EISPIRATEN

I was on vacation last week and my itinerary was to stay in the Eastern Sierras the entire week and hike Whitney but things did not go according to my plan. Instead, I stayed the weekend in Lee Vining & Bishop.

I woke up early on Saturday and carpooled with some of my hiking buddies to Yosemite NP. We started our hike at 7am. Surprisingly, the morning air was clear compared to the smoke in Lee Vining the previous night.

Anyways, this was my first time hiking to Clouds Rest and I really enjoyed the views. We began our hike at the Tenaya Lake trailhead. It starts out flat for a couple of miles then the real climbing begins. It's about 1000 feet of elevation gain on rocky switchbacks which to some may be the toughest part.

After the switchbacks it is just a series of more flat sections with ups and downs until you reach the final ascent to the summit.

At the top you are rewarded with 360-degree views of the surrounding peaks including Half Dome, Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan.

The best part of the hike for me was the final leg, a really cool rock scramble to the summit.

After the hike, I read some other trip reports, and it was not as treacherous as people had described ascending the summit. The real danger is on the north side of the summit if you were to stand on the edge and lose your balance.

Stats: 15 miles
Gain: 1800' approx.

I also found two benchmarks at the summit but no register.

Is that smoke in the valley? How was the air quality?
I expected to see a rock pose in one of those photos.

Yes it's smoke but the air quality was good when we started in tbe morning until the afternoon. It was bad in the evenings.

Of course I have my rock pose!