Skyline-to-the-Sea

January 1, 2020

My start-of-2020 plans didn’t go any more smoothly than my plans usually do. I planned my New Year’s activity around shadowing an ice climbing trip in Lee Vining that ended up getting postponed by over a month. In addition to avoiding the 4-hour detour that driving into the Valley would require, I wanted to keep in line with my previous vow to “have fun.” The sunrise on Clouds Rest my first year was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever witnessed, but as far as the actual hiking, I don’t like it. I don’t like traipsing through the forest alone for hours. I don’t like climbing up snowy rocks in hiking shoes. I don’t even really like snow that much. My ambitious plan for a Valley-Clouds Rest-Tenaya Peak-Valley hike seems far better suited to the summer, with more daylight and quicker hiking sans snow.