Submitted by Courtney (not verified) on Thu, 2008-06-12 04:30.
After much research, the Panorama Trail was my husbands and my latest adventure in Yosemite. He has bad knees and after the 4 Mile Trail caused him some discomfort last year, he prepared this year by working out and wearing 2 knee braces. We took the bus to Glacier Point to hike the trail down. The trail was very enjoyable and fun until we began out decent from Nevada Falls. We took the stone staircase down to Vernal. At first, you cannot tell how long the staircase is and just when it looks to end to a dirt trail, it begins again. By the time we reached Vernal Falls he could barely walk. After resting, we decided to go down the Mist Trail to just get it over with (instead of catching the Muir Trail). When we reached the foot bridge, he really was having a hard time. We really had to take our time to get to Happy Isles.
My recommendation to anyone with sightly bad knees is to buy the walkers poles, wear knee braces, and know your limits! I am not sure how much walking poles would have helped my husband but I know for sure it would not have made it worse ( I ended up finding a stick for him to use near the end of the trail).
Not a good hike for bad knees.
After much research, the Panorama Trail was my husbands and my latest adventure in Yosemite. He has bad knees and after the 4 Mile Trail caused him some discomfort last year, he prepared this year by working out and wearing 2 knee braces. We took the bus to Glacier Point to hike the trail down. The trail was very enjoyable and fun until we began out decent from Nevada Falls. We took the stone staircase down to Vernal. At first, you cannot tell how long the staircase is and just when it looks to end to a dirt trail, it begins again. By the time we reached Vernal Falls he could barely walk. After resting, we decided to go down the Mist Trail to just get it over with (instead of catching the Muir Trail). When we reached the foot bridge, he really was having a hard time. We really had to take our time to get to Happy Isles.
My recommendation to anyone with sightly bad knees is to buy the walkers poles, wear knee braces, and know your limits! I am not sure how much walking poles would have helped my husband but I know for sure it would not have made it worse ( I ended up finding a stick for him to use near the end of the trail).