We finagled our way through some blocked off roads east of Curry Half Dome Village, telling the ranger we were backpacking and wanted to leave our car at the Happy Isles parking lot. We picked up our permit at the Big Oak Flat entrance before driving down into the valley proper. We drove from Oakland down to Yosemite Valley on a sunny Saturday, stopping for mango chili lollipops at a gas station in the central valley and encountering the usual high-season traffic driving into the park. I role-played bus driver skittering around Oakland picking up my three hiking companions and squeezing them into my little Honda Fit. Oakland to Yosemite Valley to Tuoulumne Meadows We also visited my favorite campsite on Echo Creek, where we saw a pair of bears! I am still learning how to gauge how much people who aren’t used to backpacking can do comfortably, and this trip was a learning experience for me in that vein. This trip was the second trip of the summer with relative newbies who I’d met through DSA, and we took a classic route in Yosemite from Tuolomne to the Valley via Cathedral Lakes and Clouds Rest. A permit is required to go up the cables at Half Dome.In 2018 I vowed to introduce as many friends, acquaintances, and friends of friends as possible to backpacking, with the hope of spreading the gospel of Leave No Trace and helping it propagate. Make sure you do your homework before heading out on this adventure. Drive just a couple miles north or south to enjoy the sunset at either Olmsted Point or Tenaya Lake, two of the most beautiful spots along the Tioga Road. If you make it back before dark, don't linger too long at the trailhead. Once you reach the junction of the Sunrise Lakes Trail, the climbing is finally over and it's less than three miles downhill back to your vehicle. From here it's a two mile descent back to the JMT before seven miles of moderate climbing and flat trail through burn areas of the JMT and Forsyth Trail. Head up the cables to check that amazing experience off the bucket list! Take some time to relax and refuel on the Half Dome summit while basking in the beauty of this spot and what you have just accomplished. After taking hundreds of pictures on Clouds Rest, hike four miles down to the JMT where you will soon take the Half Dome Trail 2.5 miles up to the base of the cables. From the trailhead, hike seven miles up the Clouds Rest Trail first thing in the morning for the most awe inspiring summit view I have ever experienced. Get an early start and drive the Tioga Road to the Sunrise Lakes Trailhead in the dark, trying to arrive before sunrise. The trail starts at 8,150' and the summits "only" top out at 9,926' ( Clouds Rest) and 8,839' ( Half Dome), but twice you'll fall to below 7,000' on the JMT between the peaks. Unlike typical mountain summit hikes where it's climb climb climb to the top and then descend, this will be a day of constant up and down switching from ascent to descent. Start and end this loop from the Sunrise Lakes TH along the Tioga Road, and in between you'll travel over 26 miles through Yosemite's backcountry gaining and losing over 7,000 feet in elevation. No overnight gear or shuttle necessary- just a light daypack and a fresh set of legs! Take on this epic all day hike to the summit of Yosemite Valley's two most iconic peaks.
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