Cloud's Rest, Yosemite National Park

15.1 mile up and down trail with a steep portion at the beginning. Beautiful views at the end and all worth the effort! Try to stop by the lake on your return

Where do I begin? My buddies and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We started at Tenaya Lake at a late time, maybe around 1pm. The hike to Clouds Rest has many inclines so being physically fit is a must. The majority of us were not. At the start of the hike there was 5 of us, at the end there was only two. For us the hike was extremely difficult especially since we are not use to the elevation change. Everyone in the group brought about 7.5 Liters which was definitely smart for us and a decent amount of snacks. This hike is probably about an 8hr hike, 14 miles. Yeah we took about 10hrs. I HIGHLY recommend starting this hike early otherwise you will spend the end of the hike in the dark which was scary. The hike there was a nice view and getting to the top was phenomenal! I did not make it to the very tip top. Once I looked off the side of the knife edge path, I said forget that. However, where I stopped at was just as great! You cannot beat this view at all. Surprisingly there was not much wind at the very top so you can really soak up the atmosphere and the peace and quiet. Once we were done at the top we started walking back down around 5pm. It got dark fast. If you hike this path late, bring a few flashlights but I recommend not doing it at all. The forest was extremely dark and quiet, too freaky for me. Once we reach a halfway point we turned off all the lights and gazed at all the stars. It was so surreal looking at the stars but he had to continue our hike back to the truck before our friend called the park ranger for being out too long. If your phone is charged, look at Google maps gps and it should guide you out back to the lake. We are all extremely sore from this hike and lost a bit of our sanity over there but we made it! Maybe next time we will leave early and be a little more fit. TLDR: be prepared for a long hike and be physically capable for altitude changes.