Sonora
Pass Weather

High
Sierra
Weather

Looking Southeast at the PCT crossing the West West Walker River footbridge.

There is a nice little flat meadow area with a couple of fire rings on this side of the bridge below the great boulder in the foreground.

I'd cross the bridge and turn down-stream a bit for a secluded campsite here.

LARGE SCALE MAPS

TECHNICAL

Map Resources
for
Planning and Trail Use

Further South

Bensen Lake to Virginia Canyon Map
(The Bensen Lake Loop)
USGS 30 minute map

Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne

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TRAIL GUIDE UNDER CONSTRUCTION
DRAFT EDITION

Gett'n closer!

Backpacker's
Resources and Hiker Information

Local
Maps and Miles

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
PCT Miles and Elevations

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West-West Walker River Bridge

Local Camping
Cross the bridge, take a Left, and scout around for nice private campsites...
Or camp in the open space on the near shore next to the bridge.

Take a Right after crossing the bridge to follow the PCT South.

LARGE SCALE MAPS

TECHNICAL

Map Resources
for
Planning and Trail Use

Further South

Bensen Lake to Virginia Canyon Map
(The Bensen Lake Loop)
USGS 30 minute map

We discuss the fantastic local hiking options the West Walker River
Trail opens up below.

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Take a look at the West West Walker River, its Bridge, and its associated campsites. A few feet South of the bridge we come to a four-way trail junction.

3:26 minutes

The real question here is,
"What has opened up for my exploration from here?"

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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View North across the West West Walker footbridge. Campsites are scattered in the grassy flat in the trees on the North side of the bridge.

We can see the benches and fire ring of the big campsite in the upper-Right of the image above. See it over there?

Northbound PCT hiker view approaching the upcoming West Walker River Bridge, or the Southbound hiker looking back.

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West-West Walker River Bridge

Local Hikers and PCT Bail-Out
Alternative PCT Route

Just a few feet South beyond the West West Walker River Bridge we encounter a trail junction tying together four important trails. This is an important trail junction for local hikers hiking starting South out of Leavitt Meadow Trailhead as well as those backpackers ending their local hikes through the Leavitt Meadow Trailhead.

Local hikers will find all sorts of excellent scrambling terrain to explore around here.
The rectangular area within lines drawn from here at the bridge, East to Upper Long Lake, then North along a lineto the top of the Chain of Lake, then West over to the bottom of Kennedy Canyon, then South back to the West West Walker Bridge contains a lot of interesting terrain to explore. The Southwestern corner of this area is marked on the map as Walker Meadows.

That is a very pretty quadrant of terrain.

The PCT
WINTERTIME-SNOW
Bail-Out Route
This trail Northeast to Leavitt Meadow Trailhead from here (via Long Lakes and Chain of Lakes) is the standard "bail out" route for early-season Northbound Pacific Crest Trail hikers who are bypassing Leavitt and Sonora Peaks when they are covered with serious snow.
This bypass is typically used by early season PCT hikers who are not skilled or geared for the High Sierra snow conditions they will encounter crossing Leavitt and Sonora Peaks.

The bailout route exits to Highway 108 through Leavitt Meadow Trailhead, reenters the Sierra via the dirt road through the US Marine Base located a 3.64 miles East down Hwy 108 from Leavitt Meadow Trailhead. This bypass rejoins the Pacific Crest Trail by following the road across the Marine Base to the dirt road climbing the ridge behind the Marine base, West to where the road ends at the base of the valley draining Wolf Creek off the East flank of Sonora Peak.

I used to enjoy talking to the Marine guards working the gate. They had two year assignments at Pickle Meadow, which meant I'd see them a bunch of times during their stay. I was real active here during Winter for a number of years, until some injury issues stopped Winter travel. Then the Marine guards were replaced with black-shirted private contractor idiots. The contractors have been real jerks, and are paid at least three times the salary of the Marines. As a taxpayer I'd prefer they fire the private contractors and bring back the Marine guard.

I just love it when the politicians further corrupt our government to pay their bribers back by paying their "contractors" boatloads of our tax dollars! Anyway...
Read Ike's farewell speech.

A rough trail up the North side of the valley above the end of the dirt road brings us up to Wolf Creek Lake. The PCT wraps around Wolf Creek Lake along a fairly flat ledge above the Lake between where the PCT comes off the East flank of Sonora Peak to where it drops into the headwaters bowl of the East Carson River, hiking North through what I call the East Carson Gap.

The map below almost lays out this whole bail-out route. It cuts off the gate at the Marine base.

Sonora Pass Region Hiking Map
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Important Local Trail Junction
Three Routes to Leavitt Meadow
Southbound hikers who are hiking a trip from the Sonora Pass Trailhead to Leavitt Meadow Trailhead, or anyone ending a backpacking trip through the Highway 108 trailhead at Leavitt Meadow must depart the PCT here at the West West Walker Bridge trail junction. We have a choice between three routes down to Leavitt Meadow from here.

Hiking East through this junction opens up the options of either hiking down to Leavitt Meadow Trailhead by turning South through the next trail junction just to our East at the nearby Long Lakes via the Chain of Lakes trail or continuing East to the trail along the West Walker River. Both of these options bring us to Leavitt Meadow Trailhead, but the Chain of Lakes route is shorter.

Long Lakes and Chain of Lakes
Long Lakes and the Chain of Lakes are a series of beautiful but temporary lakes wedged in an amazing channel of granite on a shelf of terrain running parallel to, and in-between the routes of the West West Walker River to the West and the West Walker River to the East.

I say temporary lakes as they are slowly being sedimented in, and lodgepoles are slowly marching into the sedimented aprons around these lakes, gradually transforming meadow into forest floor. Look around. We can see this process going on across the diminishing meadow terrain we have hiked the perimeter of since hiking South out of the bottom of Kennedy Canyon on the segment of trail down to the West West Walker Bridge.

Massive amounts of sediments are being eroded off the surrounding mountains and have been, and are being transported down the West and West West Walker Rivers through this North-South running slot under the East flank of the Sierra Crestline to eventually fan out across Leavitt Meadow. This sweet area is being slowly filled with sediments. The lakes sprinkled around the amazing granite mounds and formations are slowly silting in and growing forests. The lakes here are slowly disappearing under forests marching on the flow of sediments washing off the surrounding mountains.

Forests and Soil are on the Move here.

Nice Leavitt Meadow Loop Possibilities
We have a huge amount of backpacking loop options here. Check out the Schematic Diagram and backpacking map below to help figure out the scope of backpacking loops we can hike out of Leavitt Meadow Trailhead.

Kennedy Canyon to Dorothy Lake Pass TYT
USGS 15 min hiking map

From the Leavitt Meadow Trailhead we can hike 20+ mile backpacking loops to the West West Walker Bridge and back, push it out another six miles to circle around Cinko Lake, or expand our loop to incorporate as much or as little of the High Emigrant Wilderness as we can bite off.

I've met all sorts of backpackers out here enjoying these grand loops. Fishermen. Couples. Families. Solo Dudes like me. All having the times of their lives. Join Us!!

Post up your explorations here among the meadows, rivers, lakelets, and amazing granite formations wedged in-between the bottom of Kennedy Canyon South to the West West Walker Bridge, East to the Walker River and North down to Fremont Lake.

This rectangle of terrain is a fantastic place to explore on scrambles, once we get an understanding of the overall lay of the surrounding terrain.

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From the West West Walker River
BRIDGE

The Southbound PCT
Our route hiking South on the Pacific Crest Trail requires we take a Right turn to the South here at the West West Walker Bridge to continue South on the PCT. We will still be following the West West Walker River, but now along the other shore of the river, above its Southeastern bank. But only for a short distance.

We're climbing again, this time into a close-in densely forested channel that the West West Walker flows through on its way down to Walker Meadows from the interlaced fingers of granite and volcanic terrain along the Sierra Crestline above.
We can see that we are now solidly in a granite zone below the volcanic-capped Sierra Crest to our West. Our position along the West West Walker puts us on granite between volcanic zones. We are just beyond the scope of the ancient eruptions that covered the Sierra Crest above us to the West and the great burnt-red volcanic ridge to our East, in this fine granite zone wedged in-between. This is really cool!

We encounter our next trail junction one-fifth of a mile South of the West West Walker River Bridge trail junction.

Out of the West West Walker River
At this next trail junction the PCT bends to the Southeast, the Southbound hiker's Left, turning us up towards our entrance into Yosemite National Park through Dorothy Lake Pass. Staying to our Right through this junction follows the West West Walker River past the Western Cinko Lake trail junction and up through Emigrant Pass into Grizzly Meadow of Emigrant Wilderness.
The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route passes North and South just a few feet South of Emigrant Pass at the Grizzly Peak trail junction, where our trails connect under the shadow of Grizzly Peak.

The Grizzly Peak Trail Junction
The Grizzly Peak Trail Junction accesses the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail, giving us access to trails North, South, East and West.

Hummm... that the Grizzly Peak junction opens up a bunch of very exciting backpacking loops and trips...

Side Trips
&
Loops
Grizzly Peak Trail Junction
The Grizzly Peak trail junction puts us into the heart of the Emigrant Wilderness. From the Grizzly Peak trail junction we can access everything. We can loop back to the West West Walker Bridge by three fine routes. We can hike the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail North or South from Grizzly Peak.

We can hike to the Northwest, down to Kennedy Meadows Pack Station along the Northbound Tahoe to Yosemite Trail. We can hike to the Southeast, also along the TYT to the PCT at the top of Jack Main Canyon to return to our current position at the WW Walker Bridge by hiking North on the PCT through Dorothy Lake Pass. Another great route is hiking North from Emigrant Pass over Big Sam and Leavitt Peak to Sonora Pass through the Kennedy Canyon trail junction.

The Emigrant is overlaid with a web of well-interconnected trails. Putting together the correct combination of these trails will create the perfect trip for you, your fitness, and skill levels. Ain' t the Emigrant Grand?

Sonora Pass Region Hiking Map
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Beyond the Trail Junction

My whole point here is that local backpackers can use the series of key trail junctions, the Kennedy Canyon, Grizzly Peak, and Bond-Dorothy Passes to craft varying lengths of backpacking loop trips either bringing us back to our original trailhead or to one of the other trailheads along Highway 108. By a variety of routes.

I have no problem designing 70 mile loops around the high altitude sections of Emigrant Wilderness and that very special sliver of the adjacent Toiyabe National Forest holding the West Walker River watershed aloof from, and wedged in-between its three surrounding Wilderness Areas. We can tie them together with our feet.

In the map below and the fourth image below we can see that our Southbound PCT above the West West Walker Bridge is now briefly unified with the trail South to Emigrant Pass. These trails will split up .19 of a mile South of our position here at the trail junction at the West-West Walker River Bridge.

Grizzly Peak trail junction

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Detailed Hiking Map of the West West Walker River Bridge
Toiyabe National Forest.

Distances measured North and South from West West Walker River Bridge.

NORTH
We have basically two main trails North. The main-main trail is the Northbound PCT, which is tracking Northwest by the compass in the upper-Left of the map. The other main trail North here is the trail Northeast out to Leavitt Meadow along the West Walker River in the upper-Right of the map.
We have two other trails, making a total of three trails to the Northeast from the West West Walker Bridge that all join together with the West Walker and its trail below Fremont Lake before running Northeast out to the Leavitt Meadow Trailhead.

The first is the Westernmost route North along the East bank of the West West Walker from the bridge, which shortly veers Northeast to intersect with our second trail Northeast, the trail past the Chain of Lakes. Our Easternmost trail to Leavitt Meadow is the trail running the length of the West Walker River, into which the other two trails merge before entering Leavitt Meadow.

Turning at the Upper Long Lake trail junction to hike Northeast past the sweet Chain of Lakes points us more directly towards the Leavitt Meadow Trailhead than hiking East to the West Walker River Trail. The problem with the three trails Northeast to Leavitt Meadow is that they are all intriguing trails surrounded by beauty.

A constant frustration of mine is not being able to see it all. I urge myself to patience, and put my mind towards figuring out my next moves to expand my understanding of the terrain, which expands "the list."

"The List" represents where my trail knowledge ends and trip planning begins.

For local hikes one of these three trails is a good way out to the West West Walker Bridge from Leavitt Meadow Trailhead, the other two offer good ways to loop back to Leavitt Meadow to end local backpacking loops of less than 30 miles out to the West West Walker Bridge or up to Cinko Lake. Our local short-distance backpacking loop options out of Leavitt Meadow are laid out on the maps linked to below.

Emigrant Wilderness Backpacking Loops
Schematic Diagram

I neglected to include the Cinko Lake trail linking the PCT with the West West Walker River on the Schematic, it is omitted from the Sonora Pass Region Maps, but "marked in" on the Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake map.

SOUTH
We basically have three route options South. We can hike Southwest off the PCT up the West West Walker River to Emigrant Pass - Grizzly Peak, we can hike the trail Southeast off the PCT up the West Walker River through Upper Piute Meadow, or we can continue South on the PCT between the other two routes up to the Dorothy Lake Pass entrance into Yosemite. The maps above lays out these options.

All the Rivers and their associated trails along the West and the West West Walker Rivers run Northeast out of the mountains through Leavitt Meadow on the Eastern flank of the Sierra along Highway 108. Except our PCT route North and South.

Get Your Maps On
The USGS
The small detailed West West Walker Bridge map above is from the Tower Peak
USGS 7.5 Topographic Series Map
This, and all the rest of the Large and Small scale USGS maps covering the Sierra on this trail guide are available for
free downloading from the
USGS Store

Another link to the USGS if the above fails. They do that...

Map Planning
We can download and create our own customized annotated maps of our favorite backpacking areas. We can download the maps to plan trips through unknown areas using these amazing USGS map resources.

You're welcome to print out the maps on the Tahoe to Whitney Guide for your own use. At some point in time I'll be offering a map service.

Map Credit
The USGS Rocks

Using the Forum to Plan Trips and Collect Information
Another good tool for trip planning is to register as a member of Tahoe to Whitney, and open up a "Personal Backpacker Notes" page for each trip you are planning.
Here you can compile your backcountry information necessary to make excellent hiking plans, list your prospective campsites and daily miles between them while linking to the pertinent maps, miles, and guide pages that inform your decisions.

These pages will become part of your permanent reference materials and be a foundation for building further trips. You can add after-trip information to correct and sharpen your trip planning.
These pages can only be referenced by you if you use the "Personal Backpacking Notes" type of entry. If you use another type of entry you will have to uncheck "published to the home page" in the "publication information" category if you do not want your notes to be published across the front page of the Tahoe to Whitney .ORG Backpacking Trails and Topics Forums.

You can reopen your personal backpacking planning pages by going to "My Account" and clicking on the "Track" tab. This will list out all the pages you've constructed. To construct a page register, click "create content," and select "Personal Backpacker Notes" to create private pages only available to you through your account.

If you want to publish stories, notes, updates, or opinions across the home page to add information to the various backpacking trails and topics forums you must select another type of content.
To publish public posts under the various forums, first register, then navigate to the forum you want to post in, and select a type of content. "Trail Notes," and Backpacking "Information," and "Backpacking Stories" are all content types that get published, while "Personal Backpacking Notes" do not.

These "Personal Notes" are a great way for you to keep track of the miles and elevations of your trips, and just how you planned out your campsites, food, and gear for future reference.

Your account as a member of Tahoe to Whitney can be a helpful tool for collecting the information off this trail guide to plan out your backpacking trips.

And remember, the Backpacking Trails and Topics Forums are currently in a primitive form. The forum site is moving slowly towards a redesign that will transform it into the most informative and easy to use backpacking forums on the whole darn internet!

In the meantime it is a great feature for collecting and storing backpacking information gleaned off this trail guide and backpacking forums, and id a good place to collect up and centralize information drawn from a number of sources.

Remember:
Printout Backup Copies of your important internet documents!
Websites Crash!

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West West Walker Bridge Trail Junction
Trail junction on the Southeast side of the West-West Walker River Bridge along the Pacific Crest Trail.

The upper sign pointing towards us points the way South on the PCT up the mountain towards where the PCT trail up to Dorothy Lake Pass splits off the trial up to Emigrant Pass. The interesting thing is that both these trails can bring us South to the top of Jack Main Canyon, not just the PCT...

The two upper destinations on the lower sign point North towards Kennedy Canyon on the PCT route to Highway 108 at Sonora Pass.

The bottom destination on the lower sign points East to Long Lakes. That trail continues East past Long Lakes where it passes East by the junction Northeast up to the Chain of Lakes, continuing East to descend into Lower Piute Meadows along the West Walker River in its sweet canyon.

At Lower Piute Meadow we pick up the trail running the length of the West Walker River, from its trailhead on Highway 108 at Leavitt Meadow up to the top of its headwaters bowl.

The best map I have up of the length of the West Walker River is the

Sonora Pass Region Hiking Map
USGS 30 min backpacking map

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Cinko Lake Loop
The trail quickly splits hiking South from the West West Walker Bridge on the Southbound Pacific Crest Trail. The trail to the Left follows the Southbound PCT. The next trail junction hiking in either direction is the Eastern Cinko Lake trail junction.
The trail to the Right is the trail up to Emigrant Pass. The next trail junction along that trail is the Western Cinko Lake trail junction.
The trail to the Left is the PCT up to Dorothy Lake Pass. The next trail junction along that trail is the Eastern Cinko Lake trail junction.

A Northbound Video
This video covers the segment of the Pacific Crest Trail hiking North from the Eastern Cinko Lake trail junction along the PCT down to our current position at the trail junction on the East side of the West West Walker River Bridge.

This is a distance of 2 miles, mostly descending as we hike North.

There's another Upper Cinko Lake trail junction, the Western junction along the trail up to Emigrant Pass. Cinko Lake lays along a trail connecting the PCT to its East with the trail to Emigrant Pass to its West.
We have Eastern and Western trail junctions bracketing Cinko Lake, which are convenient for turning a loop out of Leavitt Meadow Trailhead back towards the trailhead.
If we were planning a short, say 20 mile loop out of Leavitt Meadows Trailhead to the West West Walker Bridge, we have the option of adding another 7 miles or so by pushing our loop just a bit further South through Cinko Lake.

The miles from the bridge through Cinko Lake on both trails is laid out above.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

We can hike one way in via Fremont Lake to Cinko Lake and another route returning via Fremont Lake. Or we can use the West Walker for a leg of local trips to Cinko Lake. This area has a variety of very interesting local route options.

Sonora Pass Region Hiking Map
USGS 30 min backpacking map

9:28

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Southbound PCT
Southbound PCT up along the West Walker River very quickly brings us to our next PCT trail junction, where a left-turn to the Southeast exits the West West Walker River valley turning towards Cascade Creek up to Yosemite.

Alternatively, continuing Southwest past this next PCT junction up the West West Walker brings us to the nearby Cinko Lake trail junction.

We can cut over to the PCT via Cinko Lake as well.

Continuing Southwest past the Cinko Lake trail junction brings us up through the headwaters of the West West Walker River to Emigrant Pass, which sits next to Grizzly Peak, where we intersect with the route of the TYT coming across the High Emigrant Basin from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station.

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Northbound PCT
Pointing Northwest: The Northbound PCT route down the West West Walker River towards Kennedy Canyon & Sonora Pass beyond.

Northeast
The trail East to Long Lakes, where we can get on the Northbound trail to Leavitt Meadow Trailhead via the Chain of Lakes.

If we continue East past the Long Lakes we intersect with the trail running North and South along West Walker River beyond.

Situate Thy Self:

Regional Map

Local Map

Four routes out of a three-way Junction

I figure that the old route down the East bank of the West West Walker river from the bridge is still a route if not a maintained trail.

It stretches North along the West West Walker from the bridge until it bends Northeast to intersect with the Chain of Lakes Trail.

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Local Landmarks
Piute and Walker Meadows sign. Piute Meadow to the East along the West Walker River, Walker Meadow back to the North, the way we came South along the PCT.

The noting of meadows points out an interesting feature of this area: The West-West-Walker, the Chain of Lakes, and the West Walker all run parallel and very close to each other, separated by distinctively beautiful steep and narrow granite ridges.

Each channel between these close-spaced formations is full of river, rock, forest, and meadow terrain that is real sweet.

There is a unique little zone between these meadows that warrants further exploration.

The map linked to above can be magnified in your browser for close inspection. The red dots along the main trail routes marked on the maps bring you to the specific trail guide entry for that location. Each map is linked to the next map continuing to the North and South along the main trail routes, and to the East and West as necessary to depict the connections between the main Pacific Crest and Tahoe to Yosemite Trail routes.

Explore the maps and the guide pages, then get out and explore this special section of the Toiyabe National Forest and its associated trails through the Emigrant Wilderness. It will enrich your life.

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The Other Trail South from West Walker Bridge

The West West Walker Bridge is the center of a triangle of trails up to Cinko Lake. Note on the map that Cinko Lake is situated between the trail running up the West West Walker to Emigrant Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail to Cascade Creek.

This trail configuration makes Cinko Lake a premium turnaround point for backpacking loops out of Leavitt Meadow.

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The PCT Bends Southeast
.19 miles South of the West West Walker Bridge Southbound hikers on the PCT route veer Left through a Y in the trail towards Dorothy Lake Pass.

The sign is also pointing Southwest towards Cinko Lake & Emigrant Pass, to our Southbound Right, continuing up the West West Walker River. The Southbound Pacific Crest Trail veers left here, to the Southeast, towards Dorothy Lake Pass.

Here Southbound hikers on the PCT route begin climbing out of the granite channel cut into the terrain the West West Walker flows down to cross over and around the noses of a couple of granite Sierra ridge arms descending off the crest into the watershed of the West Walker River on our way over to Cascade Creek. Along the way we pass by the Eastern end of the Cinko Lake trail.

We can loop through Cinko Lake to return to this point.

Past the Eastern Cinko Lake junction we approach Cascade Creek, who's course we will follow up to Dorothy Lake Pass's entrance into the Yosemite Backcountry. Turning onto Cascade Creek the forest cover begins to thin as we climb into exposed terrain for the final climb over Dorothy Lake Pass.

Alternative Route South towards Tuolumne Meadows
(And to Turn Loops On)

Continuing straight up to Emigrant Pass from the West West Walker Bridge puts us in position to turn South to Bond Pass from Emigrant Pass along the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail. This route option allows us to rejoin the Southbound PCT route to Tuolumne Meadows at the top of Jack Main Canyon.

Route Selection

My criterion for route selection is balanced between what I have not hiked before against my desire to repeatedly hike trails to better understand their character and detail. I figure it takes at least three trips down a particular trail to get somewhat familiar with it.

My approach generally works out like this: I hike the PCT route through an area. Then I hike the TYT route through the same area. Many times. Then I come back and hike big loops tying these two routes together. Then I figure out my favorite spots, and make trips to spear them all.

The Next Step
Meanwhile, I've been scouting and familiarizing myself with the terrain during Summer to set up and push in on Winter Backpacking trips. I've explored the East Carson River, Leavitt Peak and Massif and Leavitt Lake during Winter, and have been looking to get into the West Walker during snow conditions.

Our best access to the Sierra Crest during Winter is either through one of the open trans-Sierra highways or coming in the Eastern flank off of Highway 395.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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The Southbound backpacker begins the climb to Dorothy Lake Pass here, where the Pacific Crest Trail breaks off from the West West Walker River.

Northbound
PCT
Northbound backpackers have been descending since Dorothy Lake Pass now enjoy a moderate flat section around the West Fork of the West Walker River Bridge before beginning the steady climb approaching, and then up, Kennedy Canyon.

Though the WW Walker is descending as it flows to the Northeast, the Northbound PCT only stays level for a short distance before it begins climbing gently to position itself above the meadows, then steepens its climb a bit to situate itself for the turn up into Kennedy Canyon.

Once to the top of Kennedy Canyon the climb North over the Leavitt Massif begins in earnest.

At the 11000 foot high point across Leavitt Peak we've climbed 2400 feet over 9.97 miles from the low point of the trail at the West West Walker River Bridge.

PCT NORTH
West West Walker Bridge
to
Sonora Pass
12.63 miles

TRAIL CREW:
Thanks!
This is some incredible work fitting and bedding very heavy slabs within a stable framework into custom staircases. Many sections of the hard rock work through here look like they will last centuries.

Trail Crew and Work Forum

East Flank of the Sierra Nevada looking North-Northwest

Here's what we're climbing for.

Hiking Southeast on the PCT route climbing out of the West West Walker River's narrow valley we turn around to take in the view North along the East Sierra flank.

Our view North is of the North wall of Kennedy Canyon across intervening terrain. The furthest ridge across the width of the image makes up the South-facing Northern flank of Kennedy Canyon. That distant red ridge is the East end of the Southeastern ridge arm descending off the Leavitt Massif.

Note the granite ridge rising up to the Sierra Crest on the far Left of the image above. Then note the difference between that and the subsequent ridges we can see further North along the East Sierra Crest. We can see the low granite of Hollywood Basin beyond the near granite terrain but before the far volcanic terrain of Kennedy Canyon beyond the basin.

The West West Walker River runs through the base of the valley before us down to the West West Walker River Bridge. Its rapid down-mountain flow moderates hitting the more moderate terrain of Walker Meadows at the bridge.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Granite and Volcanic Terrain
Side by Side and Stacked

We're turning around to look Northwest across the East flank of the Sierra just below the line of the Sierra Crest. We're looking at fine granite terrain across the West West Walker River after turning Southeast with the PCT climbing away from the river.

The great granite wall rising above is the West wall of the canyon rising above West bank of the West Walker River. The West Walker River flows in the deep channel cut into the granite between our position and the granite face.
We are looking Northwest from the PCT from just above where we turned Southeast out of that granite channel the West West Walker River flows through.
We are just high enough to see over the West West Walker.

Note the volcanic ridge beyond the granite in the upper-Right of the image. We are looking Northwest at the volcanic terrain that makes up the Northern wall of Kennedy Canyon, which is also the Southeastern Flank of the Leavitt Massif.

The near granite cliff rising above us is the East flank of the Sierra below the Sierra Crest and is the East end of granite sticking out from under ancient volcanic flows that buried the Sierra Crestline here.
The East end of this part of the Sierra Crestline sticks out beyond the reach of the ancient volcanic flows that cap the Sierra Crestline here.

The Sierra Crestline above marks out a granite-volcanic interface.

In the distance beyond the granite wall we can see the backside of the ridge composing the South wall of Kennedy Canyon descending across the upper-Right corner of the image. That ridge is completely covered by volcanic material, except the very bottom of its Eastern extent. Remember that we hiked around the little bit of granite sticking out from under the East end of that ridge when we turned South coming out the bottom of Kennedy Canyon.

The fantastic granites of Hollywood Basin lay between the granite wall above us and Kennedy Canyon's volcanic ridge. Hollywood Basin is an indentation of granite below the Eastern flank of the Sierra between our current position and the volcanic terrain of Kennedy Canyon. Hollywood Basin looks really inviting for some adventurous scrambling.

That looks like a "hard way" to the Sierra Crest!
Maybe not. It may offer an interesting route to the base of the Southeast Flank of Big Sam in the Emigrant Basin.

PCT Route
Our Southbound PCT is moving Southeast away from the West Walker River climbing Southeast up the top of the Southern wall of its little granite canyon. The West West Walker's canyon is like a groove cut through the granite terrain. Hiking out of it up to where we can finally get views North, like the ones above and below of the surrounding terrain gives us some longer look at what the facinating interface line between the volcanic and granite terrain is doing through here.
We've passed into granite terrain, but we're still surrounded by the volcanic!

Emigrant Pass Trail Transitions
If we had remained on the trail along the West West Walker River up to Emigrant Pass we would be first hiking in the granite channel of the river with volcanic stacked above it, then along the actual interface between the volcanic material on top and the granite below, and finally up onto the top of the volcanic-granite interface capping this section of the Sierra Crest.

This transition makes the Emigrant Trail a very pretty and interesting trail from the West West Walker Bridge to Emigrant Pass next to Grizzly Peak in Emigrant Basin. More on that above.

Shifting Views hiking South
Great views of the surrounding terrain to our North and Northeast open up as we turn out of the West West Walker River to climb higher up on the PCT, especially after we turn up along Cascade Creek.

Hiking out of and above the West Walker first gives us unique views of the bifurcated granite and volcanic terrain along the Eastern flank of the Sierra, as in the image above, then our views North up the "slot" of the West Walker Watershed wedged in-between the Emigrant Wilderness to our West and the Hoover to the East really opens up as we climb past Lake Harriet and Stella Lake to Dorothy Lake Pass.

Once we get higher up the East flank we will trade in these obstructed Northern views for fantastic views to the North and Northeast, especially of the stark volcanic ridge rising above the East bank of the West Walker River Valley and the two hard to distinguish canyons at its foot.
The Western boundary of the Northern "stub" of Hoover Wilderness runs along the top of that ridge to our East while the boundary with Emigrant Wilderness runs along the Sierra Crestline to our West.

We are in a "tab" of the Toiyabe between the Emigrant and Hoover Wilderness Areas.

Our view North finally terminates hiking across the low flat crossing Dorothy Lake Pass onto the West flank of the Sierra and into Yosemite National Park.

The Hoover Wilderness PDF map below-Right lays out the boundaries, roads, and trailheads accessing the Hoover Wilderness, rather than the trails in the wilderness. The map on the Left lays out the through-trails, being the TYT and PCT and their connector trails, which is where most of our attention is centered.

West Walker River
A Gap Between Wilderness Areas
The Hoover Wilderness Boundary runs North and South along the top of the ridge to our East. The boundary runs South down to and around the headwaters of the West Walker to where it intersects with the Yosemite Boundary out on a finger of the Western drainage running up between Hawksbeak Peak and Grouse Mountain.

The Northwest edge of the Bensen Lake to Stubblefield Canyon backpacking map shows part of the Sierra Crestline where the Hoover and Yosemite boundaries intersect.
We can also see the furthest reach of the West Walker River up the North flank of Ehrnbeck Peak.

Bensen Lake to Virginia Canyon
USGS 30 minute map

This boundary configuration leaves the West Walker River Watershed as a pocket of territory running North and South between Emigrant Wilderness to its West, Yosemite to its South, and the Hoover Wilderness to its East and Southeast.

Hoover Wilderness Exclusion
The West West Walker should have been included in the Hoover Primitive Area grant of 1931.

The Hoover Wilderness was subsequently expanded in 1957 and converted to a wilderness area, and is apparently in the process of absorbing the West West Walker Watershed.
Presumably this means that this whole "pocket" of National Forest lands around the West Walker wedged in between the surrounding wilderness areas will eventually be subsumed into the Hoover Wilderness of the Toiyabe National Forest.

The whole history of the Hoover Wilderness can be threshed out of the
History of the Toiyabe National Forest.

This history covers a wide swath of time and space. It lays out the very basic parameters of indigenous cultural history from 7000 bc through the "transition" to Western culture in the 1830s.
Administratively, this history covers what we call "The Toiyabe" from the first "Forest Reserves" established in 1891 through subsequent land grants and expansions and contractions up to the mid 1990s.

I linked to the Forum page of Toiyabe History so you could post up your insights and additional sources for information about the History and status of Toiyabe National Forest and its Hoover Wilderness.

The current big issue in the Hoover Wilderness has been allowing or not allowing snowmobile activity into the prospective wilderness area along the West Walker River.

Snowmobiles are currently allowed as of 2014.

The way into the West and West West Walker Rivers is through the Leavitt Meadow Trailhead. I put up this forum dedicated to reports on backpacking trips out of the Leavitt Meadow Trailhead:

East Emigrant-West Walker in the Toiyabe Forum

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Moderate difficulty climb.

H3 to I1 from West West Walker River to Dorothy Lake Pass.

This is Art:

Trail designed and executed to fit into the terrain.

It is wondrous trail to a wonderland across a wonderland.

Wonderful!

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Hiking over the first ridge South of the West West Walker River.

I really like this custom staircase.

Views to the Southeast begin to open up as we climb Southeast up and over the ridge above the Eastern shore of the West West Walker River.

Climbing to the top of the ridge East of the West West Walker gives us broad views of the ridges wrapping around the upper end of the West Walker River Watershed.

That peak in the distance is one of them, a "numbered" peak along the ridgeline.

We can begin to see the complexity of the peaks along the Sierra Crestline divided between the Hoover Wilderness and the North Yosemite Backcountry down there to our Southeast.

See Bob Burd's account of climbing Hawksbeak Peak.

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VIEWPOINT

Bam! Reaching highpoints climbing South over the ridge out of the West West Walker River into the drainage of the West Walker we come to a fine point overlooking the terrain to the Southeast.

The predominant peak in the distance is the 11280 foot peak located between Anna Lake and Hanna Mountain along the ridge crest running to our East from our Northeast to our Southeast. Anna Lake sits on the other side of the low gap cutaway on the far Left side of the ridgeline. Hanna Mountain is hidden behind Peak 11280.
We will note our changing position in the terrain as we bend South towards Dorothy Lake Pass by noting our changing relationship to that cutout, among other local landmarks. That gap lines up with Stella Lake approaching Dorothy Lake Pass.

The crest of that distant ridgeline is the Eastern Boundary of the Hoover Wilderness. Everything on this side drains into the West West Walker River in the Toiyabe National Forest, including the runoff from our position, and from the West West Walker river behind us as well.
That distant ridge with the arc cut into it is the very Eastern wall of the canyon holding the West Walker River Watershed. The West West Walker is now behind us, and both these rivers are flowing to the Left in this image, North down to their convergence point near Roosevelt and Lane Lakes. There's a lot of complex terrain between our position here high up on the West side of the West Walker River drainage over to that ridgeline marking out the watershed's Eastern extent.

Immediately below that distant ridge is Long Canyon, which is a major subordinate canyon East of the West Walker climbing to the Southeast out of the West Walker's main canyon just a bit South of Fremont Lake. We can see a dark ridge below the most distant ridge. That ridge divides Long Canyon on its far side (East) from the main canyon of the West Walker River on this side.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

The light-colored granite ridge in the foreground between us and these two more distant ridges is the Western rim of the West Walker River's canyon. We're still in its watershed, but on its Western slope up to the Sierra Crest above the main cut of the canyon below.
We're following a fold or what you could call a seam through the terrain to the Southeast (bending to the Right out of the image above) until we turn directly South for the final climb over the Sierra Crest.

This section of our trail essentially hikes around the Western edge of the watershed of the Walker River and its Western tributary, the West West Walker River. The West Walker River is a lot bigger than our brief view of it hiking around its upper Western section.

The West Walker River runs South to North from here along the base of the Eastern flank of the Sierra to drain the whole East Sierra flank up to its end at Lake Topaz in the North end of Antelope Valley.
The route of 395 runs along the West Walker River from Sonora Junction to Lake Topaz in the South end of Antelope Valley.

The narrow canyon between Sonora Junction and Antelope Valley floods violently on a regular basis, wiping out the Highway and damaging the town of Walker every 10 or 15 years or so.

I can remember at least three floods through there since 1962...

Road Map

The road map is helpful for understanding how the Sierra shifts to the East South of Sonora Pass. It also depicts the West Walker canyon North to Antelope Valley along the Eastern flank of the Sierra.

I like this whole region of the East Sierra from Bridgeport up to Lake Topaz.

Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Map,
to our North

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Terrain Note

Northbound backpackers through this section hiking down from Dorothy Lake Pass to the footbridge across the West West Walker River may have noticed that this section is not all down-mountain.

In fact we have two distinct little sections of uphill to climb up as we head down the mountain between the upper and lower junctions to Cinko Lake.

Southbound backpackers should be pleasantly surprised that the lower half of the long climb up to Dorothy Lake Pass has a couple of level and even little downhill sections.

My Broader Point...

My point here is that the raw elevation changes between the lower and upper points of any section of trail do not measure all of the little ups and downs we encounter between the high and low points of a trail section.

Trails rarely just go up or down. Most trails go up and down. Even trails that are primarily climbs have bits of descent, and trails that descend have segments that climb.

Just saying...

Big Leverage on Big Rocks

Successive growth of trees in a crack along the edge of this rock wall are levering out big sections of rock. Note the old fallen tree, the predecessor of the current resident of this expanding crack, laying across the boulders in the image on the Right.

Next...

Campsite. Note tent/sleeping spot to the Right of the fire ring.

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Followed by a section of distinctive black and white rock.

This stuff reminded me of Serpentine rock that we will begin to see as we enter Matterhorn, and especially Virginia Canyons to our South in Yosemite, though this rock is black and white rather than green.

It has that serpentine "feel" and texture, though not the color.

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Tower Peak is peeking over the crestline along the middle-center of the image.

Better views of Tower Peak open up as we continue working our way Southeast through the terrain.

11755 foot Tower Peak is the dominant regional peak along this section of the Sierra Crest.

At the top of the headwaters of the West Walker River we find a trail South up to Tower Lake sitting under the Northwest flank of Tower Peak.

Bob Burd's Sierra DAY Peak-Bagging Adventures
Tower Peak

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Hiking further South our views of the details of the tippy-top of Tower Peak and the fangs on its Northern crestline open up.

Fk Yeah!

I have a Climbing Tower Peak story that was told to me my a Marine Lt who was stationed at Pickle Meadow. Though it is not my crazy climbing story, it's a good one, and I will relate it at some point in the future...

Looking back at the view North of a nifty section of trail along a ledge carved into a rock wall above the forested cut in terrain below.

Pacific Crest Trail hiking South from the West West Walker River. Hiking South on the Pacific Crest Trail from the West West Walker River we hike East out of its drainage over a ridge arm then along the Eastern Edge of great granite mounds descending off the Sierra Crestline above the strip of forest and meadow we see below-Right in the image above.

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The East Cinko Lake trail junction. We encountered, and walked a short distance on the trail approaching the Western trail to Cinko Lake along the West West Walker River after crossing the bridge over the West West Walker River.
We turned off that trail up to Emigrant Pass and Cinko Lake at the trail junction South of the bridge.

Now we are situated on the East end of the trail connecting our PCT route with the trail up to Emigrant Pass from the West West Walker Bridge.

Hiking West to and then past Cinko Lake joins us up with the trail coming South up from the West West Walker bridge to Emigrant Pass.

Emigrant Pass sits just feet to the Northwest of Grizzly Peak.
We can pick up the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail up from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station to Jack Main Canyon to turn North through Dorothy Lake Pass.

These trails open up significant options for great backpacking loops around the stunning Emigrant Wilderness and these associated areas in the Toiyabe National Forest.

My advice: Oil up your hiking boots, pull out your pack and clothes, clean your stove, and pack your food. The Emigrant Wilderness (and this little bit of the Toiyabe National Forest) is calling you!

Emigrant Basin Backpacking Map
USGS 15 minute backpacking map

Especially check the lower Right-hand corner...

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

11:57

West to Emigrant Wilderness

The trail West to Cinko Lake ends 1.52 miles West where it Tees out into the trail running from the West West Walker Bridge to Emigrant Pass.

Cinko Lake: .87 mile

Emigrant Pass: 3.38 miles

West West Walker Bridge: 3.38 miles

Emigrant Basin Backpacking Map
USGS 15 minute backpacking map

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PCT
North and South.

North on the PCT to West West Walker Bridge
2 miles

Next trail junction South at the Cascade Creek trail junction.
.72 mile

South to Dorothy Lake Pass
2.85 miles

From the Cascade Creek trail junction we have the option of following Cascade Creek Northeast down to the West Walker River or South up the PCT towards Dorothy Lake Pass.

The Creek South of the upper Cinko Lake trail junction.

NOTE: The 1990 USGS 7.5 minute Tower Peak map does not depict this creek. The 1985 30 minute USGS Bridgeport map does.

This creek runs Northeastward down from high up the Sierra Crestline starting from just a bit to the Northeast of Grizzly Peak near Grizzly Lake. This creek ultimately feeds the West Walker River through a gap in the terrain to the East of Upper Long Lake to flow into the West Walker at the bottom of Lower Piute Meadow.

The campsite shown above accesses this creek as its water source.

East Flank Arid Ecosystem
This little patch of sage-terrain ecosystem is typical of huge areas running down the East Flank of the Sierra to the high altitude desert conditions running along the base of its Eastern Flank.

These dry sage conditions continue East up and over the mountain ranges East of the Sierra, and into the deserts extending East from them, water conditions permitting.

Above we see a finger of dry sage terrain reaching up to its upper Western limit of sage-growth. This little finger of sage represents aggressive sage growth reaching up into the bottom of the forest and grass zone along the East Sierra.

This "wetter" zone of forest and grass is supported by the higher moisture levels higher up on the East Flank. Below this line of moisture the East flank rapidly dries into desert-like conditions.

Looking Northwest
Verdant meadow with tinkling stream we see looking back over our Right Shoulder shortly after passing South of the Upper Cinko Lake trail junction. This is the upper segment of the stream shown in the previous photo above.

Map Note

The USGS 7.5 map shows the black ponds below, but not the little creek we can see above running around the perimeter of this cute little meadow.

The USGS 30 minute map shows the creek but not the black (vernal) ponds.
The USGS 7.5 minute map shows the ponds but not the creek.

During this slice of time, during the last decade of the last century and the first decade of this Century I have observed both ponds and a creek.

We are safe visualizing both the creek from the one map and the ponds from the other to visualize the features along the PCT South of the Cinko Lake junction.

Nice Trail!

Shaded PCT on a soft trail surface along the interface between forest and meadow South of the Upper Cinko Lake trail junction.

This very nice flat gap in the descending ridgeline allows us easy passage between the Upper Cinko Lake trail junction and the Cascade Creek/West West Walker trail junction.

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Color, Light, and Darkness
Verdant glowing green apron of meadow colors the perimeter of the first and lowest of the two significant black ponds South of the upper Cinko Lake trail junction. Black Ponds are potential meadows. The image above is the North shore of the North pond.

Runoff brings sand and soil to fill these ponds, grasses grow in to root the runoff soils, and a meadow begins emerging, tightening and closing its grip around the diminishing pond. The surrounding lodgepoles are not far behind the grasses. The lodgepoles begin marching in on the heels of the grasses, creating their own slowly tightening circle of timber wrapping around and infiltrating the apron of grasses as they slowly strangle out the black ponds.

Such is the succession of life.

Life eats itself to survive both individually and as part of large groups actions,
such as this succession from shoreline ecosystem to meadow to forest demonstrates.

Rock rising out of the South edge of the Northern black pond measures and records recent pond history.

A record of the annual drop in pond level is naturally recorded.

Note the bright layers left behind when the pines unleashed their pollens.

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Lower, or the North Black Pond on PCT below the Cascade Creek trail junction.

The line of our trail above is running us on a line out of the Northwest to the Southeast through a low gap in the granite terrain descending the East Flank of the Sierra.

The Upper, or Southern, smaller black pond between Cascade Creek and Cinko Lake trail junctions.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Our trail runs through the narrow, cool, and very pretty forested glade filling the flat spot/slot running us from the Upper Cinko Lake trail junction to the Cascade Creek/West West Walker trail junction.

It opens up just wide enough to hold two large black ponds lined up along its brief length.

The whole length of the distance hiking through this channel in the terrain holding these two ponds is less than half the total .72 of a mile distance between the Cinko and Cascade junctions.

Note the flat with two ponds between the East Cinko Lake and Cascade Creek trail junctions on this map:

Kennedy Canyon to Dorothy Lake Pass
USGS 15 min hiking map

North end of the upper, or Southern, black pond in its glade.

Little "special zones" like this are strung-out along the course of our route like pearls on a line.

These are places where the unique configurations of the terrain have conspired to focus the forces Nature into concentrations of life. These places bind the available weather, water, matter (in the form of runoff soils), and Sunlight (the "aspect" of the place) together into living real time expressions, manifestations of local and grand spirits of the inherent consciousness.

That is why and what we see.

Here.

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West Walker trail junction as seen in 2009. I prefer these old rustic trail signs to the new.

I have no idea why they replaced them.
I always prefer rebuilding to replacing.

Southwest to Cinko Lake and Emigrant Pass along the Northbound PCT.

Southbound PCT continues upward. This sign was viewed coming SW up Cascade Creek from the West Walker River.

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Northeast down to the West Walker River, South on the PCT to Dorothy Lake Pass.

Kennedy Canyon to Dorothy Lake Pass
USGS 15 min hiking map

Great duck South of Cascade Creek & West Walker trail junction. Anyone have information about this duck, and what it signifies?

I think it marks a campsite off the trail.

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Spotted Movement in the chaos of the forest and rock. I had a handy tree for cover and used it, but to no avail. This old girl had seen me first, and decided to move away, even though her motion and sound would give away her position.

Looking closely I saw an old doe walking away. She had seen me and decided to split, which made me aware of her position despite her slow, quiet retreat, but not for long. She was out of there.

The doe's ear is on me even though her eyes are not. I'm fooling no one hiding behind this stupid tree...

At the North pond along Cascade Creek with map in hand.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

South of the two ponds along Cascade Creek.

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Note the arc cut in the distant ridgeline.

It shows the Winter hiker they are lining up with Dorothy Lake Pass.

Trail below Harriet Lake.

Kennedy Canyon to Dorothy Lake Pass
USGS 15 min hiking map

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Cascade Creek running downstream below Lake Harriet.

Harriet is a short ways behind us at the top of a short moderate difficulty hike.

Hiking South into top of narrowing canyon along Cascade Creek looking to our North. Tree and mountain wear away on different time scales.

The great granite mound is descending off the Sierra Crestline. Careful analysis shows a low ridge between our position and the background feature.

The background granite feature is the one rising to the Northeast behind Cinko Lake.

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Easy trail below Lake Harriet. Terrain is shifting from mostly green trees with a minority of granite to a majority of granite and minority of green.

Soon we will be out in open granite, and the angle of our climb will increase.

Cascade Creek is fed from Bonnie Lake and Lake Harriet.

This is the branch running down from Lake Harriet.

We see it falling into the bottom of a pocket, a wide crack carved through solid granite.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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A nifty little "pocket" falls, almost inset into the terrain rather than flowing over it.

Here the water flows over and between a granite feature that its ancestral ice long ago carved through the granite.

Detail of the little waterfall.

The pocket of rock holding the flow also captures and shelters the cool air flowing along with the cold stream.

This creates an air-conditioned zone of chill along this warm section of trail made warmer by our efforts climbing towards Dorothy Lake Pass.

The enchanting sounds of the tinkling waterfall and the inviting cool of its accompanying breeze relieves our physical overheating while delighting our senses.

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Looking down the little falls into the pocket of cool rock.

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Cascade Creek flowing Northeast towards its drop into the canyon of the West Walker River. Since turning South coming out of the gap holding the Black Ponds we've hiked along a short fairly flat section of Cascade Creek. The image above is our view coming to the end of this shelf.

We have a short 200 foot elevation moderate+ climb over the next quarter-mile to Lake Harriet.

Our best maps showing our overall position in relation to all of our surrounding hiking options is the bottom-Right half of our Sonora Pass Region Maps, their Southeastern corners:

Both of these maps above show our proxmity to the upper reaches of the West Walker River.
This is important because the upper reaches of the West Walker is a backdoor leading us into and linking the North Yosemite Backcountry to Leavitt Meadow Trailhead. We can see a trail linking our position here on the PCT along Cascade Creek to the PCT running through Kerrick Canyon in the Heart of the North Yosemite Backcountry.

That link opens up the whole of the Northernmost Yosemite Backcountry to our examination through long-distance backpacking loops.

Clicking either of the maps above along their PCT routes near Cascade Creek brings us to the more detailed map of this area. Right now we are especially interested in the potential of the trail through the upper sections and top of the West Walker River's Canyon leading up to the top of Kerrick Canyon. The detailed map shows us the back-back way into Yosemite:

Kennedy Canyon to Dorothy Lake Pass
USGS 15 min hiking map

(Twin Lakes would be the "back" way into Yosemite.
Leavitte Meadow to Kerrick Canyon via the West Walker is the
"Back-Back" way into Yosemite.

These trails can be stitched together to create remarkable loops around the North Yosemite Backcountry and the thumb of the Toiyabe National Forest capping it:

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

Clicking the red dots on all the maps brings us to the trail guide for that position.

Western granite ridges rise above West West Walker River to the Sierra Crest.

Emigrant Pass and Grizzly Peak and Meadow are to the Left, the West West Walker Bridge to the Right.

The PCT is the Eastern prong of the wishbone-split of the Emigrant Pass Trail from the PCT South of the West West Walker River bridge.

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West Walker River Watershed

Climbing out of the forests South to Harriet Lake we finally can turn around to get long views North at the West Walker River drainage along the Eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, to the Left.

The Pacific Crest Trail turns Left, West, at the base of the great volcanic ridgeline in the far distance. That ridgeline runs West up to the Sierra crestline composes the Northern wall of Kennedy Canyon running up to Leavitt Peak, eventually.

Southbound hikers turn West up Kennedy Canyon, Northbound hikers descended Kennedy Canyon to turn South on our way to here at our current position.

Also note that the ridgeline descending in the middle distant Left side of the image is composed of granite, while the distant wall of Kennedy Canyon is volcanic.

What an interesting interface.

Reaching the Northwest corner of Lake Harriet.

9320 feet

Lake Harriet. The Pacific Crest Trail touches the Northwest corner of the Lake. A short distance South of this point is a nice shaded breakspot along the Western shore of Lake Harriet. It's a break spot because it's been over-camped. Camping is still allowed there, but I expect it to be restricted sometime in the future, or it will heal up on its own.

The view above is looking Southeast.

We are approaching the treeline. Forests have thinned and the lodgepole have given way to whitebarks.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

Kennedy Canyon to Dorothy Lake Pass
USGS 15 min hiking map

12:57

The Sierra Crest

Another image from Lake Harriet's Southwestern corner. This view is little bit East of South at the Sierra Crest. Tower Peak is peeking through saddle.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Break spot on West side of Lake Harriet.

Campsites circle Lake Harriet. As a small lake Harriet offers less elbow room than Stella Lake. Stella Lake is not a big lake, but the way it's laid out gives it a huge circumference offering backpackers much more space to stretch out.

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Climbing around Lake Harriet.

Looking Southeast at the tips of Tower Peak in the furthest distance. We can see more of Tower Peak through the gap from this elevation, but this view will be lost as we climb South.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Just about to turn away from Lake Harriet
Tent on the East shore of Lake Harriet. Though I've never camped at Lake Harriet I've often seen people camping around the backside, the East side of Harriet Lake.

Though there is an over-improved site on the West Shore of Lake Harriet, I consider this site a break spot rather than a campsite. That's because this site is wedged in-between the shore of the lake and the route of the Pacific Crest Trail.

As a campsite it's too close to the lake for my tastes, not much privacy from the trail, though it may be barely legal as a campsite.
Plus, it's been overused. It needs to rest and heal.

The pond to the South and above Lake Harriet.

We can see the ridgeline above the East side of the West Walker Watershed running out to the North. In the furthest distance we can make out Peak 10230 above the Southeast corner of Leavitt Meadow.
We'll get better views North as we climb above the forest and terrain obscuring our views.

Sonora Pass to Dorothy Lake Pass
15 minute backpacking map

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View of Lake Harriet from the South, dropping down from Stella Lake.

We now have a completely different perspective on the gap in the ridge and peak 11280.

The gap in the distant ridge is partially obscured by the intervening granite ridgetop on the Left of the image, though we can clearly see Peak 11280 along the Right side of the volcanic ridge in the distance.

Way down by Leavitt Meadow

Looking Northeast at Peak 10230 as we climb South out of the basin holding Lake Harriet.

Peak 10230 is located on the North end of the red volcanic ridge to our East, the one with the gap and the Hoover Wilderness boundary running along its crestline. But the boundary line turns East before it gets down to Peak 10230, putting Peak 10230 just beyond the Northern limit of the Hoover Wilderness to our East.

Poole Lake is located just to the Northwest, the Left, of the base of Peak 10230. Peak 10230 and the end of this ridge tower over the Southeast corner of Leavitt Meadow.

Poole Lake sits above the Southeast corner of Leavitt Meadow, and Peak 10230 rises to the Southeast of Poole Lake.

Sonora Pass Region Hiking Map
USGS 30 min backpacking map

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Barren Exposed Reflective Terrain

Shattered granite with a trail through it.

Shattered anything is hard to cross without a trail.

Climbing past Lake Harriet's 9230 feet of elevation we are ascending a total of 275 feet out of the thin forest surrounding Lake Harriet across exposed reflective granite to Stella Lake's 9505 feet of elevation.

It's bright up here.

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North shore of Stella Lake.

9505 feet

Coming to the end of the climb up from Lake Harriet we find an expansive flat on the East side of the Sierra Crestline below Dorothy Lake Pass holding Stella Lake.

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Forsyth Peak on the Right side.

We are looking almost directly South at the curving North-Northeast face of Forsyth Peak, in fact.

Those patches of snow are listed as glacial remnants on the USGS Tower Peak 7.5 minute maps, but they are rapidly disappearing remnants of remnants.

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View South across Stella Lake.

In the near distance is the ridge running down from Forsyth Peak to its Western end.

The base of that ridge sits off the Southeast corner of Dorothy Lake.

Jack Main Canyon to Kerrick Canyon
USGS 15 min hiking map

Thin neck between North and South segments of Stella Lake.

In the background we can see the very Western end of the main ridge arm descending off of Forsyth Peak to the Southeast of Dorothy Lake, which we will bend around hiking down the top of Jack Main Canyon.

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Northbound Pacific Crest Trail along West shore of Stella Lake, view looking North.

Lined up with the red volcanic ridge and its characteristic arc.

Sonora Pass to Dorothy Lake Pass
15 minute backpacking map

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North end of Stella Lake, view looking South.

MAP

View Northeast across length of Stella Lake highlighting its Northeastern and Southwestern bodies of water.

The West Walker River flows through the valley on the far side of near granite ridgline and the near side of the red volcanic ridgeline with the arc across its crest. The Eastern section of Stella Lake is out of view to the Right in this image.

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Stella Lake from Dorothy Lake Pass.

Dorothy Lake Pass. We now encounter the steel trail signs of Yosemite National Park. Locations and mileage are cut through the steel plate with a cutting torch.

Our first encounter with the heavy metal signs carved by cutting torches that define Yosemite trail signage. These signs became the established standard for Yosemite in the early 1950s as a solution for bears removing conventional trail signage.

See "trails and roads" in Yosemite: the Park and its Resources (1987) by Linda W. Greene, specifically page 771 about the steel cut trail signs installation.

Also see "Cranky Bears" in the Forum.

Mileages and routes etched in steel cannot reflect the changing routes and miles on the ground.
Trail route changes over the years and decades makes the mileages on the steel Yosemite signs good estimates, but they do not necessarily reflect the exact distances today.

This is generally true with all mileages posted on trail signs.

Check out this discussion about miles at the South Bond Pass trail junction to our South at the top of Jack Main Canyon.

Backpacker's Forum miles discussion

Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

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Geological Marker in Dorothy Lake Pass.

DETAILED MAPS

LARGE SCALE MAPS

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Looking Northeast through Dorothy Lake Pass from just steps South of the Pass.

Hoover Wilderness
The boundary of Hoover Wilderness runs along that volcanic crestline, with the West Walker River running up under the Sierra Crestline in the Toiyabe National Forest between our position in Yosemite and the Hoover Wilderness beyond the far crestline.

Check the map for boundary details.

Sonora Pass to Dorothy Lake Pass
15 minute backpacking map

That "cutout" of the Toiyabe National Forest between Yosemite and Hoover is slated to be absorbed into the Hoover Wilderness.

Dorothy Lake at the top of Jack Main Canyon.

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Dorothy Lake from the North side.

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

North shore of Dorothy Lake.

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Stock Camp notice on West side of Dorothy Lake.

Stock restricted to designated campsites.

Jack Main Canyon beyond Dorothy Lake.

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Meadow, forest, Dorothy Lake and the surrounding mountains make a nice walk.

Forsyth Peak in the glare of the setting sun, and I'm running way behind...

Beautiful Fall colors decorate the terrain.

Maps, Miles, & Onward

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

Next Map South

Jack Main Canyon to Kerrick Canyon
USGS 15 min hiking map

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View across the South shore of Dorothy Lake at the annex of the lake branching out to the Southeast.

Toiyabe and Yosemite
Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

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West end of Forsyth Peak's Ridgeline.

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Getting around to the South Shore Dorothy Lake and looking North across the lake lines up Dorothy Lake, Dorothy Lake Pass, and almost lines up that distinctive cut on the distant volcanic ridge in Hoover Wilderness that we've been using as one of our local landmarks.

Now we'll turn around to continue South down Jack Main Canyon leaving the East Flank and its preponderance of volcanic terrain behind entering Yosemite.

Toiyabe and Stanislaus
National Forests

Sonora Pass to Dorothy Lake Pass
15 minute backpacking map

Toiyabe and Yosemite
Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Pond South of Dorothy Lake.

Small Lake on flat before entering forest and Jack Main Canyon South of Dorothy Lake.

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Bear tracks near pond South of Dorothy Lake.

Wednesday, July 18 2012.

Comments: Bear Forum

Toiyabe and Yosemite
Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

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Butterfly near the pond South of Dorothy Lake.

Does that look like the outline of a lizard-head on the butterfly's near wing?

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Walking through Nature during changing colors and climates of different seasons makes me think that the seasonal changes in the colors of nature are the ultimate source of "style."

A small part of human styles are still pragmatic changes in clothing styles that reflect the changing needs of the changing seasons. But most human styles are ornamental changes in color and pattern that are dull reflections of Nature's mastery of color, pattern, texture and form.

Nature is the master palette serving up color and style.

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

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Monty, hiking from Sonora Pass to Lone Pine.

Monty informed me that he was one of the two "hiking Montys."

I have it from a good source that "The Two Hiking Montys" like to do high mileage High Sierra hikes.

Go, Montys, Go!

Sweet colors squeezed out by Fall's dropping temperatures.

Fall colors light up the trail before entering the forests of Jack Main Canyon. the plants were all dried out and crunchy if you stepped on them.

Trail approaching Jack Main Canyon.

We get the double-trail shortly after entering Yosemite.

I'd say the heavy use up here is a product of the heavy annual PCT hiker use. Hikers on the PCT are likely the largest part of the number of hikers who cross Dorothy Lake Pass.

They would also account for the majority of the hiker traffic on the trails between Tuolumne Meadows and Sonora Pass.

That fact tells us that these trails become very very quiet late in Summer into Fall, as the bulk of Pacific Crest Trail hikers have long passed, when even the number of section hikers reduces dramatically.

North Yosemite gets quite in late Summer into Fall.

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Stock were tied here.

Toiyabe and Yosemite
Sonora Pass to Bensen Lake
USGS 30 min backpacking map

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6:17

The North Bond Pass trail junction. This is the first of the two junctions along the Pacific Crest Trail breaking off to the Southbound hikers Right, Northwest up into the Emigrant Wilderness in the Stanislaus National Forest crossing Bond Pass.

This view is looking Southbound down the now combined Pacific Crest-Tahoe to Yosemite Trail routes running together down Jack Main Canyon.
Dorothy Lake is to our back while the unmarked trail blocked off with the row of rocks to our Right is the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route North heading Northwest up to Bond Pass.

This trail junction is not posted with trail sign as is the Southern end of this"Y" trail junction coming down from Bond Pass.

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Northwest to Bond Pass on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

Backpackers planning on hiking the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail through Bond Pass join up or split off from the PCT right here in Jack Main Canyon depending on if you are hiking North or South.

Northbound hikers on the TYT depart the PCT at the top of Jack Main Canyon here while the Southbound TYT hiker's route finally rejoins with the Pacific Crest Trail. The last time we saw the Pacific Crest Trail was departing the Southern end of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

We can use this junction to turn medium and long distance local backpacking loops back around to the North towards any of our Highway 108 trailheads by threading the Dorothy Lake and Bond Passes.
Hiking North over Bond Pass allows us to craft a variety of routes North back to Leavitt Meadow Trailhead, Sonora Pass Trailhead, and Kennedy Meadows Pack Station Trailhead. The Sonora Pass region hiking map and trail schematic below shows all these trailheads and the three main routes South from the Highway 108 corridor to Bond Pass.

These are the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail on the West flank of the Sierra, the Tungsten Road over Big Sam to Bond Pass, and the Pacific Crest Trail along the East flank.

Kennedy Meadows to Jack Main Canyon on the TYT
Miles and Elevations

Trail Guide Page
Northwest
Bond Pass
to
Brown Bear Pass (TYT)

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PCT North to Dorothy Lake Pass.

Back the way we came. The page above covers the trail from Kennedy Canyon trail junction through Dorothy Lake Pass to our present position.

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Down Jack Main Canyon

South on the combined TYT and PCT down Jack Main Canyon to Tilden and Wilmer Lakes, respectively. One can also hike past these junctions down to Hetch Hetchy.

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows
Miles and Elevations

The Jack Main Canyon Below the TYT and PCT

The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail turns East out of Jack Main Canyon at Tilden Creek, the Pacific Crest Trail turns East around Wilmer Lake.

Backpacking trips ending by crossing Hetch Hetchy Dam at the bottom of Jack Main Canyon are delightful, independent of which particular route you use to enter the top of Jack Main Canyon.

I have it at 29.4 miles from Dorothy Lake Pass to the Road on the far side of Hetch Hetchy Dam. Added to the 15.43 miles from the Leavitt Meadow Trailhead to Dorothy Lake Pass means we can cross the Sierra from East to West, from Leavitt Meadow to Hetch Hetchy over 44.83 miles.

Leavitt Meadow Trailhead to Hetch Hetchy: 44.83 miles

Trail Guide Page
South TYT & PCT
Dorothy Lake Pass
to
Tilden Lake Junction (TYT)
then
Wilmer Lake (PCT)  

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Next
South on the TYT and PCT
across the
North Yosemite Backcountry
to
Tuolumne Meadows

Backpacking Trail Guide

PCT
North

Kennedy Canyon Trail Junction
to
West West
Walker Bridge

Backpacking Trail Guide

PCT-TYT
South

Dorothy Lake Pass
to
Tilden
or
Wilmer
Lakes