Cloud's Rest

Onions managed to schedule a Saturday off and after our first choice of a weekend in Seattle turned out to cost $450 a round trip ticket, we decided to head to Yosemite.  Our plan of getting up early at 6AM (after staying the night halfway on Friday night) and getting an early start ended when I drove the wrong way for a half hour.  Oops. These days climbing up Half Dome requires a permit (lottery) so my colleague mentioned another trail that doesn't require a permit, called Cloud's Rest which is accessed off Tioga Pass Road, which is only open from May to November.  So....off we went!

The hike is reported to be 13.1 miles round trip, although the signage along the trail makes it seem like it might be more. After a gentle first mile, the hike climbs the side of a mountain.

Stopping to catch one's breath, looking Northeast, here's the view of Northern Yosemite Park.

After the climb up the mountain and a couple miles of easy hiking, you get your first look at Cloud's Rest.

Here's looking up at the spine of the mountain.....and the last 500 feet!

Looking back at the final stretch....Tioga Pass in the distance.

This is what we all come to see.......looking at the back of Half Dome and into the valley!

LUNCH!!!  I bet this might be the first time that pigs ear, pigs tongue and chicken feet have been consumed at the top of Cloud's Rest.

Starting the trek back down......

After the hike, we spent some time just enjoying not moving at Tenaya Lake.

Then, because we could, we drove up another couple miles to the famed Tuolumne Meadows.

A little throwback for me.  Back in 2000, a couple friends and I commenced our a week long trip right here down the John Muir Trail.

That's Lyell Canyon and Donohue Pass (the sixth highest of the JMT....which almost killed me on that second day of the hike).

Half Dome at Sunset from Olmstead Point.

Cloud's Rest on the Left....Half Dome on the Right.