Cathedral Pass attempt: Part II

I was thinking that my Cathedral Pass adventure may be a possibility before Yosemite opens for another season.

Maybe the snow will be melted before spring opening. Here is a reprise of that adventure from my personal archives.

Once again I joined my two hiking buddies Fred Cochran and Clem Bingham for this hike from Tuolumne Meadows toward Cathedral Pass. After 21 miles and three days, we should end up at Happy Isles at the Yosemite Valley floor.

We set out in unseasonably warm weather, giving us the thought we might not run into large patches of snow. As we increased in elevation, however, small, deep patches of snow appeared along our pathway.

After three hours on the trail, those small patches became larger mounds created by the combination of sunlight and shade. We were faced with climbing over mounds of snow up to four feet in height.

After eight hours of forging our way, we finally arrived at upper Cathedral Lake at 9,600 feet. Luckily for us, at this elevation, we found an open area with direct sun that melted the snow for our first campsite. Most of this area had snowdrifts of four feet or more.

On a positive note, the surrounding landscape was breathtaking. Upper Cathedral Lake was frozen and created a mist rising from the ice followed by the reflection of the sunset. In the background was the snow-covered Cathedral Pass — our destination for tomorrow.

To the east was Cathedral Peak at 10,940 feet which was climbed by John Muir in 1869. Sharing this lofty location is Eichorn Pinnacle, named after Jules Eichorn, the first person to climb the spire on July 24, 1931. Glen Dawson was his climbing partner on that date.

More snow the following morning as we forged our way around the frozen lake, continuing our route over the pass. Our early morning departure was to our advantage; the snow surface was frozen from the night before which made our trekking easier. Our foot placement wasn’t sinking in the ice-covered snow as we skimmed over this pristine white surface.

Looking across this snow-covered pass and in the distance standing in front of a small cluster of trees was a human figure. As we approached this lonely figure, he introduced himself as Chuck from Wisconsin on a hiking adventure with his family.

On cue, four adults and three children stepped out from the shadows of the trees where they spent the night clustered together. They were all in great spirits and looking forward to completing this same adventure.

Later that following day, we crossed paths once again at a lower elevation. They thanked us for breaking a trail through the snow which made their travel much easier.

Next we passed Columbia Finger, which is the tallest mountain west of our trail at 10,360 feet. Its location identifies the final ridge to cross before starting our descent to the Sunrise High Sierra Camp.

We dropped down in elevation along the Sunrise Meadow before arriving at its trail junction on the west side. Above this meadow concealed by trees is that camping area for those hikers following the John Muir Trail.

From this point the trail follows Sunrise Creek as it descends into Little Yosemite Valley. Between the fallen trees and remaining snow, we had a difficult time locating the trail.

After some trial and error we managed to find its location hidden behind a cluster of fallen trees. Our second campsite’s location was along Sunrise Creek within a cluster of pine trees, almost four miles from Little Yosemite Valley.

We broke camp the following morning and after 30 minutes on the trail we thankfully said goodbye to all that snow.

This trail now rambles along a ridge line and skirts through two miles of burnt trees; the remains of a 2014 lightning strike.

Beyond the ridge and to the west is the Clark Range. We followed this range while dropping in elevation through Long Meadow.

We discovered another surprise that was difficult to believe — there was more snow through this open area following the creek. Once we crossed the creek, this trail led into Little Yosemite Valley at 6,857 feet for our last campsite.

On our final day we descended the five-mile trek along the Mist Trail that passes Nevada and Vernal falls. And at last we followed the Merced River to the Happy Isles Trailhead at the Yosemite Valley floor.

This completed our 21 mile adventure which took us an extra day, forging through snow at the higher elevations.

Our only disappointment was not having the time to climb Mount Broderick at 6,706 feet, which is located behind Liberty Cap, just above Nevada Fall.

Now I have another reason to hike back into Little Yosemite Valley to complete this new adventure.

Tony Krizan describes himself as an “adventurer” and he explores the Sierra Nevada range on a regular basis. He can be reached at tonykrizan@hotmail.com.