A few day hikes in the Tuolumne Meadows area
In an online discussion group I read and post to someone asked about hikes in the Tuolumne Meadows region of Yosemite. They were going to be there for only one day, and wondered what some of the options might be. Since I wrote up a reply and posted it to that discussion group, I figured I might as well share it here as well. Here goes…
You’re talking about MY country now! ;-)
There are, of course, a ton of interesting day hikes in the Tioga/Tuolumne region. Which one is right for you depends a lot on how much time you’ll have, your preferences for terrain and other features, what time of day you are there, and so forth. I’ll just mention a few to get you started.
1. If you are only there for a very brief time, a minimal hike is simply to hike out across the meadow to the Soda Springs area. You’ll enjoy this more if you do it in the morning or late in the day. This is an easy and essentially flat walk – and there are several alternate routes – that takes you across the meadow and the river and into the edge of the forested areas.
2. Another short walk can take you to the the bridge across the Tuolumne on the John Muir Trail as it starts up Lyell Canyon. You can start this at any of the parking areas along the spur road to Tuolumne Lodge, though I think the route from the main campground is more scenic.
3. To get just a _bit_ more flavor of the backcountry, you could hike the one mile trail to May Lake and its high sierra camp set beneath Mt. Hoffman. (This is not all the way up to Tuolumne – e.g. it is further west along the Tioga Pass road.
4. The relatively short hike from the back of the Tuolumne Campground to Elizabeth Lake is scenic and gets you to a wonderful, meadow-surrounded sub-alpine lake. There is plenty to explore there.
5. If you want to get to a high place with great panoramic views of Tuolumne and the surrounding peaks (especially the Cathedral range) the hike to the top of Lembert Dome is a classic. Some find sections at the top a bit exposed for comfort, but it is not really dangerous at all – hundreds of people climb it every day. I prefer to start this hike from the “dog lake trail” parking lot between the wilderness permit station and Tuolumne Lodge.
6. To quickly get to true high sierra terrain, the hike from the Tioga Pass entrance station to the Gaylor Lake Basin can’t be beat. The route is short but steep. There are tremendous views of 13,000+ Mt. Dana across the meadow, and the basin itself has plenty to explore. You can even visit the remains of the old mining site at the head of the basin.
7. If you have a good half day, the hike out to Mono Pass is spectacular. You’ll get all the way to the Sierra crest on foot, you’ll travel through wonderful alpine terrain, you’ll get to see more historic remnants of log cabins near the pass. If you are a very aggressive hiker you can work nearby Parker Pass and/or Spillway Lake into your hike as well.
8. Another classic day hike – of roughly the same length at the Mono Pass hike but at somewhat lower elevation – takes you from T-Meadow to Cathedral Lakes.
There are more… many more.
Enjoy.
-
Archives
- March 2015 (1)
- April 2012 (1)
- January 2011 (1)
- September 2010 (2)
- August 2010 (1)
- July 2010 (4)
- June 2010 (6)
- May 2010 (11)
- April 2010 (4)
- March 2010 (1)
- February 2010 (1)
- January 2010 (5)
-
Categories
- Abstract
- Black and White
- Castle Rock
- Commentary
- Death Valley
- Desert
- Environment
- Equipment
- Events
- Gear Reviews
- Green World
- History
- Mission Peak
- Mono Lake
- Mount Shasta Area
- News
- Ocean
- Owens Valley
- Pacific Northwest
- People
- Photography
- Places
- Point Lobos
- Quicksilver
- Quicksilver Historical
- Quotable
- Random
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Santa Teresa
- Sierra Nevada
- Site News
- Technique
- Trails
- Trips
- Uncategorized
- White Mountains
- Wildlife
- Yosemite
-
RSS
Entries RSS
Comments RSS
The best laid plans…
I had perhaps about 30 minutes of packing left to do this evening for a four-day pack trip in the eastern Sierra, with plans to leave early tomorrow morning. All of my food was measured out and packed. All of my gear was laid out and organized in preparation for final packing.
Then I broke a filling. Now, instead of being in the Sierra tomorrow it seems that I’m more likely to be visiting the dentist. Ah, life!
Share this:
Like this:
August 3, 2009 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | 2 Comments