Upper Cathedral Lake,Cathedral Peak,Yosemite NP

Upper Cathedral Lake,Cathedral Peak is part of the Cathedral Range, a mountain range in the south-central portion of Yosemite National Park, the trailhead is located off of Tioga Road in the Tuolumne Meadows area.Due to snow Tioga Road is normally closed November through to May and the trail itself can still be under snow a month or so after the road is opened,so there is about a 5-6 month window to hike this trail.

The hike is rated as moderate and is a 7 mile round trip starting at 8,500 ft elevation and climbing to 9,600 ft at Upper Cathedral Lake, Cathedral Peak is at 10,912 ft and is very popular with rock climbers.The trail is part of the John Muir Trail which is a 210 mile trail which runs through the Sierra Nevada mountains.

I have only day hiked it, but you can camp there overnight.To do so requires a permit and you must have a bear canister for your food. For me I enjoy being there a few hours before sunset and watching the light go through it’s changes on the peak, about 2 hours before sunset the sun disappears behind the mountains to the West at which point the light changes from a bright light to a softer yellowish glow getting stronger in color as it gets closer to sunset and then if you are lucky you may get a colorful sunset.After sunset the hike out is very peaceful, usually in solitude except for maybe some wildlife

Thanks for taking the time to check out my post and I hope it has inspired you in someway.
Cheers,Mike