You don’t always get what you hope for, or what you expect, but that’s okay.
On Saturday, Claudia and I wanted to find a place to view the moonrise, but it’s the wrong time of year to see a full moon rising next to Half Dome, or any of Yosemite Valley’s more interesting rock formations. So we decided to climb Mt. Hoffman, which has a panoramic, 360 degree view from the geographical center of the park. From there the moon would rise over the high peaks near Mt. Lyell in the park’s southeastern corner.
There were lots of clouds that afternoon, so we didn’t know whether we’d see the moon at all, but reasoned that the clouds could create a nice sunset, moon or not. And then there was still a little smoke emanating from the Dark Hole Fire along Yosemite Creek, which might block the light. But you never know until you try, so we started up.
We had both climbed Mt. Hoffman before, but it had been a long time. The peak is pretty close to the road, so the climb to its summit is “only” four miles. It’s a steep ascent though, with an elevation gain of about 2,000 feet, at high altitude, so we definitely felt the climb in our legs and lungs.
Along the way there were great views of the Cathedral Range to the southeast, giving us an excuse to stop and rest. During those breaks we could see some very dark clouds to the east, and occasionally hear a rumble of thunder, so we paid close attention to the weather in case some of that rain and thunder might move in our direction. Luckily the stormy weather stayed to the east.
At one point the sun broke through the clouds and created some dramatic light on Cathedral Peak, so I got out my camera and made a few quick exposures (you can see one below).
Mt. Hoffman actually has several summits. We decided to go to the highest point first (the one with the radio tower), where we met and chatted with a couple of other hikers. As the sun lowered, and light started to get more interesting, I moved down the ridge to line up distant Mt. Conness with some of the cliffs along Mt. Hoffman’s summit ridge.
And then I saw a rainbow in the distance, over Tuolumne Meadows, but the rainbow was blocked by the foreground ridges. I had a choice: go back up to the summit, or down and along the ridge to another viewpoint. I decided going down was quicker, but by the time I got to a viewpoint the rainbow had faded. Oh well.
