Clouds Rest (Yosemite National Park)

The awe-inspiring view of Yosemite Valley from Clouds Rest with Half Dome on the left and El Capitan on the far right.

We hiked Clouds Rest as part of a hiking trip to Yosemite National Park and Mount Whitney.

Trailhead Location: Sunrise Lakes

On the southern side of Tioga Road, southwestern end of Tenaya Lake (Latitude, Longitude: 37.825883, -119.470066)

Payoff Factor: 5

(1 being “Meh…”, 5 being “Hike? What hike?”)

Difficulty Factor: 4 (some sections are a 5)

(1 being your Grandma can do this hike, 5 being you’ll feel like your Grandma when this hike is over)

Length (Distance): 12.6 miles
Length (Time): 5-7 hours

Cumulative Elevation Gain: 3,218 feet

The view looking north from one of the first major viewpoints about 2.5-3.0 miles into the trail.  Mt. Hoffman is on the left and the flattop Tuolomne Peak is on the right.

Trip Report:

This is easily one of the top 3 day hikes in Yosemite National Park and likely a top 10 National Park hike.  The sweeping panoramic, 360 degree views from the summit provide an incredible display of several of Yosemite’s most prominent landmarks like Half Dome, El Capitan, Mt. Hoffman and Tenaya Lake.

It is a fairly long and difficult hike with some exposure thrown in just before the summit as you cross a narrow ridge with deep drop-offs on both sides.  If you’re afraid of heights you probably don’t want to attempt this hike although there are excellent, but not 360 degree, views just before you cross the arête.  You will see conflicting mileages on this trail, but I'm going with the distance from the GPS app I use on my phone as it has been very accurate every time I've tested it.

The trail is easy to follow with only a couple different intersections, but both are well-marked...just keep following the Clouds Rest trail!  The trailhead is at the Sunrise parking area which is at the southwestern tip of Tenaya Lake off Tioga Road.  You will find bear lockers at the trailhead; we suggest using these if you plan to leave food in your vehicle during the hike.  

The trail will run along Tenaya Creek for the first half mile or so and then begins a very steep climb at about two miles in.  This is easily the hardest part on your legs as the trail climbs about 1,000 feet in less than a mile (20% grade)...it's no fun on the way down either!  From there the trail descends a bit then makes a moderately steep climb to the summit of Clouds Rest.

Hiking Clouds Rest in Yosemite National Park

Hiking Clouds Rest in Yosemite National Park

This hike can easily be done in a day or can be combined with overnight or extended backpacking trips to Sunrise Lakes or Little Yosemite Valley if you're crazy enough to summit Half Dome the next day.

Keep an eye out on those pesky chipmunks at the summit.  They will get into your food and are very persistent in doing so!

Yosemite National Park - A Possible Move?

Trip Dates: November 14-16, 2014

A company flew Scott & me out to California in November for us to check out the possibility of moving there for Scott to have a job INSIDE Yosemite National Park. Yes, we would be living INSIDE Yosemite National Park. It was a very quick trip, we flew out on a Friday morning and back on Sunday night. The entire time we were just amazed that we were back inside Yosemite National Park a month after we left from our fall hiking trip! The emotions of the possible move plus my dad just having surgery made everything seem very surreal.

We stayed in the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls during this trip. We drove straight to the park after we landed on Friday and met with his potential co-workers for his interview. On Saturday we had breakfast with another potential co-worker and even sat at the "Queen's table" in the Ahwahnee Hotel! The hotel was decorated so beautiful for Thanksgiving - I would love to see it at Christmas!

After breakfast we headed out for a hike. We did a quick hike to Panorama Dome and then went back and did the Mist Trail. We did a portion of the Mist Trail last time on our way down from Half Dome but we didn't do the entire trail so I'm glad we were able to do the entire Mist Trail this time! It was pretty difficult - it's like a StairClimber the whole way up! After our day filled with hikes we headed back to the hotel for dinner and sleep!

We woke up early Sunday morning to make the drive back to Fresno to catch our plane but we, of course, had to make time for another short hike! We hiked to the Grizzly Giant in the Mariposa Grove of Redwoods as we were leaving the park.

I said I would never climb Half Dome again but I actually really wanted to do it! We couldn't though because it was closed for the season so the cables were down. We were able to get a few awesome pictures of it though! I still can't believe we climbed this!

Yosemite is a very, very beautiful place and we were so lucky to be able to visit again. This was one of the toughest decisions of our life so far...there were many "pros" of making the move but also some very big "cons". Ultimately it was up to Scott to make the decision since he was the one that would be changing jobs (I can do mine anywhere!). A few of the pros were living in a small house (it was employee housing we would be living in), Scott walking about 300 feet to work, obviously living INSIDE Yosemite National Park, etc. However, we are very lucky with the job Scott has now. He works about 8 minutes from our house, he has a fall break (the reason why we take a trip each fall), and he has three weeks off at Christmas (the reason we just took another trip out west). A move across the country, giving up Scott's current work/life balance, and leaving our family and friends were the reasons that we decided to decline the job offer. There are things that money can't buy and time off is one of them! I'm still sad we aren't moving and even cried a little bit but I know it was the best decision for us at this time. Ultimately, I feel like we will end up out west but just not right now. :-) For now, we plan on trying to sell our home, buy land around here and build our "tiny home".

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." -John Muir

Tallulah Gorge Sliding Rock Trail (Tallulah Gorge State Park - GA)

Hike Date: 07/28/2013

On Sunday, July 28th, we went hiking (Paige, Ashley, and I).  Scott was out of town for work and we wanted to do something outside so we decided we would go on a hike.  We went to Tallulah Gorge State Park (in NE GA) to do the Sliding Rock Trail.  They only give out 100 passes per day starting at 8 AM and they do not give out passes if there is a chance of rain.  There was only a 20% chance of rain when we woke up so we went ahead and made the hour drive and luckily they still had passes left!  We were on our way after a quick overview and safety class.  Yes, they tried to scare us away in the safety class!

The first adventure is going down 600+ stairs to get to the gorge floor and then you have to jump or climb across giant boulders to get to the other side.  I bruised up my arm pretty bad on one jump but we all three made it to the other side.  There was definitely strategy involved in making it, as you can see below.

There really is NO trail and there is no room for a trail because you are basically just beside the water and making your own way down.  We all brought tennis shoes (actually hiking/trail shoes) and water shoes.  We quickly changed into the water shoes in the beginning because most of the trail was wading through the water.  We all had packs on and fell or slid into the water a few times.  It was rough!  There was even a section where you literally had to crab crawl across a giant rock to get to the other side BUT it wasn’t that easy because it was slippery so it kept pushing us down towards the water so we were constantly trying to crab crawl and avoid being pushed into the water!

We finally made it to the sliding rock and had to make silly faces, of course!

The sliding rock was a blast (video below) but it was a pain to get back out of the water.  Our video didn’t take the first time so we had to go down twice.  It was so slippery I think we probably burned 200 calories swimming and sliding and climbing rocks to get back out!

After we finished swimming we had to make our way back out of the gorge.  That meant go back the way we came (no thank you!) or take another route which consisted of climbing rocks at a steep incline.  All I can say is that I am glad that my choice of cardio is walking at a 15 incline!  It was a blast!

We had a great girls hiking trip and burned over 1,000 calories!

Have you ever done the Sliding Rock Trail at Tallulah Gorge?