7/22/19

Mount Dana at 13,061 ft – Yosemite National Park

The trailhead is located right at the East Entrance, at Tioga Road.

This is a short 7 mile hike, which means it gains 3000 ft of elevation in 3.5 miles. It’s is a steep and strenuous hike, you will definitely ‘feel’ the altitude if you try to climb too fast.

There is no official trail map or trail markers, it looks like there is an unofficial trail to go to the top. The beginning part follows lakes and beautiful meadows filled with wildflowers, but it then quickly start ascending and passes tree line. You start seeing the peak half way through the trail. The rest of the trail is pretty dry and filled with lots of scree, it also keep getting lost, you just have to follow your instinct and some cairns. There aren’t many switchbacks here, which makes it a lot steeper trail as compare to any other summit trails in the area.

We did this in late July and still had many snow fields, which made it a fun climb. We saw many marmots – a huge alpine cousins of squirrels – along the way. We just decided to slide down the snow fields on the way back.

The peak is at 13,061 ft, provides breathtaking panoramic views of Mono Lake. The views are totally worth a million.

Dharmesh injured his ankle last week at four mile trail, so it was just the three of us making it for this hike. We all loved it, the hike and the quality family time was unmatched.