“You must narrow down to your inner peace. Find that time you were in the trees and floating in the breeze.” - Sir Shadow
This is the second time I have been to Polly Dome Lake. The first time was last year when we hiked the epic Cloud’s Rest & Half Dome route and took a day to acclimate here before heading south. This time around was a bit more spontaneous, as we had originally planned to do a more strenuous hike but decided to opt for a more relaxing and easy trip. As we drove towards Yosemite, we were sure that all permits would be booked and called ahead to the ranger station, listing a few trailheads that were within our mileage range. As predicted, most were full, but the Murphy Creek trailhead was wide open! We felt that surely by the time we got there four hours later, it would be filled by the walk-ins. But to our delight and surprise, there were multiple spots available. At this point we were starving so we quickly grabbed a cheeseburger at Tuolumne Meadows Grill before heading to the trailhead.
Starting at the Murphy Creek trailhead, it is about a 3.2 mile easy hike in. The trail to the lakes eventually splits off the main trail in a way that, if you are not paying attention, you will surely miss, which we did. We missed it the first time around as well and backtracked, using our collective (but ultimately unreliable) memories, and eventually found the offshoot trail. From there it is a short but steep hike up to the lake.
By the time we arrived at the lake, the sun was starting to set and the light and colors reflected on the water were absolutely stunning.
