After my 'rest' day on San Joaquin Mountain, I drove up to Tioga Lake campground to meet up with Sooz and Pavla for the weekend. They had secured some campsites…
Lembert Dome is one of the most recognizable features of the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park. It is also a popular destination for Yosemite's rock climbers, but you…
Proving once again that there is no such thing as too much time in the mountains, I headed back up for another weekend of peak bagging around the northeast end of Yosemite. On Saturday, we climbed Warren Peak, a lovely pile of rocks on the eastern crest of the Sierra with a tremendous overlook of Mono Lake. On Sunday, we hiked to Johnson Peak, a unimpressive pile of rocks from a distance but a fun slabby climb along some beautiful benches up close.
Here are some photos from these two great climbs. If you are interested in the detailed route information for these peaks, I tried to capture it in the captions of the photos in the albums I linked to below. Neither peak is particularly challenging with route finding or terrain, and they would make fun entry level off-trail peaks in the Yosemite area.
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Poor Excelsior Mountain, always in the shadow (literally) of its bigger and more popular neighbor, Mt Conness. The next highest point to the north, Excelsior doesn't have any dramatic cliffs…
Everyone talks about Half Dome. You can't have a conversation about Yosemite without someone asking, "Have you done Half Dome?" But people should really ask, "Have you done Clouds Rest?"…
One of the most spectacular views in Yosemite, on the way to Ragged Peak
My second backpacking trip ever in Yosemite was to Young Lakes, a hike that I still remember as very difficult and strenuous. Of course, I was in no kind of hiking shape at the time and my pack weighed about 50 lbs, so when I realized I would be on the same trail again with a stronger body and a daypack I was interested to see if the trail was as difficult as I remembered it to be.
The answer is no, of course not. In fact, it is actually one of the easier hikes in Yosemite! It’s amazing how much experience skews your view of what constitutes ‘easy’. That’s why I never trust guide books that give ratings on a Easy-Difficult scale. But I digress. Why did I return to this trail? To hike a peak, naturally!
Back in…2000? 2001? …when I hiked in to Young Lakes I was impressed by the toothy peak that the trail carefully circled at a distance. It looked intimidating and completely unclimbable to my inexperienced eyes. Recently it popped up on my radar again and I was surprised to read that this peak, Ragged Peak, was a quite doable class 3 summit. So what else to do but pack up and go?
It's only June and I've already managed to squeeze in two overnight backpacking trips in Yosemite. I hope this is the start of a good season! In late April I…
Last weekend I backpacked in to Rancheria Falls in the Hetch Hetchy region of Yosemite National Park. Is Yosemite ever anything other than incredible?Wapama Falls crossing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_bjKlc3_cQ Rancheria Falls cascade:…
April is a somewhat unpredictable time of year in terms of weather in Yosemite, so when I made campground reservations a few months ago I had no idea if I'd…