Eagle Tower – May 17, 2025
I heard of Eagle Tower for the first time this winter when some descending hikers told me they were coming from Eagle Tower. Not knowing there was a difference between Eagle Tower and the eponymous peak (my real destination that day), I naively told them “oh, me too!” After that day, I did some research on Eagle Tower but largely put it out of mind. This spring, my friend Ngan and I were planning to spend a relaxed day in Yosemite Valley to do some photography but we both realized we’d probably be pretty bored by the afternoon without some hiking thrown into the mix. One thing lead to another and we had settled on a day hike to Eagle Tower before watching sunset at the newly reopened Glacier Point.
Since I was driving from Sacramento, we met at sunrise in the valley. I had wanted to photograph El Cap with sunrise lighting hitting the southeast face, but the morning clouds had other plans. We decided to immediately head to the Upper Yosemite Falls trailhead before parking filled up (as it quickly does on Saturdays in spring). We were on the trail by 6:30 AM and at the top of the falls by 8:30.
At this point, we didn’t have much route info to go on. I knew that during the winter, there was a bootpath through the snow that started near Eagle Peak Creek. That was a fairly long detour though and the terrain all around us looked pretty inviting. Ngan wanted to go around and find a less steep way. I won the argument and led us up steep, mostly open slopes. At this point, low clouds had started to move in, obscuring our view and dropping some light rain on us.
Upper Yosemite Fall clearing through the clouds.
We made it to the “top” in short order, which really meant hiking over a high point and then descending down to Eagle Tower. We couldn’t see anything through the thick clouds but knew we were in the correct spot because the roar of Yosemite Falls was unmistakeable. Since it was so early in the day and we didn’t have anywhere else to be until sunset, we decided we’d wait as long as it took for the clouds to clear. Coincidentally, as we were cooking lunch, the wind seemingly blew the clouds northward through Yosemite Creek and we were rewarded with clear views of the falls and entire valley.
We spent nearly three hours at the top just marveling at the views. Only two other parties were encountered while we were up there – a couple who had come up for photography, and a group of three who said they took a very circuitous route nearly all the way to Eagle Peak before wrapping back around to the tower.
Ngan perched on a ledge overlooking the valley.
We took a more gentle route on our descent which had a ton of branches and bark littered on the forest floor. I actually think I preferred our steeper ascent route and would go back that way in the future. When we met back up with the Upper Yosemite Falls trail, it was essentially a super highway. Nothing terrible but the one sore point from me was the complete lack of trail etiquette: no yielding to uphill highers, no yielding to faster hikers coming from behind. There were a few moments where I politely had to ask dozens of slow hikers in front of us whether we could pass them when there was an opportunity. Everyone was very gracious about it and I always try to ask in a way that doesn’t make me sound annoyed, but it’s mind-boggling how people can be oblivious to having so many hikers piled up behind them (and how no one else seems to want to do the logical thing and politely ask to pass!).
We made it back to the car around 4 PM and napped before heading off to Glacier Point for the evening.
—Justin
