Miles & Elevations: Tahoe Yosemite Trail

Echo Summit to Carson Pass: 12 miles

Backpacking Miles: Meiss Roadless Area

The trail South from Echo Summit to Carson Pass is a roller coaster for the first part to Showers Lake. After Showers Lake you drop down into Meiss Meadow, where you begin a gentle climb up to the Carson Gap, where the Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trails diverge exiting the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Meiss Country Roadless Area backpacking Map

Echo Summit to the High Point on Peak 8905

Elevation Rise: 1383 feet over 2.81 miles

Location                         Elevation           Mileage

Start: Echo Summit                   7377                     0

                                           +143                         .91

Frog Pond trail junction          7520                 .91

                                           +140                         .50

Footbridge                                7640                1.41

                                           +520                         .74

Overlook                                    8160                2.15

                                           +600                         .74

Peak 8905 high point               8760                2.89

Peak 8905 to Meiss Cabin

Elevation drop: 360 feet over 6.28 miles

Peak 8905 high point               8760                2.89

                                            -240                        .6

Sayles Canyon/Bryan Mdw Jnct     8520               3.49

                                             +120                        .85

Sayles Canyon, second junction    8640               4.34         

                                            +320                       1.27

Schneider's Camp junction      8960               5.61

                                           -160                         1.19

1st Showers Lake junction      8800               6.80

                                            -120                          .41

2nd Showers Lake junction      8680              7.21

                                            -280                      1.88

Round Lake trail/Meiss Cabin   8400              9.09

Meiss Cabin to the Carson Gap

Elevation Rise: 400 feet over 1.52 miles

Round Lake Jnct/Meiss Cabin   8400                9.09

                                            +400                           1.52

Carson Gap Pond                    8800                   10.61

The Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trails Part Company at the Carson Gap

Just South of the Carson Gap is the 1st Southbound Junction between the Pacific Crest Trail and Tahoe to Yosemite Trail.

For Southbound backpackers the Pacific Crest Trail continues to your left, or Southeast, along the main trail bed to the Carson Pass. The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail turns right to head straight down the mountain to Highway 88.

From Highway 88 the Tahoe to Yosemite backpacker has two routes to choose from to reach Round Top Lake. This Carson Pass Region Map lays out all of your options:

Carson Pass Region Map

Continuing South from the Carson Gap...

Elevation Drop: 200 feet over 1.39 miles to the Carson Pass on the PCT

Elevation Drop: 400 feet over .6 miles to HWY 88 on the TYT

Carson Gap  Pond                      8800              10.61

Two Routes South from the Carson Gap

TYT: Down to Hwy 88

                      elevation              miles

PCT: To the Carson Pass 

               elevation              miles

to Hwy 88        8400            .6 mile

Echo Summit to Hwy 88  11.2 miles

The Tahoe to Yosemite trail breaks off to the Southwest at the Carson Gap, where the TY trail branches off towards Round Top Lake.

Carson Pass    8600           1.39 miles  

Echo Summit to Carson Pass: 12 miles

The Pacific Crest Trail continues to Carson Pass from the Carson Gap.

More Miles and Elevations Information

South

THIS LOCATION: Echo Summit to Carson Pass Miles and Elevations

Alternative Trail Route: Meyers to Carson Pass miles and elevations

South, PCT Route: Carson Pass to Ebbetts Pass miles and elevations

South, Tahoe to Yosemite Route: Carson Gap to Lake Alpine miles and elevations

North

North: Echo Summit to Meeks Bay Miles and Elevations

top of page

Note: The Ups and Downs of the Meiss Roadless Area, and every other High Sierra Trail

The miles and elevations pages for this trail guide, like the High Sierras, divides itself into ups and downs.

Your miles are generally done either going up to the top of the mountain, or you are coming down from the mountaintop into the valley that separates you from the next mountain. This means that the mileages and elevations between the peaks and the valleys is going to be important in determining how many miles you can reasonably expect to cover that day. This will be instrumental in planning where you are going to camp every night, and ultimately this information will determine how many days it will take you to cover a given distance. This in turn establishes your proper food load.

I have organized the miles and elevations data to reflect the overall climbs and descents the trail naturally divides itself into.

Between Echo Summit and the Carson Gap in the Meiss Country Roadless Area along the Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trail there are 10.5 miles and 705 feet of of elevation overall elevation change. But this elevation figure does not adequetly describe the terrain. First, the first 6.8 miles between Echo Summit and the high point of the trail on Peak 8905 is quite a climb. The miles down to Meiss Cabin is an undulating descent. The average figure does not account for these divergent characteristics of the individual segments of trail and the overall character of the trail section.

Furthermore, the climbs you will encounter generally contain down sections within the climbs. The descents will have ups within their downs.

Though I hike to give you an "on the trail" look at conditions, many of these slight trail contradictions are below the level of reporting. But they are present in most terrains.

The overall terrain between Echo Summit to Showers Lake can best be categorized as a roller coaster. You are basically climbing and descending constantly until you reach Showers Lake.

From Showers Lake a gentle decline across meadowed terrain mixed with forest brings you to the Northern  edge of the Meiss Meadow. A gentle grade brings you through Meiss Meadow to a low gap in the Southwestern Tahoe Rim. I call this gap the Carson Gap. It sits 200 feet above and a mile to the West of the Carson Pass.

Remember this important rule: As the trails depicted above demonstrate, every descent route holds many mini-ascents, and every ascent has many mini-descents within its route. Your mileage will very rarely just go up, ordown. You are going endlessly up and down, even within ascents and descents.

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Section: ECHO SUMMIT TO CARSON PASS Miles and Elevations