Re: TR - Cathedral Lakes - Clouds Rest - 7/4/2014

Wife and I had a great Fourth of July weekend in Yosemite. We hiked in from Cathedral Lakes trail head, camping at Cathedral Lakes and then on Clouds Rest (about 0.2 mi from summit), and hiking out via Sunrise Lakes trail head. I came prepared with mosquito hats and the expectation of icy cold lakes, but it's more like August up there. We spent all afternoon at Lower Cathedral without a bite, sans DEET. There was a minor mosquito assault at sundown, but it was an order of magnitude less intense than the swarm we were met with at Young Lakes at the end of June, 2012. Wildflowers are blooming in gulches and around lakes, but it's pretty dry up there overall. Lower Cathedral was warm enough for a brief swim and Lower Sunrise was downright comfortable (I'd guess water temps in the 70s). Tenaya was cool, but still tolerable for a quick dip...this is coming from someone who won't get in past his ankles at Ocean Beach. The hike to Clouds Rest was solid at 11.5 mi (made me think twice about packing a DSLR and 3 lenses), but doable...I think it took us 7 hours with a leisurely break at Lower Sunrise Lake. There are 2-3 "campsites" about 0.2 mi from the summit of Clouds Rest. Two of them are a decent distance from the trail. No, they're not 100 ft, but private enough...this is the only Yosemite NPS rule I've broken, by the way. I like to think that I'm mindful of the spirit of the law. We didn't see a soul after 5 pm. There is space for a small tent or bivy on the summit, but no way to stake down...plus you'd be right on the trail. The hike out was a lot of downhill, but also not bad with lighter packs. We were at Tenaya by 10:30 a.m. and took the shuttle back to Cathedral to round out the loop. All in all a fantastic weekend.

























Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2014 03:49PM by redpakotasea.

Nice shots and it's also nice to see people in them.

---

Old Dude

Gorgeous! It looks like you put the DSLR and lenses to good use. Thanks for the trip report, I always enjoy "tagging along" from my cubicle.

So beautiful. Would you mind if I stole a couple of those pics to use as desktop backgrounds on my computer? I have a "Star" themed slide show going and those pics of the mountains with the stars would go perfectly

Randomsteve, happy to hear you want to use them as your background. Shoot me a PM if you want higher-res.

I was able to see the sunset and sunrise from clouds rest. Sunrise and set from clouds rest was one of the best moments of my life. I was all alone at the top, while my friend stayed below to get the shot of suns rays on CR as they rose. This is one of my all time favorite pictures of me

Yep, the day hikers don't know what they're missing out on. :-)

It sounds like a great trip. Thanks for the photos.

These pictures are spectacular my friend. Its is on my desktop as well.