Today we had one objective. Hike to Cathedral Lake and back. The hike is 4.1 miles one way with a climb of 1600 feet. We were a little concerned about the elevation gain especially since we were starting at 8000 feet. But we figured we could take our time, rest as much as we wanted to along the way and just enjoy the scenery. Our first task was to get to the park by driving the Tioga pass. We stopped at an alpine lake for a quick morning photo.

We got to the trailhead by 9 and headed on our way, we saw very few people on the trail except for a few overnight backpackers on their way back down. The trail could be described in five parts, a flat start, followed by a long climb, followed by a flat middle, followed by more steep uphill, and finally some downhill to the lake. Then reverse it all to get back!

When we arrived at the lake there were only three other humans there. We were keeping our distance so it felt like we had the place all to ourselves.

We had a snack and just sat and enjoyed the cool air and all the views and colors!

We are now back at the camper, showered and resting. Our feet are sore but we have a great sense of accomplishment from today. Soon we will try to stream the loons who are playing in the semi-finals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. I’m making some Peruvian chicken for dinner on the Traeger and I’m guessing it will be a fairly early night.

Tomorrow we head back into the park with the camper, but it looks like we could get rained out (flood watch in Yosemite). We are close enough to the end that if the weather looks like a washout we could just head for Indio. Hopefully the amount of rain is not that big.