Sunday, September 14, 2008

Clouds Rest

Yesterday Ethel and I made a long day trip down to Yosemite to hike Clouds Rest with a little group. We stayed at Maud and David's house in Carson Friday night to facilitate the 4:45 am departure Saturday morning. After picking up a couple more people in Carson, we were 6 strong and on the road well before sunrise.

We were over Tioga Pass and on the trail at the west end of Tenaya Lake a few minutes after 8am. The hike is 7ish miles each way, and it's not very difficult, so it's pretty well-traveled.

Here are some photos. This is also my first experience shooting RAW files and pre-processing them, so these are a bit of an experiment!

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Early in the hike; our first view of the huge granite formations in Yosemite

The hike starts flat, climbs some switchbacks, and drops back down into rolling flats for most of the route.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
A little puddle along the way

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Good neighborhood to be in

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
A more appropriate backdrop for the trail sign

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Beaten tree

From here, the trail follows a very narrow ridgeline up to the summit. The views got better with every step along the exposed spine.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Our starting point, Tenaya, with mountains behind

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
A better view of the mountains north of Tenaya

Every step along the ridge showed us more and more of the huge slabs in the valley.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
More Yosemite granite

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Looking down into the Valley

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Another view down the Valley

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Cyclops

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Half Dome

It was neat to look down on Half Dome. We could see the cables with our naked eye, and hikers on the top through the camera lens.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
Looking east across Tenaya

We split up a bit on the way down. David and I made it back first, and I had come prepared. I scampered over to the lake, shimmied into my wetsuit, and swam about halfway across, pausing a few times to revel in the views. Even though it's an alpine lake, it was quite warm after a summer of sunlight.

We piled back into the minivan, drove back over Tioga, stopped at the Mobil station for fish tacos and whatnot, scattered once back in Carson, and were back home in Reno around 8:30pm.

Long day, but worth it!

Past Detritus