Location

Main Features

Naming
High Emigrant Basin

I refer to the three high elevation meadows at the top of Emigrant Wilderness as the "High Emigrant Basin" while referring to High Emigrant, Grizzly, and Summit Meadows individually as required.

Two Trails

There are two trail routes defined on the maps between the trail junction in Grizzly Meadow and Bond Pass. There are upper and lower trails. I hiked the upper trail about 10 years ago. I prefer the lower trail. The high trail gives good views down Jack Main Canyon.

High Emigrant Basin Options

At the Grizzly Peak trail junction we have situated ourselves in a location with access Northeast through Emigrant Pass to exit through Leavitt Meadow. This includes the option to join the Pacific Crest Trail hiking North to Sonora Pass.

Or we can hike North from Grizzly Peak to the PCT via Big Sam.

We can hike West down Horse Canyon towards the trail leading North to Mosquito Pass, or..., well the trip options are numerous. Check out the schematic map below for more. This trail guide is going to continue South on the Tahoe to Yosemite route into Yosemite.
From the top of Jack Main Canyon in the Northwestern-most corner of Yosemite we have the options of hiking all the way down Jack Main Canyon to Hetch Hetchy or turning Southeast for the long, hard trail down to Tuolumne Meadows and the end of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail.

Well, almost the end. I've added the run backwards down the John Muir Trail into Yosemite Valley to finish my TYT:

The Golden Triangle

The 3 trail junctions under Grizzly Peak in the High Emigrant Basin compose one of the best hubs of trails for anchoring a whole series of long and short backpacking trips exploring Emigrant Wilderness. These closely-spaced trail junctions are ideal for tying together and investigating the wide variety of terrains and unique environments stashed on both flanks of the High Sierra under this unique length of its Crestline across Emigrant Wilderness.
This hub of trails offers access onto routes into every quadrant of the Emigrant Wilderness, as well as hiking North and South along the Sierra Crestline. These junctions allow us to tie together and explore the very different characters and very different expressions of the quite divergent beauties running East and West down the Sierra flanks into the very different and unique realities we find in each part of the Emigrant Wilderness.

MAP NOTE
Those squares breaking the USGS maps up into grids are the Universal Transverse Mercator / Military Grid Reference System, otherwise commonly known as UTM.

What's important for our general reference purpose is that each side of a square is 1000 meters, or a Kilometer.

From my point of view that is 1093.6 yards or .62 of a mile.

Diagonal: 1414.22 meters, if my trig is correct.

That converts into 4,639.8 feet or .88 of a mile.

Mapping, Mileage, and National Forest Information

Northwest Map
Sonora Pass, Calif, 1979 7.5 minute Topographic Map
Scale: 1: 24 000
Contours: 80 feet

Northeast Map
Pickle Meadow, Calif, 1954 7.5 minute Topographic Map, photo-revised in '78
scale: 1: 24 000
Contours: 40 feet

Southwest Map Name
Emigrant Lake, Calif, provisional 1990 7.5 minute USGS Topographic Map
scale: 1: 24 000
Contours: 40 feet

Southeast Map Name
Tower Peak, Calif, 1990 7.5 minute USGS Topographic Map
scale: 1: 24 000
Contours: 40 feet

Compass Offset
Magnetic North is 18 degrees
East of True North,
16.5 off North Star

Backpacking permitting authority

Stanislaus National Forest Wilderness

TahoetoWhitney Contacts
Stanislaus National Forest

National Forest Wilderness Area information: Emigrant Wilderness

Ranger District: Summit Ranger District

Emigrant Meadow Lake junction
9440 feet

Big Sam
(North to PCT)
10825 feet

Bond Pass
(South TYT)
9720 feet

Trail Guide,
Section
TYT Kennedy Meadows to Tuolumne Meadows

Trail Guide,
Page
Kennedy Meadows to Relief Reservoir

Road Map
North Sierra Trans Sierra Highways

Map Credit

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior: The USGS

USGS MAP LOCATOR

Move the Map to the Sierras. Select size of Maps you wish to locate. Click "Mark Point" on map to see the USGS map grid of the selected map scale.

USGS Topographic

Map Information

Map Symbols