The Complete Circumnavigation of Tenaya Canyon

So with our one day off of work this week (Rojo with his job, and me with a brand new baby) we got out into the park and circled Tenaya Canyon. What this involves is the following: parking the bikes at the Mirror Lake trailhead, walking past Vernal and Nevada Falls, summiting Clouds Rest, walking to Tenaya Lake and having lunch, continuing to Olmstead Point, walking around Mt. Watkins and down the Snow Creek Trail to Mirror Lake finishing with the final paved mile down to the busstop where our bikes were locked up. 30 miles is a pretty good day hike. The bottom postcard shows some of the final steps leading to the summit of Clouds Rest with Half Dome and the valley beyond. The second snapshot is of Rojo contemplating the reason why we are moving forward with this plan- Tenaya Lake still looks far away and still further from our destination of the valley floor in the other direction. The third postcard is from the trail towards Mt. Watkins with Tenaya Canyon below us and the summit of Clouds Rest visible across the canyon walls, where we had been standing 3 hours earlier. By that point it was just one foot in front of the other, although we were traveling through new scenery for us which was picturesque. Now its time to come up with a new plan, and a new trail loop. Enjoy.

One Rim at a Time

We started out strong today, David and I, and with some strong convictions: go for the rim-to-rim hike, repeating last years traverse of Yosemite Valley and therefore saving the reversal direction for the Fall with Rojo. This was the last quick jaunt around the valley for the summer before the baby arrives any day now, and a nice way to tie up all the times I spent this year on the various trails of this venture. And even with all the GU's and Cliff Blocks we could stomach we only completed half the hike. By the time we reached Camp 4 at the 6 hour mark, I was calling it quits. It was 1pm and the heat and the Georgia mugginess of the whole day had put an end to it. And you know what? I don't feel bad about stopping. Sometimes 16 miles is enough, and I will save the hike again for a better day. The rest of the afternoon was spent with my very pregnant wife getting things ready for the addition of another family member, and we still don't know whether it will be a boy or girl. At least for a few more days. The bottom postcard is part of the trail on Snow Creek in the morning, and the top postcard is overlooking the valley from near Yosemite Point, which is in the lower right of the snapshot. Enjoy.