trailhead — Attraction in Oakhurst

This is a lightly traveled trail in Yosemite that leads to a nice waterfall view.

First you have to find it. On Google Maps it is listed as Alder Creek Trailhead, but on the road there is no sign for Alder Creek Trail. I drove from the south, through the Wawona entrance, and the Trailhead is about nine miles past the entrance. I didn’t see much signage, so it’s easy to miss. The first clue is a sign indicating Speed Limit 20 for hairpin turn ahead. The next sign you’ll see is a brown Mosquito Creek sign on the right, and this is where you need to immediately pull over and park. It’s best to park across the street from this sign as there is room for parking and bear boxes for anything you need to store.

The trail is uphill at the start, then some downhill before more uphill, eventually becoming fairly level. I like this trail - it has good tree cover, very quiet and relaxing. There are no steep drop-offs except for a small section near the waterfall. The reason I didn’t give it more than three stars is because of the current (April 2021) condition of the trail. Earlier this year there was a significant wind event which caused many trees in this area to be toppled. At this time the trail has not been cleared. The first mile took about 50 minutes, due to having to climb over all the downed trees and branches, not to mention that I’m not as young as I used to be!

Even without the fallen trees, there is some overgrowth along the trail that can scratch your legs, arms and face. The first 1-2 miles have a lot of the low-growing Mountain Misery plant (Chamaebatia foliolosa), as well as other, medium height (4-6 feet) plants (see photos and video). In some places the visible trail is less than one foot wide. After the first couple of miles the trail levels off and widens. Eventually you will make it to an old railroad grade, and you will find remnants such as railroad ties and small sections of rail. There are much less fallen trees in this area as well.

I hiked in early April. The trail was mostly dry with only small patches of snow for the first three miles. After that the patches grew in size until the trail was completely covered in snow.

My goal on this trail was to make it to the waterfall, which is about 3.9 miles in. As you can see from the photos, I made it and it was definitely worth it. There was a good flow of water at this time of year.

This is a pine forest. As such, you will not see many wildflowers even during peak wildflower season. But various of the bushes do bloom.

Overall my hiking buddy and I really enjoyed our trek. It was a quiet, relaxing hike, with the added bonus of getting to eat lunch by...