First of all, I want to thank everyone who helped me out with my initial itinerary. Originally, my partner and I had planned on doing a one night backpacking trip to Ostrander Lake starting from Westfall Meadow since that was one of the only wilderness permits available at the time. However, after asking HST for some guidance on our proposed route, we decided that it would be best to try again for a different permit due to the amount of bushwhacking required and blowdown in Westfall Meadow. My coworker recommended checking out May Lake, and luckily I was able to secure a permit 7 days before our anticipated trip date.
I was very excited to say the least! I had never been to the Tioga Road/Tuolumne Meadows area before, and I had been eagerly checking the Yosemite NP website for updates on when Tioga Road would finally open. Since the hike to May Lake is quite short and neither of us have been to Tioga Road before, our itinerary consisted of an assortment of brief hikes and a drive along the length of Tioga Road for a tour of the area.
8/4 Drive to Yosemite from home
After some last minute packing on a Friday after work, we began the long journey to Yosemite, arriving in the park at dark after 10 pm. We stayed at the Yosemite Valley Backpacker's campground for the night. I usually have a lot of trouble sleeping at night while camping, but that night I surprisingly slept quite well!
8/5 An assortment of hikes along Tioga Road... Ending at May Lake
- Yosemite Valley Backpacker's Campground
The next morning, we packed up our belongings and drove to the Yosemite Wilderness Center to pick up our wilderness permit and the Village Store to pick up some last minute goodies. While a park ranger was giving us the usual spiel prior to handing us our permit, a lady came up to the counter to introduce herself to the park ranger as the "Secretary" then quickly backed off, saying she did not want to interrupt too much. Turns out that lady was the US Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland! Wow.
After receiving our wilderness permit and grabbing some snacks, we headed on our way on the beautiful Tioga Road! We first stopped at Olmstead Point, which offered sweeping views of the Tenaya Canyon, Half Dome, and Cloud's Rest.
- Olmstead Point
We then drove to Tenaya Lake to rest on the beach and have a snack and we were blown away by the size and clarity of the lake water. What a unique feeling, experiencing what felt like a beach at 8,000 feet! One day, I would love to paddleboard here or bring floaty tubes to enjoy being in the water more lol.
Since the hike to May Lake is less than 2 miles, we decided to do a short day hike to lower Cathedral Lake, taking a very steep but much shorter path than the traditional route to Cathedral Lakes on the side of Tioga Road. Once we got to the lake, I gathered the courage to finally take a dip in alpine lake, my dream! I'm a huge chicken when it comes to cold water, so I was quite proud of myself. We had a humble lunch of tuna tortilla wraps while admiring the scenery.
- Lower Cathedral Lake
It was now afternoon, and we decided it was time to head to May Lake. We hiked back to our car and drove to the May Lake trailhead (the road to the trailhead is finally open fyi!) securing the last available parking space. We embarked on a short but steep hike to May Lake, set up our tent, and took a short nap. Then we climbed Mount Hoffman which took about 2 hours round trip from May Lake. I haven't summited many mountains, but Mount Hoffman had the most beautiful summit views I've witnessed by far. There was so much of the park we could see from the summit since it is geographically located in the center of Yosemite. On one side of the mountain, we could see tons of icefields? glaciers? and several extremely turquoise pools of water. In the distance we could see two truly alpine lakes - if we had more time, I would loved to off trail and explore those lakes.
- On Mount Hoffman
- From summit of Mount Hoffman. SO BEAUTIFUL
I also got to see a marmot for the first time while climbing Mount Hoffman! Such cute and shy critters who were much bigger than I thought. I saw at least 6 of them on the mountain, a special treat.
- Who's there?
We got down from the mountain as the sun was setting and boiled water for our dehydrated meals for dinner. We took melatonin but had trouble sleeping that night.
8/6 Tioga Lake and drive back home
The next morning I was awoken by our neighbors who were speaking pretty loudly. May lake is beautiful but indeed quite busy due to the short distance required to hike to it.
- May Lake
We hiked back to the car and decided to drive the length of Tioga Road to Tioga Lake. I took another dip in the lake, and we drove back to Tenaya Lake one last time before heading on the long journey once again back home
. - Tioga Lake
I can't wait to explore more of the Sierra... If only I had more time off haha :[. Looking forward to my next adventure! Thank you for reading.
I just moved to California end of last year, so I haven't seen too much of the High Sierra. I am already blown away by the majesty of this small piece of it, and I can't wait to explore the less travelled areas.