Mount Broderick

Mount Broderick is a 6,696-foot granite summit squeezed between Half Dome and Liberty Cap, rising directly above Nevada Fall in Yosemite Valley's high country. There's no maintained trail to its top — just an unmarked, off-trail scramble that climbers and peak-baggers have used for decades. Hikers on the Mist Trail and John Muir Trail see it constantly on the way up to Nevada Fall, but reaching the actual summit means leaving that trail behind.

The Route Up

The standard approach starts at Happy Isles and follows the Mist Trail or John Muir Trail to the top of Nevada Fall — the same corridor used for Liberty Cap. From there, a use path climbs east through talus and open granite toward the saddle between Half Dome and Liberty Cap, then works up class 2–3 terrain to Broderick's summit. Expect real route-finding, some hand-over-hand scrambling, and no signage anywhere along the way.

Know Before You Go

• Difficulty: class 2–3 scrambling with genuine exposure — this is a peak-baggers' objective, not a family day hike.
• No official trail or markers: route-finding skill is required for the entire climb.
• Stay well back from the river above Nevada Fall on the approach — the National Park Service has documented multiple deaths of visitors swept over the falls after getting too close to the current.

Its granite faces also carry established rock climbing routes documented on Mountain Project, typically approached through the same Nevada Fall corridor before roping up.