Backpacking Yosemite - Clouds Rest and Little Yosemite Valley Campground

Here's the grand finale to my Yosemite trip. I took my time getting started in the morning, first moving to keep the cold at bay and soon enough going shirtless once the sun rose over the peaks. Big temp fluxuations on this trip. By 8:30 I was moving through the burn zones and as I climbed the views back towards Half Dome were astounding. I also spied a small quirky peak I was progressing towards. I dubbed him Mr. Conehead and decided to make him my prize.

It was hot in the sun without any trees. The trail wasn't steep or technical, just long ambling switchbacks. Finally I reached living trees and things leveled out. Once I changed directions towards Clouds Rest I began to think about a bushwhack towards Mr. Conehead. I waited too long and ended up going down further than I needed to. It wasn't that difficult to cut across and I successfully found my way to the top of his glorious head. I could stay long as it was a hike back up to where I stashed my bag and then it would be another two miles to the top of Clouds Rest.

The spine of Clouds Rest isn't super narrow but it still activated my fear of heights in a big way. Something about seeing all those sheer cliffs across the way. Once I got to the summit I was fine and the 360° views were stunning. It was nice to see the whole of the park - it gave a new perspective of what I had been reviewing on a map.

Then it was a long hike down to the Little Yosemite Valley campground. The endless switchbacks were easy walking but I was now tired. I got to camp just before sundown, quickly set up my tent and then found the river to replenish my water. There were a couple other backpackers staying at the camp. I learned that workers had set up their tents just beyond the camp - they were detonating explosives on the closed section of the JMT that runs alongside the Mist Trail. A couple other backpackers arrived late and decided to get the communal fire going. Between them and the workers it did not end up being the quiet night I thought. Nevertheless I eventually fell asleep.

I awoke early at 4 AM and was on the trail less than an hour later. I had a tight timetable in order to get to a work conference in San Francisco so that mean hiking out in the dark. It lightened up by the time I passed Vernal Falls and I was able to enjoy the fall colors once more time. I got back to the car right on time and then made the four hour drive back to civilization (enjoying some splendid mountain scenery through the Stanislaus National Forest).

Li'l Rhody Runaround 2025

Backpacking in Yosemite - November 2-4, 2025 - Part 1

With my work's annual meeting being in San Francisco this year, I began plotting heading out a few days early to do some hiking. I quickly set my sights on Yosemite - driving there wouldn't be any longer than getting to the Whites for me - and I love driving through the different environs in Cali. Things got off to a rough start when my car rental fell through due to my own dumbassery. Thankfully I was still able to secure a car and avoid disaster. I made the bulk of the drive that day to the mountain town of Mariposa. I tried to get to bed at an early hour because I knew that I'd be waking up very early thanks to the time difference as well as Daylight Savings Time. And so it was that I woke up at 1 AM, spent a couple hours repacking everything and began driving towards the park at 3:30 AM. It was a certainly a quiet drive on twisty mountain roads and I knew I was missing some splendid scenery.

So I rolled into Yosemite Valley in the dark, depriving myself of all the splendor. I made my way to the visitor center and walked around in circles for a good 15 minutes looking for the self-registration forms. Turns out they were all gone due to the government shutdown. I crafted my own using the sample provided on the kiosk and hoped that would suffice (as there were no rangers to encounter, it was). By now light had come to the park and the incredible granite peaks loomed above me in all directions - amazing. There seemed to be an abundance of vanlifers taking advantage of the shutdown but otherwise I didn't stay in the valley long enough to notice any other issues. I drove over to the trailhead, made last minute adjustments and off I went.

The short walk to the John Muir Trail was fantastic in itself and I was already thinking about coming back with my family to fully explore the valley. But this was my opportunity to explore the backcountry so I made my way to the JMT/Mist Trail and began climbing on smooth pavement. By this point it was 7:30 AM and I definitely wasn't alone - plenty of others climbing to visit the falls and other speedy folks passed that were making the trip up to Half Dome or Clouds Rest. Pavement turned to stone steps (lots of them!) as we passed a couple big waterfalls. The water was fairly low by their standards but they still looked great to me.

After about four miles of climbing the trail flattened and I enjoyed the easy walking to the Little Yosemite Valley campsite. There were several groups camping there but there were clearly plenty of places to camp there now that it was the off-season. My plan was to stay there on night 2. But I continued on along the JMT, passing the turnoffs for Half Dome and Clouds Rest. Now I was truly alone and would encounter very few people until I returned to Little Yosemite Valley the following night. I was starting to get tired now - despite a forecast of night temps in the low 30s it was currently 70° and the pack was starting to make my back ache. And though it was still early in the afternoon the jet lag was catching up with me. Dispersed camping can't take place until you pass the Clouds Rest turnoff - I made it about another mile until I found a great spot within a burn zone. It was about 2:30 PM now and I was ready to call it a day.

Set up camp, had a quick dinner and enjoyed a fantastic sunset. Here's the video of Day 1: