May Lake - September 12, 2009

May Lake, Yosemite National Park

By 2009, Yosemite has gotten to be an annual trip. I took a very short 3-day trip up and back to Tuolumne Meadows campground the weekend after Labor Day to get my fix in for 2009. Due to ever-present and on-going foot problems, my hiking was limited. (Note: 2 months later, my foot was operated on for a torn tendon. 2010 is, hopefully, going to be a better year for hiking.)

I choose to hike up to May Lake for a couple of reasons. One, I'd never been up there.Two, if was relatively short so I thought it wouldn't be too taxing on my injured foot. And, three, since I was only at Yosemite for one full day (the day of this hike), I was not going to get acclimated to 8,000 plus altitude. I didn't think this hike would "kick my butt" oxygen-wise.

And it did not.

May Lake, Yosemite National Park

The hike is only about 2.5 - 3 miles round trip. It isn't all that steep or rocky or anything. Just a straight up and back-type hike that you can make easily without stopping. The hardest part was actually finding parking in the small parking area near the trail head.

Once you get to May Lake, it is hard not to notice the Sierra Camp right next to it. I'd heard of them, never seen one. Yosemite has 5 I believe; May Lake's is the closest to any road.

On the day I choose to make the hike, Yosemite was overcast and it rained a couple of times. Nothing torrential but pretty steady rain, no-rain cycle. The sun came out occasionally, more in the morning than afternoon. When I got to May Lake, it was out but it did shower while I was there. Of course, the sun came back out as I hiked back down to the trail head. In some of the pictures, you can see the gathering clouds.

May Lake, Yosemite National Park

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