Welcome to this edition of

California Mountain Adventures!!

In this adventure I headed into the heart of Yosemite national park to climb to the summit of...

Clouds Rest!!

After hiking out from the Young lakes I got back to Tuolumne meadows and got myself another permit at the ranger station there. Then I drove down Tioga road to the trailhead at Tenaya lake and started up the trail towards the Sunrise lakes. The trail was pretty steep with lots of big rock steps. But luckily it wasn't a very long hike in. The Sunrise lakes is a set of three gorgeous lakes tucked into the northwest slope of Sunrise Mountain. I climbed up passed the first two lakes to the upper lake and found a nice spot to setup camp on the north side of the lake. After camp was all setup I checked out the lake a little and then climbed up onto the hillside above camp where I got some amazing views of the sun setting out beyond the silhouette of Clouds Rest.

Hiking through the woods near Tenaya lake

Climbing steeply up the trail

Lower Sunrise lake

Upper Sunrise lake

Camp

Evening by the lake

Sunset

The next morning I left my camp setup at the lake and started my hike out to Clouds Rest(9,926')! I hiked back down passed the lower Sunrise lakes to the trail junction and then headed up the Forsyth trail. I passed a small unnamed lake and then arrived at the final trail junction for the Clouds Rest trail. As I climbed up the last section of trail the scenery just got more and more dramatic.

Morning sun shining through the trees

Hiking back by the lower Sunrise lakes

Unnamed lake along the Forsyth trail

The final trail junction to Clouds Rest

Then finally... I reached the summit!! The views from the top were out of this world spectacular!! Overlooking Half Dome and Yosemite Valley as well as looking up to the big peaks of northern Yosemite. The 360 degree panorama of the park was truly incredible! I lingered on the top for quite awhile and a few other hikers came and went. Then finally at some point in the afternoon I decided to start hiking back to the lakes. I moved quick and made it back to camp with lots of daylight left. So I had plenty of time for trout fishing at the lakes which was lots of fun. I caught quite a few and even kept one for dinner! After enjoying dinner and another awesome sunset I headed into my tent for the night.

The summit of Clouds Rest

Me on Clouds Rest with Half Dome and Yosemite Valley behind me

Me on Clouds Rest with the peaks of Northern Yosemite behind me

Back at the Sunrise lakes

Trout fishing

Trout catching

Hiking around the lake

Dinner

Overlooking the upper Sunrise lake

Overlooking the lower Sunrise lakes

Sunset timelapse

The next morning I packed up and hiked back down the steep trail to Tenaya lake. I took a quick break on the west shore of the lake before hiking the last bit back to the trailhead where I immediately started planning my next adventure!

On the shores of Tenaya lake

And that's going to be it for this

California Mountain Adventure!

all photos by @derekrichardson

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