Emma and I wanted to see some fall colors in the Sierra Nevada before the snows came in this winter. We picked out a few hikes including Clouds Rest, a prominent peak overlooking Yosemite Valley.

We left San Jose on a Friday night to get as close to Yosemite as we could without entering the park. Around midnight we pulled off a quiet National Forest road to sleep in the car.

The next day we managed to drive past the national park border without being stopped for payment. Our morning luck continued as we reached the Tenaya lake parking lot before the crowds showed up. We began our day hike at 7am.

For the first hour we climbed into a rolling granite landscape sparsely dotted with evergreens. The October sun was hotter than we expected but it felt nice to be out in this crisp Sierra air. At 10 am we reached the summit ridge and clambered over some easy flat boulders to get to the top.

On the way down I was slow because my feet began to hurt from the new shoes I brought. Towards the end Emma kindly offered to switch shoes with me and we made it down to the trailhead. We ate lunch at the lake and planned our next move.

Since I didn't want to further injure my feet we decided to drive down to the eastern side of the sierra, chill for a bit at Mono lake, and dispersed-camp along Hwy 120.

On Sunday morning we drove another hour to to Lundy Canyon, which was an area recommended to us by a ranger at the Mono Basin visitor center. The gently ascending canyon turned out to a beautiful fall hike. Highlights included a beaver dam on a reflective lake, thousands of aspens, and 3 waterfalls. Because of my injury I stopped after the first waterfall but Emma made it to the top of the second.

On the way down I paused many times to chill, journal, and take in the scenery. We regrouped at the trailhead around 2pm to begin the drive home.