Clouds Rest

August 2024

Clouds Rest is a stunning and easily-accessible peak in Yosemite National Park. I decided to surprise Lexi for her birthday by taking her out on a mid-week, 24 hour, door-to-door epic to the peak from our cabin and Santa Cruz. We took off after work on Monday, camped at Hardin Flat for the night, and rose at 4:45 a.m. to enter the park before the bureaucrats start turning away anyone without the money or foresight to have reserved a day use (day use dammit!) permit to enter the park.

By 6 a.m. we were at the Tenaya Lake parking lot where we slept for another couple hours. After making a hearty breakfast, we set off for our summit. The steepest part of the climb greets hikers about one mile into the day, and Lexi was worried that the whole hike would be like this. Fortunately, the climb lets up after a couple miles, and the rest of the route is more or less a traverse to the summit itself. The last few hundred feet offered some mellow rock hopping which I thought was a perfect way for Lexi to get more comfortable at off trail movement.

Soon enough we found ourselves on the summit with striking views down into Yosemite Valley. Half Dome and El Cap dominated the landscape to our west. I could see several stunning peaks I had summited over the years: Mt. Starr King, the improbable Cathedral Peak, and Lyell and MaClure to our east. Many more summits I have yet to climb peppered the landscape, reminding me of all the adventure still to be had out in the mighty Sierra.

After an hour of so we reversed our route and worked our way back to the car. A chatty Pole joined us for about an hour before he peeled off to relieve himself of some ballast. Once at the car, we threw on our swimsuits, jumped in the lake, and then made the long drive back to Santa Cruz. The next morning, we were back to being regular working class stiffs, our colleagues none-the-wiser that we were just back from an epic day in the high country.