Chilnualna Falls

This trail doesn't ease you into anything. From the trailhead near Wawona, you're climbing immediately — relentless granite-slab switchbacks that gain nearly half a mile of vertical through mixed conifer forest. The lower section teases you with a smaller cascade and mist-cooled air, but the real prize demands every one of those switchbacks. The trail is rocky and exposed in stretches, with sections of smooth granite that get slick when wet. As you climb, views of the Wawona Dome and the South Fork canyon open up behind you. The upper falls reveal themselves in stages — a series of granite chutes and plunges rather than one dramatic drop, which somehow makes them more impressive. By late spring, snowmelt turns this into a thundering staircase of whitewater. This is a trail for hikers who want to earn their waterfall and don't mind legs that feel like concrete the next morning.