A Fine Route
The 16.04 mile length of the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail from Kennedy Meadows to the Yosemite Boundary at Bond Pass across Emigrant Wilderness presents different levels of difficulty to backpackers with different levels of fitness.
The key to a fine trip is matching your capacity to your trip plan.
Each backpacker's different physical capabilities, their very different paces, different daily miles, and differing needs for food and rest, let alone their very different preferences, tastes, and expectations suggest very different hiking plans for different people.
You must find the proper plan for your pace, daily miles, and preferences, and train for even higher performance. Getting the correct match between your trip plans and your physical capabilities will be critical to how the trip, "feels."
A bad mismatch can be very painful, and a perfect match delightful.
Find Yourself in the Mountains
These potentially very profound differences between various backpacker's capacities, expectations, and goals result in very different patterns of use of the series of potential campsites we find crossing the first 16 miles of our trip from Kennedy Meadows to our entrance into Yosemite through Bond Pass.
I like to run different patterns through this terrain to experience all the campsite locations over time.
Capacity and Preferences
Determines Miles and therefore our Campsites
Our specific selection of campsites along this part of the trip depends on how we are going to feel making the first big 10.92 mile climb from Kennedy Meadows Pack Station to Brown Bear Pass.
First Day
Some hikers have the capacity to hike these 10.92 miles (ascending 3360 feet) in less than a day, others may take two days. It's not uncommon for hikers to pull a short first hiking day, only hiking the 4.3 miles from Kennedy Meadows to the fine beauties of the campsites at Relief Reservoir.
Shorter Route Options
For some hikers the campsites in Lunch Meadow (Trail Guide Image) 9.23 miles South of Kennedy Meadows under the West flank of Brown Bear Pass, may be the first day's goal.
Above the top of Lunch Meadow we find the trail breaking off South through the low rise of Mosquito Pass. There are two passes in the proximity of Lunch Meadow.
This two-pass configuration allows hikers to plan reasonable, "lollypop loops," out of Kennedy Meadows consisting of backpacking trips pivoting around through these two passes at the top of Lunch Meadow.
We can turn South through Mosquito Pass (Guide: Trail Junction), to hike up the North Fork of Cherry Creek from Emigrant Lake to put us in Emigrant Meadow on the East side of Brown Bear Pass. We'll complete the loop by hiking Westbound through Brown Bear Pass back to Lunch Meadow on our way back to finish this delightful little, "lollypop loop," back at Kennedy Meadows Pack Station, where we started.
We could continue further South from Emigrant Lake before turning even larger loops back to Brown Bear Pass through Horse Meadow, then Snow Lake.
Examine the maps to reveal a whole lot of killer little routes looping around the High Emigrant Wilderness.
Just for You
On any route it's your pace, capacities, and comfort zone that are going to determine not just which pace and daily miles will anchor your trip plan, but for how many days you can maintain those daily miles at that pace.
Properly balancing these factors will determine your actual pace across your planned daily miles. If you are fit and trained you likely have a reasonable idea of your strength and endurance capabilities.
It is much more difficult to make perfect plans for those of us not aware of our physical capacities. We are going to have to ascertain our capacities, which is better done during training at home than under the unremitting demands of High Sierra trails.
Testing-Testing
Find the local hills that most closely resemble the steepness of the High Sierra, load your pack to your anticipated trip weight, and hit the trail to hike the daily miles distance your trip plan requires.
How you respond to these tests should suggest both the final selection of a route and pace fitting your current level of training and experience, as well as the additional training you are going to require to hit the 15 mile per day capacity I consider the floor-level of backpacking capability for successful long distance High Sierra backpacking.
In every case it is wise to plan shorter miles and days at the beginning of trips to give yourself a chance to warm-up and accommodate acclimation.
Standard
TYT
Emigrant Wilderness
Campsites
Trail Guide Citations
The standard locations of campsites between Kennedy Meadows across our first 10.92 mile climbing segment along the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail to Brown Bear Pass are at Relief Reservoir, Saucer Meadow, Sheep Camp, and upper and lower Lunch Meadow campsites.
The Emigrant Wilderness TYT Miles and Elevations Page cites the miles and elevations to and between each of these campsites, and each of these sites are located by the Red Dots marked on our hiking maps. Each of these red dots links to their respective trail guide entries.
Mosquitoes
Beyond Brown Bear pass we enter and cross the series of meadows composing High Emigrant Basin. These are Emigrant, Grizzly, and Summit Meadows. These meadows are full of mosquitoes when moist, requiring all those camping up here to deploy full mosquito protection. Heck, full mosquito protection is vital for all Spring-to-mid Summer hikers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mosquitoes are a real problem from the beginning of the Spring Thaw to the point the mountains finally dry out.
The average "drop dead" date for mosquitoes in the Sierra is typically August 15, but this changes year to year depending on moisture and temperature conditions.
Emigrant Basin
Hub of the Wheel
Crossing Brown Bear Pass Southbound on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail opens up the Emigrant Basin for our explorations, if we give ourselves the time to explore. The Emigrant Basin contains great expanses of terrain perfect for extensive cross-country scrambling and explorations, if that is our goal and true destination.
We could bring an extra day's food to give us the time to take a day off in the Emigrant Basin to do some exploratory scrambling. I have found all sorts of cool things scrambling around up here.
Emigrant Meadow and Lake
We will not indulge in scrambling this time, as our current trip is passing through on its way to Yosemite. Crossing Brown Bear Pass we can see our next potential campsites in the boulder formations around the North Shore of Emigrant Meadow Lake to our East. I don't like these sites so much, because of the huge populations of mosquitoes around Emigrant Meadow Lake and its surrounding wet meadows that preserver deep into each Summer's season. Climbing over the ridge to the East of Emigrant Lake and its Meadow brings us by two small unnamed lakes before our reaching the trail junction under Grizzly Peak in Grizzly Meadow.
I like to camp at the second lake, the one closest to Grizzly Peak.
Grizzly Peak Campsite
(Little Lake West of Grizzly Peak)
I have a nice campsite on an elevated, shaded flat on an elevated ledge above the second lake and its tiny meadow. The lake, shelf, and meadow are all located less than 600 yards West of Grizzly Peak.
Grizzly Peak Trail Junction
Reaching the Grizzly Peak trail junction we notice the trail running North and South looks in places like an old dirt road. It is. Our route on the Southbound Tahoe to Yosemite Trail is turning South onto the old Tungsten Road.
But, if we hiked North on the Tungsten Road it would bring us over Big Sam to the Pacific Crest Trail at the top of Kennedy Canyon. From that point we could hike West to Kennedy Meadows Pack Station, East on the PCT towards Leavitt Meadow, or North on the PCT towards the Sonora Pass Trailhead on Highway 108.
2
Four-Way Trail Junctions
We can point ourselves in any direction from both the Grizzly Peak and Kennedy Canyon trail junctions because both these junctions are located along the Sierra Crest with trails leading to our cardinal compass points. (Wiki) These two crestline trail junctions open up and tie together many, many backpacking routes for us to explore.
TWO JUNCTIONS
Trail Guide Entries
Southbound TYT
Continuing South from the Grizzly Peak trail junction along the TYT-Tungsten Road we descend into Summit Meadow to find the trail splitting our TYT route up to Bond Pass from the end of this part of the old Tungsten Road running out to Snow Lake.
Snow Lake
There are lots of fine campsites around Snow Lake. But the real attraction of Snow Lake is the unmaintained trail (definition) climbing from its Southwestern Shore. This trail leads over the saddle to Biglow Lake and the trail to Maxwell and Middle Emigrant Lakes, which leads us back to Mosquito Pass. We can use the trail from Snow Lake to turn a substantial Emigrant Wilderness backpacking loop back to the Southwest towards our starting trailhead at Kennedy Meadows Pack Station via Maxwell Lake to Mosquito Pass, which brings us back to the TYT in Lunch Meadow.
Many Emigrant Wilderness
Backpacking Loops
Or we can turn North from Grizzly Peak on the Tungsten Road for a shorter return leg to Kennedy Meadows via Kennedy Lake. Hiking East through Emigrant Pass from Grizzly Peak brings us down the East Flank to reunite with the PCT at the West West Walker River Bridge.
Into Yosemite
Those of us continuing South on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail begin the moderate climb out of Summit Meadow up to our Bond Pass entrance into the very Northwestern corner of Yosemite National Park. Our subsequent descent brings us into the top of Jack Main Canyon, where our TYT trail hooks up with the route of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Or
Local Backpacking Loops...
Here at the top of Jack Main Canyon local backpackers find their last and most distant opportunity to turn North back towards Kennedy Meadows. At the top of Jack Main Canyon we can follow the Northbound PCT through Dorothy Lake Pass to find a series of trails that can run us back to Kennedy Meadows Pack Station by a variety of very interesting routes.
Again, check out the
Big
Backpacking Loops
If we turn North on the PCT from the top of Jack Main Canyon we will find three routes subsequently breaking off the Northbound Pacific Crest Trail linking up with the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail, with each eventually bringing us back to Kennedy Meadows by very different routes. Each of these trails gives also gives us access to the very different characters of terrain and experience in the different parts of the Emigrant Wilderness.
Range of the Range
Emigrant Wilderness and its associated strips of Toiyabe, Hoover, and Yosemite give us a kaleidoscopic range of terrains of very different materials. These very different materials have been cut, melted, and sculpted into a crazy range of beautiful shapes, colors, and configurations, each of which supports and displays amazing combinations of life.
Thus the utility of beginning and ending our trips through different trailheads. Each offers access through its unique configurations of materials, terrain, colors, textures, and life. The Leavitt Meadow and Sonora Pass Trailheads along Highway 108 offer excellent entrance or exit points if we don't want to hike all the way back to Kennedy Meadows Pack Station, or we want to explore the unique characteristics of the terrain those trails cross on their respective routes to Sonora Pass and Leavitt Meadow Trailheads.
NORTH
from the
Top of Jack Main Canyon
Once we turn North on the PCT in the top of Jack Main Canyon our first route back to the TYT is found hiking up the West West Walker River and through Emigrant Pass back to the TYT at Grizzly Peak.
Our second option also brings us back to the TYT at Grizzly Peak, but from a different direction. We continue North on the PCT to the trail junction at the top of Kennedy Canyon, where we can turn South over Big Sam to intercept the TYT, again at Grizzly Peak, but this time approaching it from the North.
Our third option is also found at the top of Kennedy Canyon, but involves hiking West past Kennedy Lake to hook up with the TYT just a couple of miles South of Kennedy Meadows Pack Station.
We have an amazing number of backpacking loops and trailhead to trailhead backpacking trips we can launch out of Kennedy Meadows Pack Station.
All of our major route options described above are depicted on
THE
SONORA PASS REGION MAP
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