Our last morning of camping at Porcupine Flat.
We found our last campsite (for once, with no difficulty) at Porcupine Flat. This is a primitive campground tucked in the trees just off the highway halfway between Tioga Pass and Yosemite Valley.
The only issue was that, at 8,100’, it was below freezing when we got up in the morning.
The start of the trail to Clouds Rest.
I coaxed Nancy into one last long hike, 14.5 miles round-trip with 2,000’ gain to Clouds Rest.
The trailhead is at the southwestern end of Tenaya Lake and runs all the way to Yosemite Valley.
Some of the granite along the way.
Clouds Rest is a 9,930’ peak that dominates Tenaya Canyon and provides amazing views of much of Yosemite.
A trail junction at about the five mile mark.
You spend most of the hike in the trees, and don’t see much of anything until you start up the summit ridge of Clouds Rest.
I think Nancy is high.
The summit ridge is a long, narrow spine of granite that falls away 5,000’ feet down to Tenaya Creek.
Amazing views from the summit ridge.
The ridge is wide enough to hike comfortably, but has enough exposure to get your attention.
You can see Tenaya Lake (the trailhead) center-left.
One nice thing about this trail is that it gets a fraction of the traffic of the Valley hikes.
Looking towards Half Dome from the top of Clouds Rest.
It’s a little weird to be looking down on Half Dome.
Nancy was thrilled to make another summit; she didn’t know what to expect on this hike.
Our perfect weather petered out on us a bit, as a fire to the north made the sky a little hazy.
Relaxing after the hike at Tenaya Lake.
We made good time hiking, and after getting back to the truck we walked over to Tenaya Lake to sit on its granite “beach” and have a beer.
I sooo wanted to jump in the lake and wash off the grime from the trail, but the water was just too freakin’ cold.
Adios, Yosemite.
We had never spent much time in Yosemite, despite living only a few hours away, so this trip was a revelation for us.
Over five days of hiking, we hiked almost 60 miles and close to 12,000’ of vertical.
Great weather, small crowds, awesome scenery, killer hikes—it was a great vacation.
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