clouds rest backpacking permit

Andrew Johnson Permits and reservations: No permits are required for hiking up to Clouds Rest or to the top of the Lembert Dome. But as you'll be in the backcountry, you can't use a day hike permit. Common examples: Continuous travel is a condition of a wilderness itinerary in which the user travels from a Yosemite National Park entry trailhead to the exit trailhead during the dates specified in the permit. This is not a hike for folks looking for a leisurely stroll! A Half Dome day hike permit is entirely different, and you can have each person submit an application. Views from Clouds Rest are as worthy as they come in the State of California. This is certainly closer water than the year-round creak flowing at a lower elevation. Hug the eastern edge of the mountainside and muscle your way through the 500-foot climb to the summit. By: This backpacking trip, be it your first or fortieth, is a uniquely protected opportunity to provide maximum freedom to roam in Wilderness. So, practically, it's not possible to get permits for popular trailheads except at the priority permit station. From the summit, hike down 5 miles to Sunrise Creek for the final night of camping. We departed from Glacier Point. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. This service is especially helpful for those who have gotten a first-come, first-served permit the day before beginning their hike. You can take a day hike to Clouds Rest without a permit, or obtain a first-come, first-served backpacking permit at the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center. Don’t be scurred, though, people be people J. We scouted some turf, pitched our tents, and dropped our packs at the end of the tree line, just before the naked shoulder begins to emerge and crest into its exposed peak, hiking the final ~1.5 mile stretch with a couple of day packs and summit essentials. + Save to a List. Additionally, the ascent up Clouds Rest is very challenging and is weather permitting. A good planning process will enhance your understanding of the park and your safety. Clouds Rest is a massive granite peak just northeast of Half Dome.The peak can be seen from Yosemite Valley, and at 9,930 ft. is about 1,080 ft. higher than the more famous Half Dome.The peak offers excellent views of Half Dome and the surrounding area. Join us on an epic hike to summit two of the most iconic peaks in Yosemite National Park, Half Dome and Clouds Rest. We have more answers to frequently asked questions. Great backpacking trip done in June. Since there are only a few designated campgrounds, you can camp anywhere you like, provided you follow all the regulations. Literally, no good reason as to why it took me so long to hike to Clouds Rest. Of each daily quota for a trailhead, 60 percent can be reserved ahead of time. You couldn’t directly purchase airfare because of an oversaturated buyer’s market, so rather than receive an e-mail receipt to confirm your booking, you are entered into a ‘lottery’ in which you may or may not be able to travel to your planned destination…(As an NBA fan, I’ve always struggled with the idea of a truly randomized lottery). Wilderness permits are available during business hours at any permit issuing station beginning at 11 am the day before the beginning of your wilderness trip. Like, what if all vacationing and travel was like that? Note: I used to think all campers were irie until I saw a few people go all Black Friday on some of these lineups. West-facing views offer gorgeously unobstructed lines of sight to Half Dome and throughout the valley floor. Always practice Leave No Trace ethics on your adventures and follow local regulations. To the extent you can carve the time, I’d recommend researching the lottery period for your desired route/location, and having each person in your party independently enter to maximize your chances of obtaining a permit. Right >>> Clouds Rest/Tenaya Lake/Tuolumne Meadows. And if you have a list of potential travel destinations like me, can you please consider adding an overnight backpacking permit for Clouds Rest??? The trailhead quota system limits use based on where you begin your hike, and in some cases, on where you camp the first night of your trip. If you plan to backpack and camp in the wilderness area around Clouds Rest, an overnight permit is required though. If space is no longer available for that trailhead, you can try to change your reservation to another date or another trailhead (as long as space is available). Permits are available one day in advance of your trip. So, in planning a trip, it is important to find the right experience for your interests, timeframe, and abilities. Some especially popular areas have additional application procedures: Once you know where you want to begin your hike from, use the trailheads map [1.5 MB PDF] to determine the name of your trailhead. Wilderness permit holders may spend one night prior to, and one night after, a backpacking trip in a backpackers' campground (summer only). Alternatively, depending on the park, you can outrun everyone to the starting line, and can often secure unused day and/or overnight permits on-site (where available), if you’re willing to line up outside the ranger station/visitor center at dawn. Any travel through Yosemite Valley invalidates the permit. Day 2: Hike to lower Cathedral Lake (7 miles) and camp there. A wilderness permit is required year-round for backpacking or any other overnight stay in the Yosemite Wilderness. Exiting the wilderness at any time during a wilderness itinerary invalidates the wilderness permit. At about 2.5 miles, you'll reach an intersection with the Sunrise Lakes Trail that heads off to the east. That would make holiday travel pretty tough. As soon as the crowd starts to thin (depending on what time you start), the first push is an even, quality burn, and I’d recommend taking the John Muir Trial the first few miles up to Vernal Falls. Wilderness permit reservations are available (and strongly recommended) up to 24 weeks (168 days) in advance, and up until nine before your hike. That said, in order to plan for a few of the more-oft visited destinations throughout the southwestern United States, it’s necessary to pipeline the permit application windows for those travel spots that do require a permit (i.e. This final ascent climbs steadily to a challenging elevation, but isn't as steep as the climb you conquered to reach the Sunrise Lakes fork. If your starting trailhead is outside Yosemite National Park, get your permit from the land agency that manages that trailhead. An elevation loss of about 2600 vertical feet leads us to our forested … Views from Clouds Rest are as worthy as they come in the State of California. A wilderness permit is not required for day hikes (unless hiking to Half Dome) or for staying in lodging facilities and frontcountry campgrounds. These trailheads include Lyell Canyon, Cathedral Lakes, Rafferty Creek, those leading to Little Yosemite Valley, and others. After that, it’s left, right, left (*foot after foot, not directional turning) – all the way to the top, which, at 9,996 feet, is the highest point in Yosemite. Submit your application as early as possible: popular trailheads fill up on the first day reservations are available and many other trailheads fill up almost as quickly. Make sure to take in the view as you gain elevation on your way up to Sunrise Lakes. The exceptions are near the five High Sierra Camps and in the Little Yosemite Valley area, where you must you camp at the designated campgrounds. You must pick up a wilderness permit at the permit station closest to your starting point (when these permit stations are closed for the season, permits are available on a self-registration basis). The trail is primarily used for hiking, camping, and backpacking and is best used from March until October. You must go to the Valley Visitor Center to pick up a wilderness permit (if available) and current combination for the cabin's lock. A one-night stop in the Tuolumne Meadows Backpackers Campground as part of an ongoing and continuous long-distance hiking permit. Enjoy lunch at the top while soaking in panoramic views of Yosemite’s wilderness. If you missed out on snagging a Half Dome permit and are looking for a great alternative hike, then the Clouds Rest trail is a great choice. An advantage of choosing the Clouds Rest hike is that it is not an overnight trip, so you do not need to obtain a permit, which can be a long process. © 2020 The Outbound Collective - Terms of Use - Privacy Policy. This limit on the number of people staying at the cabin provides for visitor safety and preserves natural, cultural, and wilderness values. The trailhead information page has additional information, including quotas for each trailhead, parking information, and other details. Like virtual reality, but without the virtual part. Tried summiting Half Dome but the closed down the cables right as we got to them because of a lightning storm rolling in. Thank you!! Once all permits are secured, it’s a good idea to reserve bus tickets from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne Meadows. Priority for permits for a particular trailhead is given to the closest permit issuing station. If you are starting at a trailhead in Yosemite and wish to camp outside of Yosemite during your Wilderness trip, you will only need to get a single wilderness permit from Yosemite. Hopefully, the photographs alone are a sufficient sales pitch (not that you really need one). Left >>> Half Dome. Wilderness permit reservations are processed by lottery 24 weeks (168 days) in advance of the hiking start date from mid-November through October. However, if you are planning to stay overnight in a Yosemite campsite, apply for a permit months prior to your trip. A bonus to hiking in via the Sunrise Lake trail is you can hike the Clouds Rest trail (which requires no permit), and gives you incredible views of Half Dome. Registration includes: Guided backpacking trip, park entry (as needed), bear-proof canister rental, Yosemite Wilderness permit, and tent camping at shared group sites before and after the trip. From approximately May through October, unreserved permits are available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 11 am on the day before the intended hiking date. These are two of the most spectacular and famous peaks in Yosemite National Park. The summit can be reached by a 7.2-mile (11.6 km) trail hike from Tioga Pass Road or a 13-mile (21 km) trail hike from Happy Isles by way of Little Yosemite Valley.There are also several technical routes available. Permits: Required for all overnight backpacking trips. Since many trails are very popular, reservations are recommended ($5 per confirmed reservation plus $5 per person). Start out at the Tenaya Lake Trailhead, where you can head directly onto the trail for Clouds Rest or you can branch off after 2.7 miles to Sunrise Lakes. The Outbound works best with JavaScript enabled. We want to acknowledge and thank the past, present, and future generations of all Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral lands we travel, explore, and play on. The hike up to Clouds Rest is a difficult yet rewarding one. From November through April, wilderness permits are available without a reservation. Total 360. Please explore responsibly! Once you make the pivot, you might be about halfway through your one-way to the top (if you begin from the valley floor, as opposed to camping at the backpackers camp near Vernal Falls or coming in from the east side). This allows you to break up the hike, spend a night relaxing and help you have an early start back on the trail. It’s really a beautiful hike. The last ridge to Clouds Rest gets a bad rap for being scary. Once in Yosemite Park, you can jump the shuttle (it runs from 7 AM to 10 PM), which will drop you off at the trailhead (Stop 16) for the Happy Isles/Mist Trail, which goes to Vernal Falls, Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and beyond. Although the Half Dome hike typically gets all the attention, hiking Clouds Rest actually takes you to a higher summit that offers a panoramic vista which includes an unbeatable view of Half Dome itself. For this reason alone, Clouds Rest should join your permit application lineup. Distance: 14.5 miles (23.3 km) round trip Trailhead Elevation: 8,150 feet (2,450 meters) Elevation Gain: 1,775 feet (540 meters) Reservations are available fewer than 168 days in advance (but not fewer than two days in advance), although popular trailheads fill up the first day reservations are available. Nobody else continued on to Clouds Rest. Sixty percent of reservations are available 24 weeks in advance; the remaining 40 percent are available two … Use some of the resources you've found on this site, look at maps, and get planning! Reservations are not available. The Clouds Rest Trail winds its way through wildflower-covered meadows, forests and rocks before it starts the steep switchbacking (at times stair step) climb. The trek down from Clouds Rest is a steep winding descent to Sunrise Creek; along the way stunning views of Half Dome with El Capitan in the distance are framed by massive ancient junipers. All the glacier-carved wonder of Little Yosemite Valley and the surrounding peaks unfolds at the top of Clouds Rest (9,926 ft.). Setup camp at the Clouds Rest - Half Dome trail junction. Yep, us too. The cabin is closed at other times of the year. Half Dome Permits. With no water source near the summit of Cloud’s Rest, we needed to bring enough water for our hike in, that evening’s dinner, the next morning’s breakfast, and the next afternoon’s hike out. Adventure Details. For Clouds Rest, you need a permit for Sunrise Lakes, and we highly recommend reserving this one, as it’s a … In order to continue backpacking, you would need a new wilderness permit. In terms of our national parks, though, it’s all we got at the moment, and though I’m probably sipping the haterade here, I don’t really have a better solution to striking a balance between overpopulation and environmental conservationism. Therefore, as part of the wilderness experience, park rangers can provide general guidance but will not plan a wilderness trip for you; you must plan your own trip. Early on in the hike, there are some watery obstacles. It’s a little less travelled, provides nice middleground views of the falls and the backside of Half Dome, and is fairly shaded in the morning (for those traveling during warmer months; I last went in late May, and it was almost 90 degrees on the valley floor and about 40 degrees at the summit). It’s considered one of the epic Yosemite hikes and is definitely worth the effort. 360-degree views stretch for hundreds of miles. If you are starting a hike from a trailhead located outside of Yosemite National Park, obtain your permit from the trailhead's managing agency, even if camping in Yosemite. After the first night, you may camp wherever you can hike to within the wilderness. In late summer it’s easy to skip across the meager trickle of water, but during wet peri… Cloud's Rest: No permit required no brainer day hike - See 64 traveler reviews, 91 candid photos, and great deals for Yosemite National Park, CA, at Tripadvisor. *Route Variation - Our specific hiking route and campsites on each departure are dependent upon permit availability. Check out our Yosemite - Two Summits guided backpacking adventure for details! Travel by vehicle or bus at any time during a wilderness itinerary invalidates the wilderness permit. Once past the falls, which makes for a natural rest stop, you’ll continue on (the trails briefly merge after Vernal Falls, so as long as you’re generally heading north/northeast, you’re in good shape), and just past the backpacker’s camp, you’ll come to a figurative fork in the road. So until I workshop a better solution to pitch the National Park Service, I’m with it! There is no such exception for Yosemite Valley. It’s really a beautiful hike. Imagine virgin Sierra Nevada granite, uplifted from its deep burial place by compressional tectonic forces, canyons eroded rapidly by generous spring runoff, and finally, the odd glacier to smooth the slope. As a self-proclaimed view hunter that’s been diligently exploring California and the Western U.S. with handfuls of cameras over the last few years, the views from the summit of Clouds Rest in the middle of the Yosemite Valley are nearly peerless in the Golden State. (The wilderness permit office will know whether water is flowing, so you can ask when you pick up your permit.) Get an ad-free experience, support The Outbound, and snag a bunch of other perks by subscribing for only $29.99/year. Day 1: Hike up from Tenaya Lake TH to Clouds Rest (6 miles) enjoy the views, turn around and go back to the trail junction (3.5 miles) and then on to beautiful Middle Sunrise Lake (1 mile) where you set up camp for the night. The remaining 40 percent are available on a first-come, first-served basis no earlier than 11 am the day before your hike begins as long as permits are available. Trailhead quotas are in effect during winter. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/clouds-rest-trail And unlike Half Dome, for the Clouds Rest hike, no permit is needed, the distance and climbing is manageable, and you don’t have to navigate anything like the anxiety-inducing cables section. The Yosemite Wilderness has over 750 miles of trail to explore with a great range of elevation, ecological zones, and solitude. Whitney, various parts of the Grand Canyon and Zion Narrows, etc.). Crossing a road by means of traditional wilderness travel (by foot or with stock) in continuation of a wilderness itinerary. The Half Dome Permit system, however necessary, is just an extra bureaucratic hoop that I’d rather not jump through. ... both of the trails you referenced make it quite difficult to get to clouds rest in a 4 day hike. Additionally, due to increased popularity of the Snow Creek Cabin, a quota (six people per night) is in effect. All reservations (same day and next day) and same-day unreserved permits may still be picked up when the wilderness center opens for the day. This is Yosemite glacial geology at its finest. For this reason alone, Clouds Rest should join your permit application lineup. Geography. The adrenaline rush you get as you climb the narrow rocky ridge that leads to the Clouds Rest summit is one of the many reasons hiking enthusiasts choose this trail. A wilderness permit is not required for day hikes (unless hiking to Half Dome) or for staying in lodging facilities and frontcountry campgrounds. Wilderness permits are required in winter—but reservations aren't needed from November through April. The back end of Cloud's Rest appears to the west. As the park’s zenith, it offers wildly sweeping panoramic vistas of the park. Sunrise Lakes –> Clouds Rest –> Little Yosemite Valley –> Happy Isles; After faxing in my reservation request (if you’re not familiar with the permit requirements, visit here, we were lucky to get permits starting at May Lake, but without Half-Dome permits.

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