Coppertone and I were a bit tired from the three hikes we did yesterday so we decided on this one since it seemed a bit more flat than some others we had chosen. The path we chose to head towards the lake was on the east side of the creek, closest to Half Dome, turned out to be rockier and far more interesting from a hiking perspective than the paved path on the opposite side of the creek we took on the way back.
At this time of year any water in Mirror Lake is long gone. Instead one is greeted by dry rock and large quantities of sand. This made crossing the "creek" trivial.
We decided to head back to the trailhead once we got to the lakebed instead of completing the loop through the Tenaya Canyon. There was a guided walk from Yosemite Village that we decided to join.
