For my birthday, Jim and I went to Yosemite to do our first backpacking trip of the season. Our main goal was Clouds Rest peak. We saw it 5 years ago from the summit of Half Dome and have wanted to climb it ever since.
After a stop at Jim’s cousins, we headed into Yosemite, picked up our permit, and hiked up the Mist Trail from the Happy Valley trailhead. The Mist Trail is fun because you hike through the mist of Vernal Falls.
The mist felt especially good in the heat.
After an exhausting 2000 feet of steps up to the top of the Mist Trail, Jim and I took a much needed packs off break before heading to Little Yosemite Valley. From there, we headed up the John Muir Trail. We were required to get a mile past Little Yosemite Valley before camping.
A few hours later, we found ourselves setting up camp in an old burn below Clouds Rest. Despite the burn, we had an amazing campsite with a view, creek running near by, deer visiting during dinner, and frogs serenading us to sleep.
We woke to blue skies and warm temps. We packed up and hiked an hour up the trail before stashing our heavy packs. From here, we took the trail junction leading up Clouds Rest.
Yosemite has a very low snow pack this year. We were anxious to see how high into the Sierras we could go before the snow inhibited our travels. We made it all the way to the ridge crest of Clouds Rest before hitting continuous snow around 9500 ft.
As soon as we got out of the big trees, the snow ended. Very uneventful.
We quickly found ourselves on an amazing rocky ridge run. Felt like we were on a sidewalk with a 4000 foot drop off the sides.
Eileen on the summit of Clouds Rest
We were not alone on the summit. Several strong day hikers had come up the other ridge. They were very surprised to see us appear. They weren’t aware that there was a different route.
The views were everything we thought they would be.
We spent the better part of an hour running around trying to identify the surroundings. Every visit to Yosemite opens up more for us to do on future trips.
We shaved an entire hour off our downtime by forgetting the trail and following our noses downhill. Once back to our packs, we head to Merced Lake which would be camp for the night.
Jim and I were both surprised by the hiking trail itself. We crossed multiple huge rock slabs. The trails were lined with rocks, big and small. Hundreds of them. This must have taken days maybe years.
When we came to the Merced River, we were reminded that the spring run off was in full force. Neither one of us would get anywhere near the river.
Then we hit the lake and all was instantly calm.
It was easy to see why Merced Lake is such a popular destination for hikers. We were shocked to only find one other tent in the campground.
The next day, we headed up the valley. Our goal was to camp below Red Pass. We knew the pass would have snow since it was at 11,000 feet but the high country was full of snow free benches and we had traction devices with us.
Our first break was at Washburn Lake.
Hiking up the valley was way more interesting than we thought it would be. There were high granite walls on both sides of the valley which undulated back and forth making the trail very skinny at times.
Near the end of the valley, we were treated to an amazing 1000 foot waterfall.
At the end of the valley, it took a minute to realize the trail was going up the rock wall.
The trail switched back and forth crossing slab for over 600 feet.
Some of the trail had to be blasted out of the rock.
At the top of the rock wall was a hidden hanging valley about 3 miles long. It was so tranquil.
We reached the end of the valley with ample time to reach our destination. With clouds building and a potential of afternoon thunderstorms, we donned jackets and head up to the upper basins.
As we hiked on the north side of the mountain range, we had to deal with some snow but nothing that kept us off the trail for long. We reach the ridge crest and then things started to go wrong.
First, a graupel storm started. Then my phone died so I was of no help with navigation and the trail was getting hard to keep track of. We had to drop a few hundred feet and cross the head waters before going back up to dryer slabs.
We could see the snow free slabs but could not get over the snow covered lake basin. It was like walk through a minefield. Every 10th step you would post hole. Sometimes your foot would find a rock on the way down, other times it would find water. We put on our water shoes to help keep our boots dry.
We finally cleared the first creek only to find more running water over the next rock band. We had covered about 100 feet in over an hour. Oh, and the graupel storm was still going on only coming down harder. I thought thunderstorms were supposed to end as quickly as they start. Jim and I were both done.
We decide to retreat back to the ridge crest and look for a high camp. Red Pass and Red Peak would have to wait for another trip which we immediately started planning.
We woke to blue skies and a fabulous view.
We hauled our breakfast up the rock knoll behind our tent for a 360 degree view of the valley.
We questioned our decision to pull the plug as we studied the terrain. We were so close.
We leisurely packed up camp and headed back the way we had come. Enjoyed a boots off lunch break in the hanging valley.
As if on schedule, the rains started as soon as we hit the valley floor. It stayed with us the rest of the day and into the night. We found a huge tree at Merced Lake to camp under. The ground under the tree never got wet and we had dinner outside.
This pinecone gives you an idea of how big the trees were. It was close to the size of Jim’s head.
We woke early to start the long haul out. We had 14 miles of hiking to get back to our car. Jim and I don’t like to do more than 12 miles in a day. We both have delicate feet.
For our return to Yosemite Valley, we opted for staying on the Merced River trail instead of the John Muir Trail. Neither of us had been on this section of the trail so it would be new. We were absolutely blown away by the scenery.
The trail construction through the rocks was something to marvel at.
We crossed back and forth across the river a couple of times.
We were about 2 miles from Little Yosemite Valley when we saw our first hikers since the lone hiker in camp 2 days ago. By the time we reached the top of Nevada Falls, we were back in the Yosemite crowds.
We chose the longer trail back to Yosemite Valley. It would be better for our knees and it was a trail we hadn’t done. The view of Nevada Falls was worth the extra mile of trail.
The trip might not have gone as we planned but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Maybe I would have shortened the graupel storm. 2 hours seemed a bit excessive.
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