Lots of Mosquitoes at Cathedral Lake
Tuolumne Meadows is a magical place.
It's been dear to my heart since my first ever trip up to here to Pothome Dome and Tenaya Lake in 2009. After another trip last year to Elizabeth Lake during my birthday trip through the National Parks, Tuolumne Meadows has become one of my go-to places in Yosemite. Typcial, I know. Everybody loves Tuolumne Meadows.
Getting to Cathedral Lake isn't a hard hike -- I believe it's considered to be moderate but it's definitely harder than you'd think if you consider the elevation (10,000 ft) and for us, the heat that day.
My one and only tip for doing anything in Tuolumne Meadow: Bring insect repellent. A lot of it. Bring maybe a couple different types. Our group of 5 had 3 different types inbetween us, and it seemed like only one of them did the best job. When you have 20 mosquitoes swarming around you during most of your hike, you'll regret not bringing any.
We could've started earlier in the day, I suppose. But we were enjoying our breakfast too much to hurry up and leave:
Starting the Trek:
It climbs uphill for a while. Be sure to lather on that bug repellent before heading up. and sun screen before starting. It'll climb uphill for a while (it's about 1000ft elevation gain), but don't worry -- it flattens after a bit. So much of the first half of the hike was very exposed, so this shaded flat portion felt particularly great.
Although it was nearing the end of June, the snow hadn't fully melted yet. While on the trail, we saw two guys trying to race to the top of the sheet of ice off the side of a dome. Further down the trail, a father and son were throwing snowballs at each other.
““Nothing like a good snowball fight in the middle of summer!””
At the fork, left takes you to upper Cathedral Lake and right takes you to Lower Cathedral Lake. We opted for lower because we heard the view was nicer. After descending for a bit, we make it to this breathtaking clearing:
The lake is about a 5 minute walk from this point. It took us 20 minutes to get there because we kept stopping to take photos.
The view of Cathedral Peak from the lake.
You'll get a much better and picturesque shot from the other end of the lake, but the high heat took a toll on us. We stopped here and sat down for lunch and reapply bug repellent.
Feeling exhausted and lightheaded from the elevation, we all fell asleep after eat lunch. The sun was warm but the wind was definitely chillier up here. I'm glad the rock adsorbed some good heat so I could fall asleep. I definitely snored loud enough for other people to hear.
Group shot before we left.
My remote app for my camera couldn't cover the distance between the camera and the group, so I set a 10sec timer and ran over. After doing 3 or 4 takes, I started to feel light headed again.
One more shot, on the way out.
Back down we went. According to my boyfriend, I had a swarm of 8-10 mosquitoes on me at all times. I'm pretty sure that's one main reason our group was heading down so fast.
Heading back down the many switchbacks:
This was a very picturesque spot in this particular light:
After making it back down to the car, we had another hour drive ahead of us. It was a long and exhausting day, but as usual... worth it.
Quick Facts:
Trailhead Elevation: 8,500 ft
Lower Cathedral Lake Elevation: 9,300 ft
Tuolumne Meadows is only accessible when Tioga road is open, which is usually around June to October.
Food: Don't leave food in your car. They have food lockers at the trailhead if you need it.
Parking: There's some parking at the trailhead but even if that is full you can park off the side of the road as long as you aren't on the road.