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[Yosemite]

Glacier Point > Cloud's Rest

Travelling to and visiting Yosemite National Park. How to get there, what to see or do, and other Yosemite trip advice.

Moderators: Wickett, dan

Glacier Point > Cloud's Rest

Postby dan » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:01 pm

Postby bashby » Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:05 pm
Hi,

I currently have a wilderness & Half Dome permit for mid-June starting at Glacier Point, camping at Illilouette Creek on the first night. But I'm now thinking I'd like to climb Cloud's Rest instead, hopefully camping near the JMT/Cloud's rest junction on the first night (~7miles from Glacier Point via Panorama Trail). I need to call the office to see if it is possible for me to change my permit accordingly. But assuming it is possible, I wanted to ask for thoughts on the following plan:

Day 1: Park in Yosemite Valley, get 8:30am shuttle up to Glacier Pt, hike to JMT/Cloud's rest junction & camp
Day 2: Summit Cloud's Rest, camp at JMT/Cloud's rest junction (Q: when I summit is it OK to leave my tent, sleeping bag/pad etc behind?)
Day 3: Hike down to Yosemite Valley (Happy Isles)

I've read conflicting things about water availability, some saying LYV is the last place to get water, others saying Sunrise Creek at the Cloud's rest junction - can anyone clear this up for me?

Thanks in advance!

Ben

Postby balzaccom » Sun Feb 18, 2018 1:23 am
Sunrise Creek usually has water and certainly will in June.

That's a long first day because it will take you some time to get to Glacier Point...and yes, you will need a new permit.

Just take your pack up to Cloud's Rest. It's not that hard a hike from where you are going. And leaving stuff around eventually leads to something happening to it...
Check out our website and blog at: http://sites.google.com/site/backpackthesierra/home


Postby bashby » Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:13 am
Thanks for the advice. My alternative if I can't change my permit is:

Day 1: Park in Yosemite Valley, get 8:30am shuttle up to Glacier Pt, hike to Illilouette Creek & camp (~4 miles)
Day 2: Hike to JMT/Cloud's rest junction & camp (~6 miles)
Day 3: Summit Cloud's rest, then return to Yosemite Valley (~12.5 miles)

Day 3 is looking mighty tiring though...



Postby Justin-T » Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:27 pm

Yeah, I agree on the last day being tiring. The other point is that when you get to the summit of CR you will want to pause there for a while to drink it in. This is arguably the most spectacular view in the entire park - better than the top of Half Dome in my opinion. Its a full 360 and will take your breath away. Your schedule gets you to the top of CR, but at a tremendous cost of feeling like the entire rest of the day will be hurried. YMMV, but I'd recommend trying to figure out a different strategy to see CR, if that's a major goal.

This year the Tioga Rd may well open in time for you (but depends on how much snow there is between now and May), in which case you could park in the valley, get the bus (or hitch) up to Sunrise and hike in to Sunrise Lakes. Beautiful spot to camp, will likely only be you there, about 5 miles (?). Day two go to CR (about 5 miles?), camp just below (east of) the summit, spectacular views over Tenaya Canyon, and you can go up the CR summit (easy 20-30 min scramble) for sunset with a daypack - a magical experience, again probably just you, you can spend 2 hours there if you want. Day 3 you see the summit again, then hike out to the valley, less distance and dropping from 10,000' down to 4,000' means its pretty easy hiking. Far better experience overall IMHO. BUT, the permit will be much sought-after, only 6 walk-ups per day for Sunrise Lakes. However, there are some reservable permits (maybe only 1 per day) still available for June 14 and 18 from Sunrise Lakes:

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/ ... lheads.htm

Postby bashby » Fri Feb 23, 2018 4:53 am
Thanks, Justin. I've changed my permit to go from Sunrise to CR from the east side. Here's hoping the Tioga Rd opens in time!


Postby balzaccom » Fri Feb 23, 2018 5:26 am
So far there is not enough snow up there to worry about. I hope we get a ton more....but right now your permit looks like a pretty good bet.



Postby Justin-T » Fri Feb 23, 2018 5:36 pm
You might want to read this thread for more info on likely opening dates, based on historical snowpack data April 1 each year. As you might expect, there's a strong correlation between the amount of snow left late in the winter, with how long it takes them to clear the snow, remove boulders & fallen trees, repair various road damage:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3957

You will also want to gather info about the route. The one tricky part to this is that there's no water available at the area just below CR that people commonly use. You will need to carry what you need for the evening and next morning from the last available spot which is about 2 or 3 miles from the campsite. So, no biggie, but you do need to bring capacity for an extra several liters of water (I like the Platypus brand, extremely light when empty and flatten to nothing so they're a cinch to pack when not needed).

There's also a pretty strenuous climb (switchbacking granite stairs) up the last 1000' up to the crest above Sunrise Lakes, so make sure you are properly acclimatized (this is up around 8000'). I can also recommend a little scramble up the rocks beside the western edge of the second Sunrise Lake after dinner, about 5 minutes of effort for some GREAT views. Most people camp near the second or third (most northerly and easterly of the three respectively) lakes, the second is my favorite.
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