Clouds Rest in Yosemite

Granite for days

Another Mt. Whitney training hike, the trek to Clouds Rest in Yosemite National Park took us 15 miles with an elevation gain of 1,775' from 8,150' to a hair under 10,000'.

It was another beautiful day in terms of weather, though the temperature dropped into the low 40s at night.

Alex and I made it to the east end of the park around 1am on Friday evening (this wasn't a trip with a lot of scheduling rigor, obviously). We intended to drive through the park to find a campsite on the east side (thus avoiding the need for overnight permits), but sleepiness set in and we ended up pitching our tent a little ways from 120, still within the park. Considering we were awake and packed back up by 6:30am, our illegal camp was but a quick transgression.

We stopped at Olmsted Point on our way to the trailhead and took in the beautiful morning sun that bathed the rolling granite fields with warm light.

Half Dome and the moon.

Alex ascending the final ridge to the summit.

We spent a solid hour on the summit, taking in the amazing views of Half Dome, the valley, Tenaya Lake, and more and enjoying a leisurely lunch. On this trek, I brought along leftover bread from a Heath event that was used to scoop up vegetarian sloppy joes and a pesto farro salad with corn, tomato, and cucumber. Also had a lightly hardboiled egg for extra protein.