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Mount Hoffmann
I guess I started hiking Yosemite's peaks a little different. Rather than gradually working my way from low to high or easy to difficult, I jumped in with the most difficult being Half Dome, then the second highest, Mount Dana. With that experience behind me, I decided to hike one of the most popular summits, Mount Hoffman with my father-in-law Jim. The trail to Mount Hoffmann is the same trail used to go to May Lake. The trailhead is located at the end of Old Tioga Road off of Highway 120 (Tioga Pass Road). Be sure not to take the trail at the end of the parking lot, or you'll end up at Tenaya Lake! This one starts in the middle of the parking lot on the north side. Round trip miles is 6.
The trail wonders through the pine trees and occasionally through clearings allowing views of Cathedral Peak, Clouds Rest and Half Dome to name a few. After a moderate mile and a half we make it to May Lake High Sierra Campground and stop to take some pictures.
The May Lake High Sierra Camp is one of the five High Sierra Camps in Yosemite where you can stay in tent cabins and have meals prepared, with reservations and a fee of course! I'm sure in the summertime the campground is quite busy, but because we were here in October, the place was empty.
After our brief stop at May Lake we get back to our goal of Mount Hoffmann. Be sure to top off your water bottles because this is the last water source.
Follow the trail along the southwest shore of May Lake. It may be a little difficult to find at times as many use trails in the campground make it a little confusing, but just head west in the direction of Mount Hoffmann which is always in view.
The trail so far has been a walk in the park (pun intended) so far! Now it is all up hill. Like many mountain summits of this nature, the trail can be hard to follow at times. Several locations are marked with "ducks" which are several rocks stacked on top of each other. Loose rocks are all over here, so watch your footing.
We stop briefly on our way up to take in the views. In the center of the picture is the backside of Half Dome.
From here our route becomes easier to climb and follow because the loose rock is behind us now. From here you can see Clouds Rest, slightly right of center and Half Dome on the far right. You can obviously see more Yosemite landmarks from here, I just can't identify them yet!
This is the view of Mount Hoffmann's eastern peaks. These are actually what is visible from below at May Lake. The actual summit is behind us here and isn't visible from below.
The summit is actually home to an antenna, which makes the route-finding easier. The route from here however is real steep and will require some scrambling.
Near the top I got REAL close to the edge. Looking down the the face of Mount Hoffmann to the valley below somehow shook me up. I've been to Half Dome and even Mt. Dana without any problem, but for some reason that really shook me. It may have just been a combination of the steepness of this portion, the extra effort required to get up the boulders and the proximity of the route we took. We weren't really close to the ridge, it was just our perception that did it I guess.
Well we managed to make it and I took this photo of the summit marker as proof.
For all the effort it took to get there, we stayed only 10 minutes or so and only took two pictures. The views were incredible, but for what ever reason didn't take any more pictures from up here.
Jim poses at the summit with the "death-grip" on the antenna tower!
My thanks to my friend Richard for letting me use one of his pictures from the summit. I guess now I'll have to go back up there and get my own! Until then…
Posted
February 25, 2022
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by
“Hikin Mike”
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