Yosemite Backpacking Tuolumne Meadows, Cathedral, Sunrise Lakes, Clouds Rest, Half Dome May 29 2022

We stayed in the zoo of a Backpackers camp in Yosemite Valley and I left my car in Curry Village. A friend drove us to Tuolumne Meadows and we began our hike. You need a permit to get into Yosemite again this summer. There is a lot of construction in Tuolumne Meadows and the usual things are not open there. I have read that the store/post office will open this season but not the grill.

There was a fair amount of snow on the way to Cathedral Lakes and also on the way to Sunrise Lakes. The trail was easy enough to find and we didn’t face any steep snow dangers. Snow bridges over streams were holding up and post-holing wasn’t much of an issue. We also seemed to arrive everywhere we went about 24 hours prior to what looked to be a serious mosquito hatch, though we luckily experienced none. Wildflowers are popping up everywhere and the trail is often under water or a stream itself.

It was very cold two of the nights that we were out, probably mid 20’s. The day times were warm with cool breezes until we got past clouds rest, then it was quite warm and dry.

We traveled on the John Muir Trail for much of this trip until we turned off at the Sunrise High Sierra Camp and headed to the Sunrise Lakes and Clouds Rest and rejoined it beyond. We left for Half Dome from our camp near the junction at 4:45am and Jenna began her climb on the cables at 7:30am.

Rattlesnakes were out in the lower elevations and while we did hear a bear outside our camp one night, and Jenna herself was mistaken for one(!), we never did see one on this trip.

This was my 3rd annual backpacking trip with Jenna. It’s always a lot of laughs. She is a pretty solid companion and was so helpful when I was stricken with heat exhaustion on the days leading to this Yosemite trip. Some pictures and videos (the ones with me in them) were filmed by her.

I have hiked this route twice before in both directions. This is my preferred direction, because it trends down. Haha! But it’s worthwhile either way!

Thanks for following along!

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