Ostrander Lake Trail in Yosemite National Park

Another weekend, another trip to see the beauty of California... I really did not want to go on this hike. Waking up at 4.15 AM did not appeal to me before going to bed early on a Friday night and was pretty unattractive when I actually woke up and got dressed.

The sun does not rise until 6ish AM, so the darkness outside before that time just entices you to go back under the blanket. That is especially when you anticipate to hike 12.5 miles without previous hiking for that many miles in months. But I was strong... or so I thought.


I was squeezed in to carpool with one of the Meetup members since they did not have a National parks pass and sat uncomfortable for 2.5 hours while we drove to the trail's parking lot. The day was not starting as I wanted...

Ostrander Lake trail is located off the road towards Glacier point in the Yosemite National Park. It is a decent day hike to view Ostrander Lake and be completely engulfed in the wilderness of Yosemite.

I anticipated that I was not physically prepared for this hike. Even though most of Meetup group members considered the hike a beginner to moderate level, for me it was strenuous. I guess I need to go back to the gym...

The first few miles of the trail were quite easy and flat, but then the reality of "1700ft elevation yet to conquer" started to kick in. Not that it was overly steep, but that it was steep for long periods of time. Well, several miles.

A few miles after the beginning of the trail

 It seemed like we would never get to the top as we hiked hill after hill. But then we saw a sign "0.5 Miles to Ostrander Lake", so the picture below illustrates my excitement. Or, and the view is alright too ;)

About half a mile from Ostrander Lake, or so the sign said...

Finally, we reached our destination! What a relief!

Ostrander Lake and exhausted feeling, "I am here!"

Gotta pretend I enjoyed the way up ;)

...actually the view is not that bad after all :)

After a half an hour break at Ostrander Lake and multiple bees trying to steal my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we headed back. The way back was obviously downhill and not as painful, but this was not what my feet told me. I need a better pair of hiking shoes...