2016
HIGH SIERRA TRAIL CULTURE REVIEW
and
Trip Report
High Emigrant Wilderness
North Yosemite Backcountry

Introduction
to
Trail
Culture

NEXT
Page

Emigrant
Wilderness
Trail Report
and
Culture Report

The Backpacking Trip
PLAN
Backpacking Emigrant Wilderness
into
The North Yosemite Backcountry

Trip
Kennedy Meadows Pack Station
to
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir
47.84 miles

Trail Guide
Resources

PCT-TYT
Highway 108 Corridor
Trail Guide Resources

Route
Our backpacking trip South on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail out of the Kennedy Meadows Pack Station Trailhead begins on the Northwest edge of the Emigrant Wilderness. This trip has two fundamental parts.

The Climb
First, we climb 3360 feet over our first 16.04 miles backpacking across the top of Emigrant Wilderness from Kennedy Meadows into the Northwest Corner of Yosemite National Park. There, we hook up with the route of the Pacific Crest Trail by hiking through Bond Pass into the Northwestern corner of Yosemite.

The Descent
The Next part of our hike takes us South from Bond Pass descending more than 5908 feet across the next 31.8 miles of mostly-very remote North Yosemite Backcountry down to the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Trailhead.

"Mostly" remote because there is a relentless line of Pacific Crest Trail hikers pushing North through the North Yosemite Backcountry during mid-July of 2016.

Emigrant Wilderness Backpacking
Hiking the first part of our trip climbing across Emigrant and into the North Yosemite Backcountry opens up a whole range of shorter backpacking trip options around Emigrant Wilderness for our inspection and exploration.

The 3 Trailheads
at
Kennedy Meadows

Less, More, or Just Right?
This trip to Hetch Hetchy can easily be shortened or extended.
Shortened by bending it into various sized loops around Emigrant Wilderness.
Extended by running the PCT-TYT all the way down to Tuolumne Meadows.

Shorter Options
During the first part of our hike across Emigrant Wilderness we'll cross a series of trail junctions with trails potentially opening up shorter trips and loop routes back to Kennedy Meadows, if trips shorter than our 47.84 miles to Hetch Hetchy are desired or required.

These maps show multitudes of possible trail and route options.

Click the red dots on the detailed maps linking to those position's
trail guide entries.

Into Yosemite
Arriving at Yosemite's Northwestern corner through Bond Pass our TYT route hooks up with the PCT in the top of Jack Main Canyon.

The Long Version
From the top of Jack Main Canyon we have the potential to proceed South for fifty-four miles across the North Yosemite Backcountry on the combined routes of the PCT-TYT to the end of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail at Tuolumne Meadows.
The only divergence of the TYT & PCT from the top of Jack Main Canyon to Tuolumne Meadows is the TYT's short loop around Tilden Lake (guide page).

To Hetch Hetchy
On this particular trip described below we break off the route of the unified TYT & PCT crossing North Yosemite to point ourselves down-mountain to Hetch Hetchy. Our route leaves the TYT-PCT to begin its descent to Hetch Hetchy from the second trail junction we encounter after hiking South of Tilden Lake.

TYT & PCT
Tilden and Wilmer Lakes
DIVERGENCE
On the trip below we are going to follow the route of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail where it climbs South out of Jack Main Canyon to visit Tilden Lake. Tilden Lake and its surrounding terrain are sweet. The route of the PCT continues down Jack Main Canyon for another 1.75 miles to its exit point from Jack Main Canyon hiking around Wilmer Lake.
The TYT-PCT trails reunify for the remainder of their length South to Tuolumne Meadows after taking their independent routes around Tilden and Wilmer Lakes. But not us.

TYT-PCT
In
Upper
Jack Main Canyon
BACKPACKING MAP
Links on the page below

WE DIVERGE
Our backpacking trip plan below does not follow the unified trails to Tuolumne Meadows, but breaks-off them for Hetch Hetchy at the second trail junction after they hike their respective routes around Tilden and Wilmer Lakes.

TRAILS RE-CONVERGE
We could swing around Tilden or Wilmer along either the TYT or PCT before descending to Hetch Hetchy, as they unify at the first trail junction to the South of both lakes.

Lower
Jack Main Canyon
&
Kerrick Canyon
to
Hetch Hetchy
Backpacking Map

Down the Western Flank
via
Tilltill Valley and Rancheria Falls
We will begin our great 19.1 mile descent down the Western Flank of the Sierra from the second trail junction South of Tilden and Wilmer Lakes.

Hiking South of either Tilde or Wilmer Lakes we come to this series of two trail junctions, the first of which is where the TYT around Tilden first rejoins with the PCT route around Wilmer Lake. The second junction a tenth of a mile further South is our route to Hetch Hetchy dropping off TYT-PCT down the Western flank of the Sierra via Tilltill Valley and Rancheria Falls.

Down the Western Flank
via
Lower
Jack Main Canyon
We also have the option of continuing down Lower Jack Main Canyon by hiking past the Tilden and Wilmer Lake trail junctions, staying in Jack Main Canyon almost all the way down to Hetch Hetchy. The route to Hetch Hetchy down Jack Main Canyon is spectacular...

Suggested Reading
Steve's Fantastic North Yosemite Backpacking Loop
A backpacking loop via Jack Main Canyon & Tilden Lake out of Hetch Hetchy

Lower
Jack Main Canyon
&
Kerrick Canyon
to
Hetch Hetchy
Backpacking Map
(Jack Main Canyon to Hetch Hetchy trail guide page coming soon!)

Tilltill Valley and Rancheria Falls
On the backpacking trip below we are going to hike out of Jack Main Canyon to this second, shared trail junction via Tilden Lake. But that's not necessary.
We encounter this trail junction after hiking South of either Tilden or Wilmer Lakes. Breaking off the TYT-PCT we begin following a remarkably faint trail (for trails in Yosemite) descending the West Flank of the Sierra down to Hetch Hetchy via Tilltill Valley and Rancheria Falls.

Our final destination at Hetch Hetchy fills the bottom of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River with some of the sweetest drinking water in the whole US.

This part of our backpacking trip is quite a plunge.

North Yosemite Boundary
to
Hetch Hetchy
This part of our trip consists of an almost continuous descent from our high point of 9720 feet across Bond Pass entering Yosemite descending to Hetch Hetchy's 3812 feet of elevation. This part of our backpacking trip brings us down 5908 feet over 31.8 miles.

Go Long
to
Tuolumne Meadows
Our other option from this second junction South of Tilden Lake is to continue South along the combined routes of the TYT-PCT across the Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry to Tuolumne Meadows.

Stretching out our trip from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station down to Tuolumne Meadows bumps up the total distance of our backpacking trip of 48 miles from Kennedy Meadows to Hetch Hetchy up to just under 74 miles hiking from Kennedy Meadows to Tuolumne Meadows.

Local
Emigrant Wilderness
Backpacking Loops
We can further shorten this trip to less than 48 miles by bending our route back around to Kennedy Meadows via one of the key trail junctions we encounter while hiking across the Emigrant Basin (definition) before entering Yosemite, or by turning North on the Pacific Crest Trail after entering Yosemite on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail.
Check out the maps.

RECAP
Long & Short
Route Options
This basic forty-seven mile backpacking trip can be modified into a longer trip by stretching it out to run all the way down to Tuolumne Meadows, or turned into a variety of shorter-sized backpacking loops by bending our route back to Kennedy Meadows Pack Station through the series of trail junctions we encounter crossing Emigrant Basin, if we do not push South into Yosemite.

Many
Alternative
Routes & Trips
Below we sketch out our basic route South from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station to Hetch Hetchy, check out the folks we meet along the way, and discuss the weather, mosquito, and physical issues (both terrain and personal!) affecting our trip.
The route of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail crossing Emigrant Wilderness is going to show & tell us a lot about our surrounding trails and terrain. This trip reveals many other potential future backpacking trips we can use to explore more of the Emigrant Wilderness, the North Yosemite Backcountry, and even into the Toiyabe & Hoover Wilderness along the East Flank.

Study the maps, mileages, elevations, and guide pages to plan the custom Emigrant Wilderness backpacking trip that's perfect for you.

Web of Trails
Along this trip we are going to see the potential for whole sets of shorter backpacking trips exploring the various quadrants of Emigrant Wilderness, East into the strip of the Toiyabe National Forest wedged in between the North Yosemite Backcountry and Hoover Wilderness, and the four ways we can find hiking down into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne from the route of TYT-PCT across the North Yosemite Backcountry.

The goal is to reach our destination, but it is also to find, see, and explore the range of our route options into, around, and back out of this fine terrain where Emigrant and Yosemite Wilderness meet. We really want to get some understanding of the layout and logic of this remarkable terrain.

This objective will take more than one trip. Kennedy Meadows Pack Station is not the only trailhead from which we could have started, nor is Hetch Hetchy a mandatory destination. Though these two points open up many perspectives on Emigrant and Yosemite Wilderness, we will eventually have to select different start and end points to see it all.

Though the trip described here starts out of Kennedy Meadows, we can also start from the other trailheads along the Highway 108 Corridor (the Sonora Pass Highway), and even from the "other end," by starting our trip from, and climbing in via the Hetch Hetchy or Weird Wolf Trailhead.

Sorry. I mean "White Wolf." The folks who work there call it Weird Wolf.

The hike up from Hetch Hetchy to the Sierra Crest is a monster climb.
I prefer to descend from the Crest into the heat of Hetchy Hetchy, but each to their own...

Something for Everyone
Nonetheless, we can modify our plan by using different entrance and exit trailheads to create a range of backpacking trips suiting a wide range of fitness levels, time constraints, and tastes.

Sonora Pass Corridor
Backpacking Map

All Access
Alternative Start Points
In that spirit we'll also explore the other trailheads along the top of Highway 108 we can use to start hikes into Emigrant Wilderness and on to Hetch Hetchy, or all the way down to Tuolumne Meadows. We can use the Sonora Pass Trailheads on the Sierra Crest and Leavitt Meadow on the East Flank as alternate access points to both explore different aspects of the Emigrant Wilderness and the associated sections of the Toiyabe and Hoover Wilderness. We'll use these trailheads as alternative start points to both observe different parts of Emigrant while on our way to accessing the North Yosemite Backcountry.

Alternative End Points
The Sonora Pass and Leavitt Meadow Trailheads also serve as excellent ending points for long local backpacking trips around Emigrant Wilderness beginning through Kennedy Meadows Pack Station. My goal is to get you to study the maps, trail guide, and miles information so you can identify the best trails, routes, and backpacking trips for you.

Accessing Emigrant Wilderness backpacking South through Sonora Pass or Leavitt Meadow Trailheads can be well complimented by ending our backpacking trips through Kennedy Meadows.

Web of Trails
The fact is that the Emigrant Wilderness along the Sierra Crestline features a web of trails along the Sierra crest and both of its flanks giving us deep access to this remarkably complex area. Every trail segment in this web of trail has unique and amazing things along its route, and much more if you keep your eyes and mind very open.

Hiking from Kennedy Meadows to Hetch Hetchy is going to show us some of the key connection points woven into this web of trails across this fine terrain.

Ka-Ching
My perspective is that we can't lose; that every Emigrant Wilderness backpacking option is good, and the more of them we see the better-off we are.

Many
Emigrant Wilderness Backpacking Trips:
8 to 75
Miles
of
Emigrant Wilderness
Backpacking Trip Options
The shorter and longer alternative-route backpacking trips we can hike across the Emigrant and North Yosemite Wilderness highlighted below span from 8 to 75 miles in length. Our trip from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station to Hetch Hetchy described in the Backpacking Plan below and the following Trip Report measures out at 47.84 miles.

Flexibility
We could have easily cut that distance in half by remaining in Emigrant Wilderness, or doubled it by pushing South all the way down to Tuolumne Meadows.

My pont is that we can find the perfect backpacking trip for you in the
Emigrant Wilderness and North Yosemite Backcountry. But first, Three Underlying Realities:

#1> This is High Altitude Terrain.

#2> This is Steep Terrain.

#3> Backpacks are Heavy.

My suggestion:
Start Training.

Short and Long
of
IT
The Short
Beginning backpackers and those short distance backpackers looking for shorter backpacking trips in Emigrant Wilderness should investigate the hikes to and from Relief Reservoir (Trail Guide Page. 8.06 miles round trip total) or Kennedy Lake (Trail Guide Page. 8.01 miles round trip total) from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station.

Though short, these are still difficult climbing trails. The route to Kennedy Lake climbs 1400 feet from Kennedy Meadows while the trail to Relief Reservoir ascends 880 feet.

The Long
Long distance backpackers looking for greater challenges than the 48 miles to Hetch Hetchy can stay on the route of the PCT-TYT South of Tilden Lake to continue across full the length of the 75 miles total distance from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station to Tuolumne Meadows, and points even further South, if you can get a permit for travel through & beyond Yosemite. Good Luck.

This trip plan below and its trip report on the following pages cover the "high points" of the hike from Kennedy Meadows to Hetch Hetchy. Our associated trail guide also covers the remaining length of the PCT-TYT South to Tuolumne Meadows for those who are curious about hiking the longer 75 mile backpacking trip from Kennedy Meadows to Tuolumne Meadows instead of cutting off the PCT-TYT and dropping down to Hetch Hetchy.

This Trip
Kennedy Meadow to Hetch Hetchy
via
Tilltill Valley and Rancheria Falls
47.84
Total Miles

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Backpacking
Trip Report and Trail Culture Review

2016

Part II
Emigrant-Yosemite Backpacking Trip
Plan

The Whole Route
OUTLINE & PLAN
We start out backpacking South from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station at 6400 feet of elevation climbing steeply for our first 10.92 miles of hiking along the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail to Brown Bear Pass at 9760 feet of elevation.

Kennedy Meadows Pack Station

We can see the new 2016 location of the gate for the Southbound TYT on the far Right of the image beyond the edge of the porch.

From Brown Bear Pass the difficulty of our route moderates following the TYT South for the next 5.12 miles across the High Heart of the Emigrant Wilderness, the High Emigrant Basin (definition). On the Southeastern end of Emigrant Basin we find the TYT's Northeastern-most exit point from Emigrant Wilderness through Bond Pass crossing into the Northwestern-most corner of Yosemite National Park.

The total length of the Emigrant Wilderness portion of our trip measures 16.04 miles from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station to our Bond Pass entrance into Yosemite, of which the first 11 miles are the tough climb from KM to Brown Bear Pass.

VIEW
Brown Bear Pass
from the
East

Above: Turning around to look Northwest at Brown Bear Pass and Relief Peak beyond while hiking South on TYT across "Emigrant Basin."

Red & White
TERRAIN
Volcanic and Granite
Terrain
The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail comes through Brown Bear Pass on the seam between granite and volcanic terrain we see in the gap above. The whole valley descending Northwest on the far flank below Brown Bear Pass is characterized by this same stark division between the majestic complex granite terrain of Black Hawk Peak and Granite Dome making up the South wall of the canyon while the North wall under Relief Peak is uniformly volcanic.

Northwest View
TRAIL GUIDE IMAGE
West Flank Canyon below Brown Bear Pass.

Well, the North wall of this long canyon is almost uniformly volcanic, except for the bits of granite we see sticking out along the base of the North wall (Trail Guide Image). Looking closely we we can see a few places where the furthest extent of these ancient volcanic flows did not quite completely submerge the underlying granite, leaving it partially exposed (Trail Guide Image). From Brown Bear Pass our eye can follow and identify great lengths of the granite-volcanic interface running across Emigrant Meadow and wandering across the whole length of the Emigrant Basin from Brown Bear to and through Emigrant Pass.

Into Yosemite
Granite Wonderland
Looking around Brown Bear Pass we note that volcanic activity and its coverage of terrain increases to the North and Northeast as it diminishes to our South and Southeast. Hiking South into Yosemite on either the PCT or TYT marks the Southernmost extent, the end of the volcanic coverage along the Sierra Crest and its Western Flank. Crossing over to the Western Flank of the Sierra entering the North Yosemite Backcountry marks the beginning of a long run across pure granite terrain that does not end until we hike out the South end of Yosemite approaching Banner Peak and the volcanic activity centered around Mammoth Mountain.

Volcanic Apron Pushed East
Though our route across the North Yosemite Backcountry runs across amazing granite terrain, our explorations show that the volcanic terrain still runs thick to our East along the East Flank of the Sierra wrapping around the North Yosemite Backcountry.
Massive volcanic terrain still exists across the Central Sierra, but as an apron wrapping around East of the East Flank of the Sierra South of Highway 108 through Hoover Wilderness, across Tioga Pass, and continuing South as the Kuna Crest.

PCT vs. TYT
Hikers on the PCT route through the North Sierra trails North of the Yosemite boundary are going to be hiking across predominantly volcanic terrain from North Yosemite all the way up to the Tahoe Basin. Hikers on the TYT coming South from the Tahoe Basin have been taking great swings up and down fantastic granite canyons on the West Flank sitting below the Volcanic coverage along the Sierra Crest.

Our Unique Route
to
Hetch Hetchy
Entering Jack Main Canyon hooks our Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route up with the route of the Pacific Crest Trail for the next six miles until we climb out of Jack Main Canyon following the divergence of the TYT around Tilden Lake.
After visiting Tilden Lake (Trail Guide Page) we continue South down the West Flank of the Sierra, first crossing, rather than rejoining, the routes of the PCT-TYT where they rejoin at the first of two trail junctions South of Tilden and Wilmer Lakes. South of Tilden and Wilmer Lakes the PCT-TYT make their final unified run down to Tuolumne Meadows.

Instead, we are going to follow a faint trail (as of 2016) 22.2 miles South from Tilden Lake down the West Flank of the Sierra to Hetch Hetchy, a total of 19.1 miles from the second trail junction below Tilden Lake, as seen below, to the end of our trip at Hetch Hetchy.

Tilden Lake and Tower Peak
along the
Tahoe to Yosemite Trail.
Sunrise

Tower Peak along the Sierra Crest beyond Tilden Lake.

Instead of continuing South along the TYT we cross the route of the PCT and depart both trails beginning our long descent down the West Flank of the Sierra to Hetch Hetchy. Don't worry, we will find a couple of serious climbing segments of trail during our grand descent!

Hetch Hetchy and Tilltill trail junction
departing route of
TYT-PCT
below
Tilden Lake in Yosemite.

Tilltill: 9.9 miles, Hetch Hetchy 19.1

References
Trail Guide Pages, Maps, and Miles
The first set of links below lead to the trail guide, map, and mileage materials covering the first part of our trip backpacking across Emigrant Wilderness. The second set of links below present our guide & map resources covering the next part of our backpacking trip across the North Yosemite Backcountry. The trail guide's miles and elevations pages only cover the distances along the routes of the PCT and TYT that we hike.

The citations for the mileages off the routes of the TYT-PCT down to Hetch Hetchy rely on the miles cited on the old Yosemite Steel Trail Signs, so I included pictures of each junction's miles signs, as above, on the following Trip Report pages. The fact that these signs are sixty years old causes us to treat their figures as advisory, rather than as authoritative.

The old Yosemite steel trail signs give us "ballpark" figures.

Reference Materials
ORGANIZATION
Our Trip Plan is also broken into two parts, as are our reference materials. The first part begins at Kennedy Meadows and covers backpacking across the Emigrant Wilderness. This part can be heavily modified. The second part of our trip begins when and where we cross into the North Yosemite Backcountry. The second part of our trip covers our long descent down the Western Flank of the Sierra to Hetch Hetchy.

This second part of this trip is subject to fewer "on the fly" modifications than the first. The reason is that our food and energy reserves become bigger factors as we put more days and miles between ourselves and our next possible resupply spot, or to the end of our trip. We do not have the option of continuing South to Tuolumne Meadows without a sufficient combination of time, energy, and food to complete the task.

Approaching Hetch Hetchy from Rancheria Falls.
Man, it's hot down here...

Kolana Rock
Hetch Hetchy Reporting Station: Groveland

Below find the trail guide pages, maps, and miles information
we have covering each part of our hike.

PART I
TRAIL GUIDE INFORMATION
The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail
BACKPACKING
across
Emigrant Wilderness

Big Picture
Backpacking Map
The Whole Highway 108 Corridor
across
The Sierra Crest
Click the Black-Dotted Routes for detailed maps,
the Red Dots for trail guide entries.

Field Use
TRAIL MAPS

TRAIL RATING
Kennedy Meadows to Relief Reservoir measures up to an
I-2 Difficulty Trail, with the Relief Reservoir to Brown Bear Pass segment of trail garnering up to an H-3 difficulty rating.
Trail Rating System

Practical
Standards

PART II
INTO YOSEMITE
Entering the top of Jack Main Canyon in Yosemite through Bond Pass hiking South on the route of the TYT merges us into the route of the Pacific Crest Trail. The combined TYT-PCT provides us with a classic route South to Tuolumne Meadows.

North Yosemite Backpacking Trips
This classic route is accented by a number of interesting routes for side trips running down to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and one trail to Twin Lakes in the Hoover Wilderness. (Bensen Lake Loop Map) The length of the PCT-TYT along the Western Flank of the Sierra across the North Yosemite Backcountry from Jack Main to Cold Canyon runs parallel with the length of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River running from Hetch Hetchy up to Glen Aulin.

Five Canyons
of the
North Yosemite Washboard
Along this classic route crossing the North Yosemite Backcountry we cross the series of infamously steep and deep very closely-spaced valleys and ridges running South off the Sierra Crestline down the West Flank of the Sierra to feed its waters, and its trails, into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River.

Difficult Terrain
These are the ridges and canyons known as “The Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry” or “The North Yosemite Washboard.” This is formidable terrain, ranked at the highest level of backpacking difficulty, H1. I've been checking-out the trails running down these canyons off the PCT-TYT to Hetch Hetchy over the years. This report below covers the hike off the route of the PCT-TYT down through Tilltill Valley and Rancheria Falls to Hetch Hetchy.

Trail Structure
of the
Five Canyons
As mentioned above, I’d previously dropped down to Hetch Hetchy through Jack Main Canyon a couple of times. Jack Main Canyon is the Westernmost of the Five Canyons, while Cold Canyon to our East composes the Eastern-most bookend of these famous Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry.
Spread across the length of the TYT-PCT crossing the Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry between Jack Main and Cold Canyons we find a series of 4 trails fed by five trail junctions running South off the main PCT-TYT route down the West Flank of the Sierra and ultimately into various positions along the length of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.

I figured I’d either run the trail down through Tilden this time, or maybe push further South along the TYT-PCT to the next trail junction down the West Flank. The next junction South of Tilden (trail guide page) is located just South of the Kerrick Canyon fording point of Rancheria Creek, meaning I was considering hiking down to the next trail South of Tilden Canyon Creek before breaking off the TYT-PCT to Hetch Hetchy. The trail for the next route running down to Hetch Hetchy out of Kerrick Canyon runs through Pleasant and Pate Valleys. (Map)

Changing Trip Plan
The evolving character and trajectory of this particular trip ultimately convinced me to break off the TYT to Hetch Hetchy via Tilden Canyon Creek, starting down the West Flank from Tilden Lake. Below are the guide pages picturing these trail junctions along with maps of all four of these trails running down the West Flank into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne through of the Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry.

PART II
YOSEMITE TRAIL GUIDE PAGES
The Five Canyons
of the
North Yosemite Backcountry
Trip Planning Materials

Dedicated to the spirit
of
Erin Anders

Trails Linking
TYT-PCT
Crossing the North Yosemite Backcountry
to the
Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River

The links to North Yosemite trail guide and map pages above do not include the final run of the combined Southbound TYT-PCT down Cold Canyon to Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp. Glen Aulin is perched above the top, the upper Eastern end of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.

Tilden Lake
Entering the very Northwestern corner of Yosemite through Bond Pass we hike six miles South down Jack Main Canyon following the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail to Tilden Lake. After climbing out of Jack Main Canyon to Tilden Lake, we resume our long descent off the upper section of the Western Flank of Yosemite’s Sierra Crest by following Tilden Canyon Creek South from Tilden Lake to the PCT junction. We'll cross the PCT and leave the route of the both trails behind where they reunite in Tilden Canyon Creek.

Off the TYT-PCT
We are departing the undulating 8 to 10,000 foot level of our combined PCT-TYT Sierra Crest trails along the Western Flank of the Sierra Crest to drop 19 miles down to 3812 feet of elevation at Hetch Hetchy.

From this point our route is dedicated to the descent into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. Our route departing the TYT-PCT begins its long, steep descent (mostly) down to Tilltill Valley along Tilden Canyon Creek below Tilden Lake. Even the steepest and deepest descents contain climbs, as does this one. We will find a couple of climbs during this long descent.

Finishing our steep descent to Tilltill Valley we find the steep descent continues down to Rancheria Falls, below which our final descending segment moderates into hiking the last steps of our trip along the undulating trail wedged in below the sheer cliffs of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne and above the ever-placid waters of Hetch Hetchy. A different way of looking at this is that our trip ends with us descending into dramatically increasing heat as we drop all the way down to the very warm shores of Hetch Hetchy.

Don't underestimate the heat at Hetch Hetchy. I've experienced high 90s and low 100s every time I've hiked down there.

RELIEF STATION
We get some small unexpected momentary relief from the heat in the lowest section of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. We are amazed to find the naturally air conditioned cool in the tunnel bored through solid rock connecting the end of our trail to the O'Shaughnessy Dam. We take our last steps through this cool tunnel before ending our trip crossing the dramatically sheer but quite narrow O'Shaughnessy Dam.

Web of the Spider
Like the vast web of trails we enjoy, O'Shaughnessy Dam and Hetch Hetchy are the key elements of a much vaster, and much more substantial web of infrastructure collecting the huge, but yet still insufficient water flow off this portion of the West Flank of the High Sierra for the disposal of the vast and rapidly growing populations of San Francisco and selected Bay Area communities.

Total Trip Miles
Kennedy Meadows to Hetch Hetchy
via
Tilltill Valley
47.84 miles

That's the general outline of this trip and a review of some of its possibilities.
Let’s look a little closer at each segment of this route and its hikers to see what's revealed.

Next page
Emigrant Wilderness
&
North Yosemite
Trail and Culture Report

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2016
High Sierra
Backpacking Trail and Culture Review
Planning
Just Another Brick in the Wall

Emigrant
and
North Yosemite Wilderness Areas

Wide Scope
On the page above we find the basic guide, map, and miles materials necessary to plan and execute fine backpacking trips out of Kennedy Meadows on the North edge of Emigrant Wilderness into the North Yosemite Backcountry and down, way down to Hetch Hetchy.

Flexible Application
With these materials we can also plan long or short backpacking trips around the high elevation elements of Emigrant Wilderness. We can plan Emigrant Wilderness backpacking trips remaining within Emigrant, or swinging East to Explore the Toiyabe National Forest and its adjacent Hoover Wilderness. We can turn South into Yosemite for the epic backpacking trip all the way down to Tuolumne Meadows. Or we can drop down Yosemite's West Sierra Flank to the big cement plug stuck into the bottom of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, the O'Shaughnessy Dam backing Hetch Hetchy up behind it.

I have not talked much about the trails running Southwest descending across the lower parts of Emigrant down the West Flank of the Sierra towards Pinecrest Lake. The reason is that my routes typically stay up along the Sierra Crest, but that's not a good excuse; the trails down from the Sierra Crest across Emigrant Wilderness are fantastic.

The problem is related to time and scale. Exploring the down-mountain potential of each section of crestline trail must be measured against the goal of covering the length of the Sierra Crest.

First the length of the Crest, then its flanks.

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