This was on Sat. 5/9/26 around 11am. There were a ton of people on Mist Trail. The trail gets extremely narrow right before the falls and coming down that narrow part made me a bit nervous with so many folks. Be careful and I would recommend waterproof boots during this time.
I saw this young thang by El Capitan on the Loop Trail. At first, it was coiled up and then crossed the trail. Didn’t seem happy. I saw another one on the road and was almost ran over by multiple cars. Not sure if it’s a certain season for them to be out but two in one day seems a bit odd.
Mist Trail closure won’t happen until June 30th and hopefully the JMT will be open by then. Currently, part of the JMT is closed.