After a month of backpacking adventures, I wasn’t quite ready to settle back down into the daily motions of work and life, so I snuck away on one last Sierra backpacking trip. I had been wanting to backpack to Cathedral Lakes for a while, but was never able to make it happen. I saw an opportunity (aka had a few days off of work in a row), had a few back-up options, and decided to make the long drive to Yosemite.

This may or may not surprise you, but I’m not the most spontaneous person. I like to have fairly meticulous plans, and uncertainty is not something I try to seek regularly. So, waking up late, packing my pack, and driving to Tuolumne Meadows to get a wilderness permit for that night is a little out of character for me. Add in the thunderstorm that hit mid-day as I drove in to Tuolumne, and I’m pretty proud of myself for not bailing down to Lee Vining.

Plan #1 was not to backpack that night. But when I got to the wilderness permit office around 2 pm on Thursday, that was the only option I had if I wanted to go to Cathedral Lakes. In that moment I realized I really wanted to go to Cathedral, and I’d rather start hiking that afternoon than sleep in the campground that night and start my trip tomorrow to somewhere else. So I snagged the last permit for Cathedral for that night, and drove down to the grill/ store, since I was starving and a little motion sick from the 5 hour drive. I ate my lunch at the picnic tables amongst JMT hikers and had fond memories of the last time I was at those picnic tables on my PCT hike. I almost wanted to change my plans and head north on the PCT! Haha… if you read my PCT blog you know how much I didn’t like northern Yosemite. But maybe it would be better without mosquitos! The weather was still being yucky, so I took my time eating, and then when I couldn’t wait any longer, I changed into my hiking clothes in the bathroom and drove down to the trailhead just down the road. Once I parked, it started raining a little, so I sat in my car for another 20 minutes waiting to see if the weather cleared. There were still some angry clouds to the south, which was where I was headed. But, I was tired of waiting at this point, and just decided to go for it.

I started hiking around 4 pm. The trail to Cathedral Lakes is the John Muir Trail, so I saw some northbounders about to finish their hike, and southbounders just starting out, headed to Tuolumne Meadows for a night. I also saw plenty of day hikers walking back to their cars. Even after Labor Day, Yosemite is a bustling place. This part of the trail is nothing to write home about: it is a simple dirt path through trees, and it can be steep and rocky in places. The hike to the lakes is uphill or sort of flat, for 4 miles, without many views. To pass the time, and because I was really struggling on the uphills, probably because of the sudden altitude I was at (sea level to 9,000 ft), I listened to my friend from the PCT, Twerk’s podcast. It was super enjoyable and I can’t wait to hear more of his interviews!

Just as I was reaching the top of the climb before the trail turns downhill towards the lakes, I heard an unmistakeable rumble. GREAT. I was hoping the weather would hold out since it was super moody, but nope, the universe decides to start thunderstorming on me on the most exposed part of my hike. Wonderful. Despite my fear, it was a super cool experience. The clouds were far enough away where I wasn’t absolutely terrified, and the colors of the sky were gorgeous. And the world just smelled sooo good. Thankfully, the thunderstorm moved north, and it stopped raining as I was approaching Upper Cathedral Lake. I was a dummy though, and instead of walking to the southern end of the lake, I scrambled around the northern side, which is a much less pleasant walk. Nice views, but it just took forever to get to the other side of the lake, where the ranger recommended camping. Next time: hike just a few minutes further south on the JMT before turning towards the lake.

watching the sun set on Cathedral Peak

I finally got to the obvious camping area and saw many other groups there. Because I brought my tarp (yes, the first time I tarp-camped was through a thunderstorm), I was looking for a relatively secluded spot with soil for ground, not granite. Which was kind of hard to find since the earlier groups took all of the sites down closer to the lake, forcing me up into the granite bowl above the lake. I managed to find a little sliver of land between two living trees and set up my Gossamer Gear Twinn tarp for only the second time. After setting up, I quickly changed out of my sweat-drenched shirt and into my bedtime clothes. By this time, the sun was starting to set. I couldn’t have timed this better if I tried! I climbed up a small slope near my tarp and cooked my dinner, running around taking pictures while my Good To Go meal re-hydrated.

After the sun set, there wasn’t much to do except finish setting up my camp and crawl into my quilt. Unfortunately, I realized I set up on a slight slope, and since my Polycryo ground sheet was so slippery, I was sliding around quite a bit. Not enough to be exposed, but enough for annoyance. I had some hopes of the clouds clearing overnight and taking some late-season Milky Way pictures, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I couldn’t fall asleep, and when I was finally about to drift to sleep, I saw the brightest flash of light through my eyelids, and almost immediately afterwards, heard roaring thunder. My eyes flew open and I looked out of my tarp in time to see the next flash of lightning. It was pretty terrifying, and I again had problems falling asleep after the storm passed through. Good thing I bought a book to read on my Kindle app before leaving home. I read it for hours while listening to the rain before I could finally go back to sleep.

Because I didn’t sleep too well, I was in no rush to wake up early for sunrise. I did wake up at first light, was conscious enough to see that the sunrise was not going to be great because it was still super cloudy, and went back to sleep. When I woke up the second time, the clouds were starting to clear and I saw beautiful blue skies. I got dressed and took a stroll down to the lake with my camera. I meandered and ate breakfast for an hour or so before packing up and hiking back down to the road. The hike down took much less time than the day before, and I was practically skipping down the trail for portions of it. As I was approaching the road I saw the reason for the full permits for Friday night: a huge group was heading up the trail! I stood aside while they passed, and was pretty happy I ended up sleeping out there last night, as big groups tend to bring noise with them. Once I got to my car, I changed shirts, drove down to the Mobil Mart for some fish tacos & gas, and started the long drive back to the Bay Area. Less than 24 hours in Yosemite, but it was pretty sweet.

Do It Yourself:

Upper Cathedral Lake is located in the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park. It is an 8 mile round-trip hike with ~1,700 ft of elevation gain total, most occurring during the 4 miles to the lake. Lower Cathedral Lake is also along the way, about a half mile off of the main trail. Wilderness Permits are required for backpacking in Yosemite, and can be obtained as early as 24 weeks in advance during the quota season, May through October. Cathedral Lakes is only accessible for hiking from ~June-October, depending on snow melt. Otherwise, it can be accessed via backcountry skiing from either Yosemite Valley or Lee Vining during the winter. For more information about Yosemite Wilderness Permits, click here.

Note: Included in this blog post are links to the Outdoor Status permit notification website. These are affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to participate in permit availability notifications. Thank you so much if you do use this service!