We camped at a Forest Service campground, just outside the park entrance. By the time we got our permits, breakfast food and drove to the trail head, it was already 10:30am. So much for an early start on the trail. We left one car where we planned to end our trip and took the other to Tuolumne Meadows (8,600ft). Our first stop was Cathedral Lake, 4.5 miles down the trail. We made pretty good time, although PAW and I could feel the elevation as we climbed up the hill. After a quick lunch and setting up camp at upper Cathedral Lake (9,700ft), we took an afternoon hike up the peak to our SW, Tresidder Peak. We nearly summited around 10,600ft and had beautiful views of the park, including down the Tenya Canyon towards Half-Dome.
After a short bit of time admiring the panoramic views, we decided to race down the hill to beat the quickly advancing thunder clouds. None of us wanted to be stuck on top of some wet, slippery granite trying to get back to camp. We were about 5 minutes from camp when the rain started. After an hour long storm of wind, rain and hail we were rewarded with a beautiful double rainbow- right in front of Cathedral Peak.
In the morning, I got out of the tent before the sun came up over the ridge. There was a thick layer of frost covering the grass and trees. The sky was clear. The air was still. Not a noise could be heard. And the lake was calm. I took a few minutes to soak in the peacefulness of the forest before it woke up for the day. This was a great opportunity to recharge from the previous weeks- the hustle and bustle of work and preparing for the trip. It was a pause from the wedding the weekend before and the wedding in the weekend to come. Just as I completed a little meditation, my camping com-padres emerged from their tent.
Later that morning found PAW and I saying our farewells to JN. He had to make it back to Oakland for his flight back to the east coast that afternoon.
JN was the last person we saw on the middle day of our hike. PAW and I wandered further south towards Sunrise High Sierra Camp and then crossed the ridge over towards the Sunrise Lakes. It was a short mileage day, so we were able to hike at a leisurely pace, enjoy our surrounding and still set up camp at a reasonable time. It was a great day- probably about 70-75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and not another hiker to be seen.
We thought we'd cap the afternoon with a little dip in the lake. While it had snowed a week before at the lake at 9,500ft and it being mid-October, the lake was AS COLD as I might have thought. PAW and I swam over to a little granite island with a few trees on it. I've never seen PAW swim so fast. I think it is because his body lacks the insulation that I have.
PAW and I thought it would be nice to prepare our dinner and eat it while watching the sun set over Tenya Canyon and Half Dome, so we got to cooking our potato soup with vegetables and chicken. I'm not sure if we cooked much faster than we anticipated or we majorly misjudged the time of sunset, but we finished dinner and the sun was still high in the evening sky. At least this mistake gave us some time to clean up before sunset. We were rewarded with a beautiful pink and orange sunset. Then, we went back to camp and had a sip of whiskey.
The next morning we woke up early and hit the trail. We made it back to the car around 9am and began our drive to Yosemite Valley. After our visit to the high country, the Valley was a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and the valley itself are beautiful. They are just so much more populated, developed and finite than the grand panoramas, solitude, and wilderness the high country provided. We spent about 45 minutes in the valley before we decided we would like to get on the road, eat an In and Out burger and get to Napa for some wine tasting.
Highlights of Yosemite:
- The granite formations in Yosemite are very different to the geology of Oregon and Washington forests. There are large sheets of granite and knolls lead to much different.
- Solitude.
- The smell of pine forests on a warm afternoon.
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