DH and I went on a trip to Yosemite in July, one day as a “tourist” in the Yosemite Valley, then a 3-day backpack from Tuolumne Meadows via Cathedral Lakes and back out at the Valley.
We started by hiking around Glacier Point and Sentinel Dome, gorgeous views from up here! Stayed at Curry Village one night, which is loud and messy and overcrowded, but the pizza is great and we got to watch one of the World Cup games here 🙂
Next day, we left the car at Y. Valley and took the YARTS bus up to Tuolumne Meadows with our backpacks and stayed at the car campground there. We set out the next morning for Cathedral Lakes, had lunch and went swimming in the lower lake, then moved on to the upper lake to set up camp for the night. We had fun watching a few people who had set up a slackline between the two peaks. This is by far my favorite place in Yosemite NP…
The second day we hiked south (in HOT weather) from Upper Cathedral, thorough Sunrise High Sierra Camp, down to Sunrise Creek near the base of Half Dome. We got to Sunrise H.S.C. the DAY they got water running for the season, a huge treat on a long, hot day!
We had a bear *almost* break into our BearVault bear canister here, it managed to pop the first tab and almost had the second tab open, when we found it quite a ways away from where we had left it the night before.
Last day… we hiked from just north of Half Dome on out to the Y. Valley via the John Muir Trail, saw Vernal and Nevada Falls. Such a gorgeous gorgeous area, I’m fortunate to have been able to do this two years in a row 🙂
