REGION
MAP

TYT-PCT

Carson Iceberg Wilderness

LOCAL
MAPS

PCT
Ebbetts Pass
to
Tyron Peak

TYT
Lake Alpine

MILES
&
ELEVATIONS

TYT
Lake Alpine
to
Saint Marys Pass

PCT
Ebbetts Pass
to
Sonora
Pass

PERMITS
Toiyabe

Stanislaus

SIERRA
WEATHER

Sonora Pass
WEATHER

Backpacking
the
Pacific Crest and Tahoe to Yosemite Trails
through the
Carson-Iceberg Wilderness

Introduction

Local and Long Distance Excellence
This trail guide approaches the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness from the perspective of a long-distance backpacker hiking North to South on the PCT & TYT crossing it hiking from Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney.

The configuration of the terrain dividing the Tahoe to Yosemite on the West flank of the Sierra from the Pacific Crest Trail along the crest and East flank between Highways 4 and 108 allows four trails connecting them across the length of the Carson Iceberg.

These 4 connector trails allow us long distance backpackers on the TYT and PCT to craft a huge number of alternative routes. Long hikers on the PCT and TYT can switch over from one to the other trail. And back again.
Local backpackers can use these 4 connector trails to craft a huge number of "local" long, medium, and short backpacking loops remaining within the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.

These interconnections between the TYT and PCT means that medium to very long distance backpacking loops around the Carson Iceberg Wilderness can be crafted by hiking out of the starting trailhead of our choice along one of these famous trails and hiking back on the other.

There is something to suit everyone's style, skill, tastes, and fitness in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness from short and easy to long and hard.

If I did my job correctly I'm hopeful the following maps and their related guide and mileage pages reveal and draw you into your perfect backpacking loop around the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.
By one step at a time... The Carson Iceberg is as formidable as beautiful.

Hard and Lonely
to
Easy and Short
The unmaintained trails along the upper Clarks Fork on the TYT and the middle segment of the East Carson River below its intersection with the PCT add higher degrees of physical and route finding challenges to the normal pains and pleasures of High Sierra Backpacking.
Remote trailhead entry points through isolated Eastern Sierra Trailheads give us all the ingredients we need to put together a huge range of great High Sierra Backpacking Trips around the Carson Iceberg Wilderness that range from demanding advanced skills and fitness to easy short trips.

A fine way to approach the Carson-Iceberg is to enter via the steep Eastern escarpment of the Wilderness, such as through the Corral Valley Trailhead near the Little Antelope Pack Station up on Rodriguez Flat. Access is from Highway 395.
This trailhead offers remote "backdoor" access to hike difficult loops onto the PCT through the East Carson River and Murray & Golden Canyons.
Much easier and shorter loop routes would be the Duck and Rock Lake loops out of the Silver Trailhead on the East shore of Lake Alpine, and hikes up to the PCT off the TYT along the Clarks Fork Road.

Find Yourself in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness
Backpacking the Carson Iceberg Wilderness is a whole lot more than just another beautiful section hiking the long trails.
The topo hiking maps below should get our imaginations going and our feet rolling.

Map Potentials
Click the RED DOTS on all the maps for the trail guide information for that location. Click the BLACK DOTS on the 30 minute maps to see detailed 15 minute maps of that area. Click the labels with arrows along the edges of the maps for the next maps North and South.

The Stanislaus NF splits administration of the Western flank of the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness between the Calavaras Ranger district on its North end and the Summit Ranger District of the Southwest end.

The Carson Ranger District of the Toiyabe National Forest oversees access into the Eastern Flank of the Carson Iceberg Wilderness from Highway 4 down to 108.
The Toiyabe administers the East flank of the whole Sierra Nevada from Lake Tahoe South, almost all the way to Highway 120, the Tioga Road.

Topo Hiking Maps for
The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

Lake Alpine to Saint Marys Pass
34.57 miles

TYT ROUTE

Lake Alpine
to
Jenkins Canyon

TYT South

Lake Alpine
Area

Duck Lake
to
Spicer Reservoir

TYT to PCT

Highland Creek
Trail Option
to
PCT

TYT to PCT

Trail Junction
to
Highland Lakes

Highland Lakes
to
Wolf Creek Pass

PCT
at
Wolf Creek Pass

TYT ROUTE

Jenkins Canyon to Saint Marys Pass on TYT

TYT South

Spicer Reservoir
to
Sand Flat

Clarks Fork
of the
Stanislaus River

Saint Marys Pass
on
Highway 108

Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

West Carson-Iceberg Wilderness
Lake Alpine to Saint Marys Pass

Pacific Crest Trail

East Carson Iceberg Wilderness
Including Ebbetts Pass to Wolf Creek Pass

New

Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Topo Hiking Map
Both the PCT and TYT routes.

Sonora Pass Trailheads

National Forest Service

2009 Carson Iceberg Wilderness (pdf)

Context
Note that there are four routes linking the TYT to the PCT across Carson Iceberg Wilderness, more than the one noted above. All of these "connector" trails are well depicted on the maps above.
These connector trails provide ideal alternative routes for long distance hikers and the basis for many productive long and medium distance backpacking loops remaining within the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.

TYT
Distance Data
presented on
Map Format

Miles and Elevations
The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

Kennedy Meadows to Tuolumne Meadows

top of page

Topo Maps
for
Planning
and
Topo Maps
for
Hiking
North and South

Planning Maps

To plan our trips North or South from Ebbetts Pass we should refer to this trail guide.
Next, we can consult the sources, represented by the free downloadable USGS topo map series.

The USGS is the mother lode of Geographic Science...

USGS Store

The 1 x 2, 30 minute, and 7.5 series topo maps are free to download and open in the free Adobe Reader.

We can also download the free Terrago Toolbar for Adobe from the USGS site, which gives us limited trail measurement capabilities. Watch the TerraGo tool carefully, it screws up.

Here's the USGS Store site. It will provide the proper maps to plan this and every other part of our trip.

Navigate the map to Stockton Ca, and follow Highway 4 up to Ebbetts Pass. Magnify the map until the quadrangles appear. Check the "mark points" selection, click the desired quadrangles. Click the marker, and a selection of maps at different scales will appear.
Select the maps of the scale you want to download, and download them. Unzip the file and open it with Adobe Reader.

Then install the Terrago Toolbar for extra spatial measurement capacity.

I have set myself up with a well-organized collection of USGS maps covering all my main routes and side trips from Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney in various scales. I find these maps very helpful to properly plan trips.

Use these detailed USGS topo maps, and the maps, mileages, and trail guide pages laid out here on Tahoe to Whitney to plan the details of your backpacking trips starting at, or hiking across Ebbetts Pass.

To check out a selection of National Forest and Wilderness paper hiking maps, as well as online versions, check out

Hiking Maps

Hiking Maps

For trail use I prefer to carry the USDA National Forest Wilderness Maps or their commercial counterparts when hiking either the Mokelumne or Carson-Iceberg Wilderness.

The Online versions of these maps allow us to inspect a couple of the federal maps to see if they fit our trip's specifications.

These Federal Wilderness Maps are a fine balance between size and detail. Each well covers its respective wilderness area.
The new 2009 plastic maps are better in field conditions, but the color, labeling, and accuracy of the new maps leaves a lot to be desired compared to the older 1988 paper map. One step forward, two steps backwards...

Commercial Counterparts
Wilderness Press, Tom Harrison, and National Geographic offer excellent commercial counterparts to the USDA National Forest Wilderness Maps.

The irony is that all the maps are based on the Federal data and maps. The commercial expressions of this data are just formatted and presented differently.

Nonetheless, familiarity gained by planning with the detailed USGS maps will make better sense of our trail maps during our trips.

I try to line up the maps with images of all the key terrain features in the trail guide along our routes too.

Federal Trail Maps

North
USDA Forest Service Mokelumne Wilderness, ENFIA.

South
USDA Forest Service Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, Toiyabe National Forest.

Though long-distance hikers may consider these topo hiking maps too "big," the extra coverage provided by these "whole wilderness" topo maps allow the backpacker to clearly and correctly identify terrain features within their range of vision. I always want to know what I'm looking at, and how my route fits into the "big picture" of the overall terrain.

Unlike topo hiking maps that only display a "sliver" of the terrain, such as Halfmile's Trail Maps, these wilderness-sized topo maps allow you to situate and saturate yourself in the terrain.

Good Long-Distance Backpacker Practice

I send myself my selected hiking topo map for the upcoming trail section in my resupply package, along with a stamped, self-addressed envelope to send my last map home.

As most of the resupply points have mail services this plan works out well.

TYT
Trail Route Options
Spicer Meadow Reservoir
(off of the TYT)
to
Wolf Creek Pass
(onto the PCT)

Southbound
TYT to PCT
For Southbound hikers on the TYT this Highland Creek route option brings us up to the PCT via Highland Creek from the Jenkins Canyon trail junction. This is the first of four potential trails linking the PCT and TYT across the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.
Taking this route splits the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness section of our hike between the Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trails. Of the remaining three connector trails to our South only the Boulder Lake trail is especially suited for long distance backpackers to switch trails back to the TYT off the PCT.

The Arnot and Disaster Creek trails are ideal for loops staying within the Carson Iceberg Wilderness, though the Disaster Creek trail also offers Southbound PCT hikers a good way down to the unmaintained segment of the TYT across Saint Marys Pass, along with the Boulder Lake Trail to its South.

The Alternative Route
Southbound backpackers along the TYT who hike up Highland or Arnot Creek Trails to the PCT are bypassing a rather long walk along a paved road filled with car campers.
We substitute a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail South through the beautiful upper section and headwaters bowl of the East Carson River up to Sonora Pass by sacrificing the section of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail along the Clarks Fork Road. Well, maybe not all the way South to Sonora Pass on the PCT...

...And Back Again
We can drop down from the PCT to the TYT either at the end of the Clarks Fork Road via the Disaster Creek Trail, or we can hike down the Boulder Lake Trail off the PCT to intersect with the TYT just a bit South of the end of Clarks Road.
Cutting down to the TYT on the South end of the Carson Iceberg brings us to the difficult hike over unmaintained trail and cross country route to Saint Marys Pass, if you so desire.

Some folks on the TYT may want to trade the segment of the hike along the Clarks Fork Road, and possibly avoid the difficult segment of unmaintained trail from Eureka Valley trail junction to Saint Marys Pass in exchange for the well maintained PCT through the amazing beauties of the upper course of the East Fork of the Carson River.

The important thing is to know your options and select the one that best fits your physical and psychological profiles.

The first and last connector trails are also ideal for Southbound TYT hikers who just want to extend their hike across the Carson Iceberg Wilderness, and see as much of this beautiful place as possible.

Some Numbers
This route modification off the TYT up to the PCT adds a bit below nine miles to the standard TYT mileage between Lake Alpine and Saint Marys Pass, if we stay on the PCT to Sonora Pass hiking up through Highland Canyon. It adds even more if we drop back down to the TYT via the Boulder Lake trail to rejoin the TYT in the upper Clarks Fork of the Stanislaus. Review those particular trail guide pages for specific distances.

The red dots on the maps lead to all the important trail junctions.

Highland Creek is the Northernmost and longest of the four trails that we can use to tie the TYT and PCT together across the length of the Carson Iceberg Wilderness. The Boulder Lake trail is the Southernmost and shortest connector trail. Combining these two trails with our TYT route across the Carson Iceberg lengthens our route sufficiently to bring us through most of the high points of the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.

Best of Both Worlds
Longest and Hardest
Aggressive, fit, and properly skilled and experienced backpackers can use Highland Creek to swing up and around the busy Clarks Fork Road segment of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail on the PCT, then descend back to the TYT for the difficult segment over Saint Marys Pass via Boulder Lake.

Northbound
PCT to TYT
For Northbound hikers only the Highland Creek trail would be a logical option. It would be logical for two reasons. First, to hike into Lake Alpine to use their free resupply service, rather than hitch-hiking down from Ebbetts Pass on Highway 4.
The second reason to hike down to the TYT and Lake Alpine would be to set ourselves up to hike the adventurous rough and unmaintained TYT North from Highway 4 to Carson Pass, rather than the pacific PCT.

Hiking North from Lake Alpine is only suggested for experienced, adventurous, and fit PCT section hikers. This does not affect many PCT hikers. Most PCT hikers are looking for speed North, not extra obstacles.
But, if you are section-hiking the PCT, this route alteration will bump up the difficulty, beauty, and intensity levels at least one notch...
To our North the TYT and PCT routes merge entering the Lake Tahoe Basin passing through the Carson Gap. So we will end up in the same place, but can get there on very different routes.

PCT section hikers may decide to swing down to the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route to experience the quiet intensity and beauty of the remote and unmaintained section of the Tahoe to Yosemite trail North of Lake Alpine.

Our other long-distance Northbound option is to remain on the standard PCT route to and through Ebbetts Pass on our way North to the Carson Pass.
We also have the option of hiking down the Highland Trail from Wolf Creek Pass to Lake Alpine to resupply and eat, and then hitch the 14 miles East up to Ebbetts Pass on Highway 4 to continue our Northbound hike on the PCT.

I've done about every variant of this maneuver.

All are outstanding, some are great...

All Around Options
The Highland Creek Trail from Jenkins Canyon up to the PCT at Wolf Creek Pass is the first of four trails that link the Pacific Crest Trail to the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail on their routes across the Carson Iceberg Wilderness.

These trails are, from North to South, the Highland Creek, Arnot Creek, Disaster Creek, and Boulder Creek trails.

We can utilize these connector trails no matter where we begin our Carson Iceberg Wilderness backpacking trip. The Carson Iceberg offers access from the North via Highway 4, the South via Highway 108, and the East off of Highway 395.
Besides these main routes in, we also have Clarks Fork Road accessing the Southern interior of the Carson Iceberg off of Highway 108.

We can start from any trailheads around the perimeter of the Carson Iceberg and loop back using various combinations of the main and connector trails.

The PCT, TYT and these four connector trails are our main options for hiking around the Carson Iceberg Wilderness. What you do with them is up to you. I suggest that you explore them all in expanding circles as your skills and fitness grow.

See you Out There!

Spicer Reservoir up Highland Creek

Highland Creek via Highland Lakes to Wolf Creek Pass

The next maps
South
on the
Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

Kennedy Meadows Pack Station
to
Tuolumne Meadows

Topo Backpacking Maps for
The Pacific Crest Trail

Ebbetts Pass to Sonora Pass
29.44 miles

Ebbetts Pass to Tyron Peak

Tyron Peak to Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek to Swampy Lake

Swampy Lake to Boulder Lake

Boulder Lake to Sonora Pass

East Carson Iceberg Wilderness
Focus on PCT from Ebbetts Pass to Sonora Pass.

West Carson-Iceberg Wilderness
Tahoe Yosemite Lake Alpine to Sonora Pass & trails to the PCT.

New
Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Topo Hiking Map
Both the PCT and TYT routes.

Sonora Pass Trailheads

National Forest Service
2009 Carson Iceberg Wilderness (pdf)

Context
The Big View of Two Routes, Carson Pass to Bensen Lake
1x2 Topographic

Miles and Elevations
Ebbetts Pass to Sonora Pass
The Pacific Crest Trail

PCT
Distance Data
presented on
Map Format

Miles and Elevations
on the PCT between

Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows

see above

The next maps
South
on the
Pacific Crest Trail

Sonora Pass
to
Tuolumne Meadows