Re: Cloud's Rest from Yosemite Valley? Is a day trip feasible?

I'm struggling in finding a summary of the hike from the Valley to cloud's rest. Tioga won't be open until June, so I am interested in alternatives for reaching Cloud's rest, such as from the Valley, in May. Has anyone done this? How many miles is it round trip?

Thanks

Add another thousand feet of gain to the Half Dome hike and a bit more distance.

Dowwie,

You are tallking over 5,900' ascent and about an 19-mile round trip. You might also find some snow on the trail in at the upper altitudes, at least the early half of May.

Jim

Quote
tomdisco
Dowwie,

You are tallking over 5,900' ascent and about an 19-mile round trip. You might also find some snow on the trail in at the upper altitudes, at least the early half of May.

Jim

AKA: Death March

Half Dome in a day was bad enough!

B

Quote
tomdisco
Dowwie,

You are tallking over 5,900' ascent and about an 19-mile round trip. You might also find some snow on the trail in at the upper altitudes, at least the early half of May.

People dayhike Whitney. But I wouldn't.

Quote
eeek
People dayhike Whitney

Thats because they don't wanna have to use a wag bag

B

From the Valley in a day is going to be nasty. I might work out well as a one-night backpacking trip though, although your difficulty would be in getting a permit (and you'd need the gear) from the most popular starting trailhead in the park.

I think the Happy Isle to Sunrise/Merced (pass through) permit would allow you to camp at the junction of Clouds Rest and John Muir Trails. There are quite a few dates in May that are available for reservations. In addition to that, with a permit you could also stay at the Valley backpackers campground across the bridge from North Pines.

If you're willing to to that, you might consider hiking out there, setting up camp, hiking to Clouds Rest, and get back to camp to sleep before heading back. Or maybe to Clouds Rest after a night in camp.

Here's the view I got (click on the thumbnail for the full image):

Quote
y_p_w
I might work out well as a one-night backpacking trip though, although your difficulty would be in getting a permit (and you'd need the gear) from the most popular starting trailhead in the park.

Little Yosemite Valley is a separate quota. So getting a permit for camping along Sunrise Creek is probably a lot easier.

I don't think you'd properly enjoy it as a day hike. That is, unless you enjoy torturing yourself.

The distance from Happy Isle is really just under 9 miles but the nearly 6K' up and 6K' back will do you in unless you are in peak form. I wouldn't worry much about snow on the ground though. The entire hike would be with a southern exposure. Give it a shot but have a drop dead turnaround time of about 2PM. Take plenty of snakage, the capacity to carry at least two liters of water, a method of filtering, and a good light source. There is a stream on the way to Clouds Rest after LYV. If Bill-e-g says "Don't go." then don't go.

---

Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
I wouldn't worry much about snow on the ground though. The entire hike would be with a southern exposure.

Even if there is snow, the trail will be broken and the snow packed down.

Quote

There is a stream on the way to Clouds Rest after LYV.

If you Sunrise Creek, it's not very close to the trail until after the Cloud's Rest junction.

Good luck, holmes. I wanted to get to Clouds Rest pretty bad the first time I visited Yosemite, but it was May, and the Tioga Rd wasn't open. No worries, there was still plenty of other stuff to keep me occupied. I came back in the fall that year and did the standard hike from Tenaya Lake. Much better idea.

Thanks a lot, everyone, for your feedback. You've convinced me not do it this vacation without camping closer by to split the hike into two days. I'll try my best to get a permit from a ranger station.

Check out this journal written a few years ago by a guy who did cloud's rest as well as half dome IN A DAY from happy isles.

http://www.pbase.com/cloudsrester/cloudsrest_half_dome_in_one_day

Quote
Dowwie
Check out this journal written a few years ago by a guy who did cloud's rest as well as half dome IN A DAY from happy isles.

I wonder if a human could do that.

Quote
eeek
I wonder if a human could do that.

Baaahhh!

Almost want to try now...

25 miles/ 13 hrs.
Two miles per hour does not seem like much but in the hills, I am usually happy with 1 mile per hour, especially since those mountain miles are always longer than urban miles.

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Dale does an easy three mph regardless of the inclination. Bushwacking slows him down somewhat.

---

Old Dude

Quote
bill-e-g

Quote
eeek
I wonder if a human could do that.

Baaahhh!

Almost want to try now...

I wuz whaaaaaaiting for that!!!

(might be a good training hike for doing MR on Whitney in a day)

QB

I definitely have seen this before.

I've also seen people have dayhiked the Rae Lakes Loop.

If that is what you like then by all means go for it.

One friend with kids is always wanting me to run up to the mountains
with him, do 20+ mile dayhikes, then drive home.
(guess who is the one a sleeping on the way home )
Don't do it too often ... cause I prefer to sleep in the woods

I was originally going to post:
'yup, I have done it'

followed later by

That is why you do these things. Just to say you have.

But... reality is... if you enjoy it then do it!
Just know your limits and don't go and drag other people along that don't
have the same desire (see that too often).

I just did the Cloud's Rest / Half Dome linkup yesterday for the first time. I was pretty much going as hard as I could all day - took about 10 hours round trip from the Valley trailhead parking lot. I'm 50 - not really in super great shape, but OK. Think of it as a really fun place to exercise Yea bill-e-g - I hear you - hard to find other people who want to do that ..

jbecker,

At 1.8miles per hour average you are a credit to your age group. Any snow patches on the trail? How did you feel the following day?

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2009 08:50AM by tomdisco.

Thanks Jim. I'm not sure credit is the right word - I'm sure a lot of people could do it, but most just don't think of it as fun.

Had to cross a little bit of snow up towards the top of Cloud's Rest, and the tip of the summit was covered. Crossing the snow on the summit ridge to the other side looked scary! - razor sharp ridge with big drop offs on either side. A big patch of snow up on top of Half Dome.

Not feeling too bad this morning - thanks!

Jon

Jon,

My first hike in July is a day trip from Tenaya Lake to Sunrise Lakes. I considered skipping Sunrise Lakes and going all the way to Clouds Rest but just don't feel it would be a good thing to attempt the first day out. I know I could do it. It's just that I would not be worth much for the Young Lakes overnighter the next day.

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2009 07:40PM by tomdisco.

I think the Yosemite Visitor's guide shows Half Dome alone as a 10-12 hour roundtrip. So 10 hours roundtrip to Cloud's Rest...I would have to guess that's way better than average. I haven't done it...I've always gone to the top of Half Dome instead. I'd be happy with 12-14 hours to Cloud's Rest and back.

Clouds Rest from Tanaya Lake is about 12 miles round trip with about 2K' elevation gain going in. Easier than Half Dome from from the valley floor.m

---

Old Dude

Hi Jbecker,

10hrs sounds like you must be in great shape. We are looking to attempt the combo from Happy Isles next week. I've done Half Dome alone twice; took about 8-8.5 hours roundtrip, coming from sea level in NY with a day or two to acclimatize.
I am anticipating 13-14hours for the trip, sounds reasonable? Is there anything you would recommend based on the current conditions? Do you think there is enough light on the trail at 5AM? My girl doesn't want to miss seeing Vernal Falls in at least some light! Seems like we shouldn't be too concerned with snow on that route?

Rob

Rob,

Your girlfriend will see Vernal Fall in daylight in one direction or the other. It will have more light on it in the afternoon anyway.

Jim

I posted a pic from 2 weekends ago of clouds here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,11148

(on that trip I went up Half Dome and then up to Clouds Rest... no reason not to stay on the top )
(since I got the gear... and there was no one else seen the entire day and next... )

Thanks for the picture! That must have been cool to be up there at night. Definately one of the best reasons to head up towards Cloud's Rest instead of Half Dome - saw 4 people on the Cloud's Rest section of trail (2 of whom had made a wrong turn on their way to Half Dome ), 3 billion or so on the Half Dome section. I didn't realize the cables had gone up and couldn't figure out what all those people were doing on the Mist trail at 6 am! So you went up Half Dome with the cables lying against the rock? How is that?

Quote
jbecker
So you went up Half Dome with the cables lying against the rock? How is that?

I've been up before so I personally didn't think it was a big deal. The hardest part was holding the cable up off the rock.
I wouldn't recommend that anyone go without the cables up unless they have done it with the cables up once.
I'm one of the schmos who will go outside the cables when they are up.
There were a number of people going up. Quite a few with harnesses on.
I'm not really condoning anyone going up without the cables up... you just asked...

This is about half way up:

Quote
jbecker
So you went up Half Dome with the cables lying against the rock? How is that?

I've been up before so I personally didn't think it was a big deal. The hardest part was holding the cable up off the rock.
I wouldn't recommend that anyone go without the cables up unless they have done it with the cables up once.
I'm one of the schmos who will go outside the cables when they are up.
There were a number of people going up. Quite a few with harnesses on.
I'm not really condoning anyone going up without the cables up... you just asked...

In Canada they take seriously the proper use of handrails:


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090515.wescalator16/BNStory/National/home

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Eh?

Quote
bill-e-g
Eh?

Grip-it or Ticket!

---

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

That's cool - thanks. I've done Snake Dike a few times - the scariest part is coming down the cables. Looks like a good way to avoid the crowds!

I did it this weekend (Aug 14) but slightly different.
Valley --> Clouds Rest --> Sunrise Lakes --> Tenaya Lake. Totally do-able if you are in good shape but you either have somebody to pick you up at Tenaya lake or take the shuttle back.

I started 6:45 and it took me 2 h to top of Nevada Fall (via Muir trail). Then another 1:10 to the Clouds Rest jct (4.3 Miles to go). I was on top of Clouds Rest after 5:30 h at 12:15.
I hung out on top for an hour, then decended to Tenaya Lake. After 1:40 I was on the jct to the Sunrise Lakes and because I had enough time I decided to check the 3 Lakes out (2 h detour to all 3 Lakes including swimming and a longer break; maybe another 300 ft of elevation gain and 1 mile one-way). Then I went back to Tenaya Lake (1 h for the last 2.5 miles).

The total distance is 19 miles with ~6700 ft elevation gain. Including breaks it took me ~11 h.

Clouds Rest from Happy Isles in the Valley and back took me 8 hours round trip a few weeks ago. I had 30 minutes on the top, otherwise I didn't stop and moved fast.

So it can be done, though the last section from the base of the Pinnacles was tiring.

The paths are all straightforward, it just goes up and up and up. A fabulous climb, if you have the energy.