BUENA VISTA TRAIL
Hiking Summary
This hike is an 27.6 mile hike (loop) starting at the Mono Meadow Trailhead parking lot, just off Glacier Point Road. This hike goes through Mono Meadow (2.9 miles), then parallel to Clark Range (8.9 miles) to the Buean Vista viewpoint. From the Buena Vista viewpoint, I chose to take the outer loop, past Buena Vista Lake & Johnson Lake (8.9 miles). But after taking this route, I would do the inner loop instead. The inner loop is 4.1 miles shorter, and besides the view at Buena Vista lake, is basically the same experience as hiking the outer loop. After the outer loop (or inner loop), the hike north back to Glacier Point Road (7.1 miles) is mostly uneventful except for a really cool view of Yosmeite Valley from the west side.
Difficulty: Hard
Distance: 27.6 miles for outer loop ( (out & back). This does not include the 1.3 miles back to Mono Meadow parking lot to get my car.
Elevation: ~4,700 ft
Estimated Time: 13 - 15 hrs (I recently completed the hike in 13.5 hrs; 2.0 mi/hr pace)
Trailhead Start:
Trailhead End: Mono Pass Trailhead Parking Lot
Hiking Map
Inspirational Intent
I reach the trailhead at 6:15am with a temperature of 31F. The sunrise isn't for another hour, but I can see the light from the sun peaking out from behind Clark Range to the east. I take a few minutes to pray and set my intentions for the day. I desire to have peace no matter what job I am working, how my body feels or which relationships are in my life.
Ok, here we go......
Through Mono Meadow
The first 2.9 miles of the hike will bring you east through Mono Meadow. In the spring and early summer, Mono Meadow can be hard to navigate due to the excess amount of water flooding the meadow. There are logs that you can step on to get you through, but hiking this in late summer/early fall is much easier.
I started the hike at 6:30am as the sun was peaking out from behind Clark Range. The peaks that appear here are Cloud’s Rest (9,935 ft), Mount Starr King (9,079 ft) & Mount Clark (11,523 ft).
Around the 1.1 mile mark, you will get your first views of Half Dome (8,806 ft) & Cloud’s Rest (9,935 ft).
Around the 2.1 mile mark, you will see North Dome (7,543 ft), Mount Hoffman (10,772 ft) & Half Dome (8,806 ft).
Around the 2.4 mile mark, if you look east you will see Clark Range, including Mount Starr King (9,079 ft), Mount Clark (11,523 ft), Gray Peak (11,567 ft) & Red Peak (11,657 ft).
Bueana Vista Trail
After 2.9 miles through Mono Meadow, the Buena Vista Trail heads south, parallel to the Clark Range. During this 8.7 mile stretch, you will see numerous views of famous landmarks. What’s even cooler, is the views evolve as the sun rises and shines it’s light on these landmarks.
Looking east is Mount Starr King (9,079 ft).
About 5.3 miles into the hike, the first views of Mount Clark & Gray Peak appear.
The more south you go, and as the sun moves higher into the sky, the views of Mount Clark get better and better.
Around 8.4 miles into the hike, you will come to this mostly open area with a rim around the east, south and west side of you. It made me feel like I was at the end of a really large bathtub. Lol.
Around 10.0 miles into the hike, you will see Buena Vista viewpoint in the distance. From here, it’s the low spot on the ridge in the distance.
Buena Vista Viewpoint
After the 11.6 miles, you will get to one of the absolute best views in all of Yosemite. SO many landmarks can be seen from this viewpoint.
I could literally stare at thie view for hours. On the far left is the backside of Half Dome. And on the far right is the southern edge of Clark Range. In between…..almost endless landmarks!
Looking towards the north (far left of the viewpoint), you will see Half Dome (8,806 ft), Mount Starr King (9,079 ft), Mount Hoffman (10,772 ft), Tuolemne Peak (10,857 ft) and Matterhorn Peak (12,301 ft) - (looking left to right).
Looking to the northeast (center of viewpoint), you will see Tressider Peak (10,601 ft), Cathedral Peak (10,854 ft), Echo Peak (10,886 ft), Matthes Crest (10,923 ft) and Cockscomb (11,054 ft) - (looking left to right).
Looking towards the east (far right of the viewpoint), you will see Mount Clark (11,523 ft), Gray Peak (11,567 ft) & Red Peak (11,657 ft) - (looking left to right).
Outer Loop
After the 11.6 miles to Buena Vista viewpoint, you can chose to take the inner loop back (4.8 miles) or the outer loop (8.9 miles). On the outer loop, you will run across a few cool lakes, but that’s about it. The top 2 pictures below are of Buena Vista Lake (very cool). The bottom left is Royal Arch lake and the bottom right is Johnson Lake (both ok….).
Yosemite Valley View
Around 4.0 miles from the end of the, you will get the other spectacular view of the hike. Looking east, you will see many of hte famous landmarks that surround Yosemite Valley.
Looking to the east, you will see Half Dome, Cloud’s Rest & Mount Starr King. This view is much cooler when the sun is lighting up all these landmarks. However, this hike took longer than I expected and I missed the best time to see this view by about 1.5 hrs.
Looking to the west, I did catch the sunset which was both beautiful and unexpected.
Hiking Journal - Enlightenment Summary
I have a big hike ahead and I am really excited. Well, excited and a bit fearful. I am excited to do a self-analysis and to practice acceptance & gratitude. But I am also fearful about how my body is going to respond to the 25-29 miles of hiking I plan to do today. I am afraid it might be hours of pain and discomfort. I am also afraid that my desire to push myself will make my life miserable due to the pain that will result from pushing myself too hard. However, if I stay present and embrace as many moments as possible, I will have a blessed day.
I am almost 3hrs into the hike, how am I feeling? Throughout my hike, I have stopped my mind and did a quick evaluation. Just about every time I feel peace. Very little fear, shame or insecurities. That's a pretty cool thing.
For this entry, I purposely stopped at this view of Mount Clark. Mount Clark sure is handsome today....lol. I feel as if my future is wide open and unknown. That's is both exciting and scary. Then I feel pride. I am really proud of myself for the willingness to go into my inner spirit and see what's going on in there. When I go into my inner spirit, I experience rigorous honesty about who I am, who I was and then who I could possibly be. I do need to keep working on the brutal self criticism that comes with the awareness of self honesty. But at least I can see that's it's unhealthy and unnecessary.
Below are some random thoughts that I experienced throughout the rest of my hike:
Hope is restored to my soul. I feel hopeful about the future.
It sure is fascinating watching myself push beyond my limits physically, emotionally, intellectually and relationally. Doing this makes me realize most of my limits are self imposed. Which means I can find a life beyond these limits. How do I do that? Well, going into my inner self. Surrender to my higher power and just feel what I need to feel. Then.... let it go and move forward...
I really do have a cool life.
This hike was a test, a test of perseverance. Both physically and mentally. How do we respond when things are hard? Do we push through or do we bail?