Sleeping Where The Clouds Rest

Clouds Rest is an inconspicuous giant looming over Yosemite valley. A thousand feet higher than Half Dome, it’s positioned at the ‘far’ end of the valley, almost 6k feet above the valley floor. Though just a little guy compared to Yosemite’s 13,114 ft Mt Lyell, its relative prominence makes for great sight seeing: Half Dome to the southwest, Tenaya and Tuolumne to the north, Mt Clark sitting below Red Peak to the southeast, and a classic view right up the valley.

Conveniently, you don’t even have to hike up 6k feet to get there. We left from Tenaya Lake on the Tuolumne side, and ascended a comfortable ~2k feet round trip on an overnight excursion to the summit. Serendipitously, the Perseid meteor shower was only one day past its peak during our trip, so we camped out on the granite up near the top of the mountain to watch. The moon was up for the first half of the evening, but the early early morning proved an awesome time for watching meteorites pass overhead. (I need a bit more practice before I can get them on the camera – looks like there are plenty of opportunities coming up.)

Elisse says: mountain wind in the trees, lovely breeze, dry summer smell, the woods