[pct-l] Half Dome And Cloud's Rest

[Gary Wright]

On Feb 26, 2013, at 12:48 PM, Mike Rumsey <mikerumsey51 at gmail.com> wrote:

> If I remember correctly, there are two routes up to Cloud's Rest from each
> side and a trail that bypasses the summit.  If the north side is too scary
> for your taste, you could bypass the summit and then try it from the south
> side.

This is correct although I haven't actually hiked the bypass trail--I went
up and over Cloud's Rest.  I would expect that the bypass trail also has
some exposure -- perhaps someone else can comment on that.

The approach from the south doesn't have the exposure that the northern
approach has.  It is also possible to stay on the JMT until you hit the
trail junction to the southern approach to  Clouds Rest. In this way you
could avoid the northern approach and bypass trail completely.  You'll
have a bit of an elevation penalty if you do this though as the JMT will
lose quite a bit of elevation before you have to turn around and hike back
up to the summit of Clouds Rest.

You can check out the various routes on this map (11Mb download):

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/upload/yose-2011.pdf

Clouds Rest is right near the upper right corner of the highlighted
Yosemite Valley area of the map.

Radar