After tagging Red Top in Ansel Adams Wilderness the day before and then camping at some hot springs, Paulina and I decided to check out Ragged Peak in Tuoulumne. One of the friends we made the day before, Nga, decided to come along as well. I love an awesome girls’ day.
Packing up the campsite at hot springs off 395.
After driving up from 395, we met at the Lembert Dome parking lot and set out towards Young Lakes. Every so often, the forest would open up into a beautiful meadow showing amazing views. I just love this area.
Famous stream crossing where Luca fell in.
Rivers and meadows and mountains.
About a mile and a half before the trail hits the lakes, we set off cross country towards the summit of Ragged Peak. We made the regrettable decision not to take the ridge, and instead to go along the side, which became annoying as we realized how sandy it was.
However, eventually we made it the summit area and started the scramble up. We met another party that said they didn’t actually stand on the summit pinnacle, since it seemed too sketchy. Luckily, Nga is an expert scrambler and did some great route finding. The summit had just barely enough space for the three of us to all fit on top at once.
From the top, the views were incredible. Though, with all three of us on the already small and precarious summit block, we didn’t take very long to look around. We snapped some quick pictures, while making sure not to move very much, and then one by one descended.
Scrambling and mountains.
Coming down the sand was of course much faster, just plunge-stepping all the way down. We actually found a pretty nice use trail some of the way down. After meeting up with the main trail, we had a nice walk back to the cars, and got a pretty early start on the drive back. Paulina and I happily indulged in some pho in Tracy – the food I had been craving all weekend. As she and I were driving back over the bay bridge around 9:30pm, we checked in with Ephrat and Luca, who were only just leaving Bishop then after their own hike. Needless to say, I was pretty happy to be back in my bed and going to sleep early.
