The Backpacking Trip & Trail Culture
REPORT
The North Yosemite Backcountry
Between
the
Tilden Lake Junctions
I figure it's 5.36 miles from the Northern Tilden Lake trail junction in Jack Main Canyon to the Southern Tilden Lake trail junction between Bailey and Macomb Ridges, then another tenth of a mile South to the Tiltill Valley-Hetch Hetchy trail junction pictured below.
This Tiltill Valley-Hetch Hetchy trail junction is 3.05 miles South of the Western-most shore of Tilden Lake pictured above.
DOWN MOUNTAIN
Tiltill Valley Trail Junction
South of Tilden Lake

The second trail junction South of both Tilden and Wilmer Lakes that leads us South by the Compass to Tiltill Valley, Rancheria Falls, and finally, Hetch Hetchy.
PCT-TYT
Second
Trail Junction
South of Tilden & Wilmer Lakes
Distances
TilTill Valley 9.9 miles
Rancheria Falls 12.6 miles
Hetch Hetchy 19.1 miles
Trail to Tiltill Valley

Hiking South by the compass off the TYT-PCT
This page below supplements the pages on the trail guide covering
TYT route's
five mile
route
around Tilden Lake and the PCT's 3.55 around Wilmer Lake:
Top of Page
Trail Guide
Information
Our Approaches
TYT-PCT
Trail Guide
Tilden Lake & Wilmer Lake
Trail Guide Pages
The Southern Tilden Lake junction with the PCT sits a tenth of a mile North of the trail running down Tilden Creek Canyon to Tiltill Valley
Trail Guide
Maps
How to Get Here
Miles From Trailheads to the North
Miles Chart of Tiltill Trail junction South of Sonora Pass & North of Tuolumne Meadows
The Specific Miles
PCT South to Tilltill Junction from Sonora Pass.............
PCT North to Tilltill Junction from Tuolumne Meadows... |
27.07
44.34 |
Tiltill Junction
on
PCT -TYT
to
Hetch Hetchy
Tiltill Junction on PCT-TYT to Hetch Hetchy Trailhead.... |
19.1 |
The Big View
Grand Canyon
of the
Tuolumne River
Backpacking Map
Backpacking Route Selection
Tilden vs. Wilmer Lakes
Campsite and Route Selection
The fact is we could hike around either lake before following the trail down to Tiltill Valley. I chose hiking around Tilden for three main reasons, each having to do with mosquitoes. But first, the physical differences.
Via La Differencia
The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail's 5.36 mile route from the Northern Tilden Lake trail junction to the Southern Tilden Lake trail junction around Tilden Lake is 1.81 miles longer and climbs 520 feet higher than the of the Pacific Crest Trail's route around Wilmer Lake between these same two trail junctions. Yet I prefer the Tilden Lake route. Why?
First, Tilden Lake's higher elevations dry it out quicker both because of its more open aspect which allows the Sun and the prevailing wind (which blows through three openings along the length of its canyon, being the top, bottom, and Western) to dry it out more quickly. The location and layout of Tilden Lake suppresses mosquito activity much more than in the alcove Wilmer Lake is wedged within.
Tilden Lake Campsites
Finally, I like the Tilden Lake Route because I have a fine campsite far above the green apron of mosquitoes wrapping around it. My site has great views, best wind exposure and protection, but not the best access to water. Oh well, sometimes you cannot have it all.
The attributes of my very cool Tilden Lake campsite (among a selection of backpacking campsites at Tilden Lake) points to the secondary psychological and esthetic reasons I prefer hiking and camping at Tilden over Wilmer Lake, rather than the purely physical defense from mosquito attack, which is quite enough justification alone.
Big Sky - Big Rock
Tilden Lake has expansive, big views of rock and sky looking up and reflected in its long mirror-like lake. We've got fantastic views of Tower Peak on the Sierra Crest rising to its distinctive shape above the top end of the lake, the equally distinctive Chittenden Peak towering above its West Shore and Jack Main Canyon, while the rocky terrain on the North end of Bailey Ridge offers lots of amazing terrain to explore, with amazing views up and down Jack Main Canyon.
Tilden Lake is a sweet spot on Planet Earth.
Tilden Lake Trail Guide Page
About
Wilmer Lake
Wilmer Lake is smaller, and its position wedged into Bailey Ridge along Jack Main Canyon terminates the "big sky" observing conditions we enjoy at Tilden Lake. But even more importantly, and especially during Spring and early Summer, are Wilmer Lake's incredibly bad mosquito conditions.
"Granite" Lakes
The thing about Wilmer Lake, and many lakes and meadow locations in the High Sierra, is that they are located in low positions atop great sheets of buried glacially-carved granite. After a few centuries of collecting eroded sand and soil deposits above such a glacially-sculpted granite plate we get the nice lakes and meadows that we see today surrounded by green aprons of grass and dense forests, just like at Wilmer Lake, and typifying conditions running down Upper Jack Main Canyon.
It really is a delightful, cozy scene at Wilmer Lake. Relaxing, protected, and quiet. Snug as a bug in a rug. A rug made out of mosquitoes!
The whole little basin holding Wilmer Lake between its surrounding rock walls sits atop a great sheet of granite holding as much water as it can. This whole area to the East of Falls Creek to Bailey Ridge where Wilmer Lake is located holds water like a cup, maintaining wet conditions and massive mosquito populations around Wilmer Lake long after the surrounding terrain has fully dried out.
Wilmer Lake's surroundings hold water. Lots of water.
I have always figured there's a big plate or sheet of cupped granite under this whole area that maintains a higher level of soil saturation than the surrounding areas even during the Spring Thaw, then continues to hold moisture even after the surrounding terrain dries out.
Wilmer has mosquitoes well after Jack Main Canyon has dried out!
There are lots of lakes like that up and down the Sierra Crest. Keep your eyes open so we can locate our campsites away from those spots that hold extra water and harbor extra mosquitoes deep into Summer.
These mosquito observation and avoidance practices were necessary during this trip through the medium-heavy mosquito conditions happening during early July of 2016.
Though not at their heaviest intensity, the mosquitoes were heavy and formidable during early July of 2016.
Wilmer Lake Trail Guide Page
Top of Page
2016 PCT HIKERS
at the
TOP
of
JACK MAIN CANYON
The Main Body of PCT Hikers
Dropping into Jack Main Canyon hiking South through Bond Pass in early July assured that we are going to meet a whole lot of PCT hikers who've covered a whole lot of miles (Previous Page!).
I have never seen so many PCT hikers in my life, and I've spent a lot of time on the Crest Trails hiking South during "PCT time."
Yet just a short distance away from the PCT at Tilden Lake there was nobody but me for the two nights I camped there.
Nobody.
We depart the heavy traffic of constant PCT hikers onto a short segment of the TYT around Tilden Lake with no hikers, nobody camping around Tilden Lake, and not a single person to be seen over the two nights I camped at Tilden Lake. I scouted around.
Perfectly quiet until we return to the PCT.
Eye of the Hurricane
As we relaxed at Tilden Lake we were fully aware that a steady, heavy flow of PCT hikers was moving through the PCT-TYT trail junction to the South of Tilden Lake, passing around Wilmer Lake, where they turn North to continue up Jack Main Canyon.
I knew they were there, a long line of humanity stretching from Tuolumne Meadows to Sonora Pass, though I could not see them.
Leaving the combined route of the PCT-TYT behind us after following the TYT's annex around Tilden Lake is going to radically change our cultural and physical context with just a few steps off the main route, as it did here at Tilden Lake, but only more so.
Early July 2016
By my observations this date in time, early July, during this particular year's seasonal trajectory temperature rises timing the Spring Thaw and the subsequent trail opening dates, entering the PCT here in Northwestern Yosemite on July 13 puts us into the tail end of the "main body" of this year's PCT hikers. Although there seems to be an endless stream of Northbound PCT hikers as we hike South, their is a logic to their distribution.
(PCT Hiker Sample in Jack Main Canyon of 2016)
Hiking just a couple of miles off the Pacific Crest Trail following the TYT up to Tilden Lake dramatically changes the Nature of the cultural terrain from that of "Very Busy" to "Very Quiet," before we have even forded Falls Creek, and gotten very far away from the PCT!
The Last PCT Hiker

The last PCT hiker encountered before turning off PCT-TYT to Hetch Hetchy via Tiltill Valley.
Note the most excellent mosquito net pants. This was the best "lowers" solution I had seen for dealing with the combination of heavy heat and mosquitoes.
Cool and protective.
Nice!
Dude looked strong and happy.
Off
the
Over beaten Path
Tiltill Valley to Rancheria Falls to Hetch Hetchy
Taking just a few steps off the PCT towards Tiltill Valley quickly puts us into a much quieter environment that resembles the situation before hiking the Pacific Crest Trail became part of pop culture: quiet.
Hiking the PCT has apparently graduated from being an expression of a sub-culture to an expression of pop culture. This is "good" if it does not draw folks to their deaths.
Very Little Use
2016 and Recent Years
Across the nine miles descending from the PCT-TYT down to Tiltill Valley we saw no hikers at all, and only spotted tracks along the faint trail indicating that only two hikers had been on the trail since the end of the Spring Thaw.
Careful Observations Spots
During July of 2016 I encountered three positions that required me to come to a dead stop, and observe carefully from Right, to Center, to Left to find indications of continuing trail.
One location caused me to note the end of trail as I started a 180 degree physical search for the continuing route. The totality of the route showed signs of long periods of very light usage and only basic maintenance.
I found these conditions refreshing.
OFF
the
TYT-PCT
After hiking the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail around Tilden Lake we will not resume the unified Southbound routes of the TYT-PCT to Tuolumne Meadows. Instead we are going to turn South and off the route of the TYT-PCT to explore this trail route reaching almost all the way down the Western Flank from the Sierra from Crest to Hetch Hetchy. The highest point of this line of trail is where it wraps around Tilden Lake, from where we enjoy the sight of Tower Peak capping this section of the Sierra Crest. The lowest point will be crossing O'Shaughnessy Dam at the end of our hike.
The
Five Canyons
of the
North Yosemite Backcountry:
Context
Jack Main Canyon is the first, or Westernmost of the Five Canyons. Each of these canyons runs from the Sierra Crest all the way down the Western Flank of the Sierra to Hetch Hetchy. This distance is around 26 miles from the line of the Sierra Crest to the Shores of Hetch Hetchy in the Grand Canyon, while the distance between the line of our PCT-TYT trail to the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne averages out at around 20 miles, depending on how direct the specific trail's route is.
Our trail down into the Grand Canyon via Tiltill Valley described below is within the next Canyon to the East of Jack Main Canyon, which is the first or last of the Five Canyons, depending on how you look at it. Our distance from the PCT-TYT trail junction below Tilden Lake to the shore of Hetch Hetchy is around 13 miles, with about six more miles to the Hetch Hetchy Trailhead, making the total of this downhill section of our hike about 20 miles.
Review the next four maps linked to below to get a better understanding of the context of the terrain and our 5 trail options for breaking off the line of the PCT-TYT along the Sierra Crest & hiking down to the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.
Order of Five Canyons
Tilden and Kerrick Canyons
To the East of Tilden Canyon we find the next trail down into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River branching off from the South bank of the Kerrick Canyon Ford. That trail runs over the ridge making up the South wall of Kerrick Canyon through Bear Valley on its way climbing out of Kerrick Canyon, then down to the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River on the Spine of Ridge dividing Rancheria Creek's run down to Hetch Hetchy via Rancheria Falls from the trail coming down through Rodgers Canyon. The following map was constructed to display the trails down Jack Main and Tilden Canyons and the route from Kerrick Canyon to Rancheria Falls:
Lower
Jack Main Canyon
7.5 Minute Backpacking Trail Map
Continuing South along the PCT-TYT past Kerrick Canyon we find the next trail down to the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne near the top of our intense climb South out of Bensen Lake's low point, where we find the two closely-spaced trail junctions under Volunteer Peak leading South off the PCT-TYT via Rodgers Canyon and Rodgers Lake, respectively, on their way to Pate Valley in the bottom of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.
We find a trail schematic reveals that the Rodgers Canyon and Rodgers Lake trail junctions ultimately creates a Y shape as both trails feeds the same route down Rodgers Canyon, despite their two different trails out of their closely-spaced trail junctions greeting us, after we climb to the base of Volunteer Peak hiking South towards Smedberg Lake.
Rodgers Canyon to Pate Valley
7.5 Minute Backpacking Trail Map
East of Rodgers Canyon trail junctions (located between Bensen and Smedberg Lakes) there are no more trails off the PCT-TYT down to the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne until the route of the PCT-TYT itself turns South for its run down Cold Canyon to Glen Aulin.
Glen Aulin marks the Easternmost reach of the top end of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. Glen Aulin marks the point where the Tuolumne River flows down into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River.
I consider Glen Aulin the beginning or end of the Grand Canyon of the T, depending on which way we are hiking. For me the bookends of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River are O'Shaughnessy Dam and Glen Aulin.
We cross what I consider to be the final of the Five Canyons where we drop into and climb out of Virginia Canyon on our way into the top of Cold Canyon.
Note where the lines of Virginia and Matterhorn Canyons converge on the map below, and how the creek running down Cold Canyon flows into the top of the Grand Canyon with the Tuolumne River, rather than feeding the Canyon itself, as do the creeks running down the
Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry.
Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River
30 Minute Backpacking Trail Map
Aligned and Related
Our goal here is to figure out the alignment and relationship of the line of the Sierra Crest with the route of the TYT-PCT, and how Crest and Trail sit in relationship to the lines of the Five Canyons running from the Crest into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River. That's the area we want to understand. These are the preliminary issues we need to address to hike across the North Yosemite Backcountry in an informed manner.
Sierra Crestline around North Yosemite Backcountry
30 Minute Backpacking Trail Map
Understanding how the bending line of the Sierra Crest wrapping around the North Yosemite Backcountry is linked to the Grand Canyon through the Five Canyons is the key to explaining and understanding the broader lay of the land across the Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry and the route of the TYT-PCT across it.
I always need to establish a basic framework, or context.
NEXT
Well, this context outlines the perimeter of the North Yosemite Backcountry and defines the routes of the rivers, ridges, creeks, and trails through it. Above we have only defined the "box" it sits in, and the lines of trail through it. That is just the beginning.
Now comes the fun part. Well, the other fun parts! Our next step is stepping in to the North Yosemite Backcountry to find and fit together the specific details of each of the pieces of this vast and grand High Sierra terrain "puzzle" through active engagement and exploration.
We need to engage our context
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The
TYT-PCT
Across the North Yosemite Backcountry
The combined routes of the Southbound PCT & TYT run East-Southeast by the compass from their departure climbing East out of the first of these Five Canyons, Jack Main Canyon, to their descent into the Easternmost of the Five Canyons, Virginia Canyon.
We hike North and South in Jack Main and Cold Canyons on the ends of the Five Canyons. We hike East & West through the Canyons between Jack Main and Cold Canyons.
The route of the PCT-TYT across the North Yosemite Backcountry traces out its route about six miles below the line of the Sierra Crest as it crosses the upper reaches of these massive Five Canyons. The total length of these canyons draining the Western Flank of North Yosemite ranges around 30 miles between Crest and Canyon as they all flow into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River.
It's a Good Thing
One of the good things about this trail guide is you can look at every trail junction along the length of the covered trails. This means you can look at the miles figures given by the steel Yosemite junction signs, though they may be dated, and, "advisory, rather than authoritative"
CLICK-CLICK
the
MAPS
Another good thing is that clicking the red dots marking the trail junctions on the detailed trail maps links us to the trail guide entry for that location.
Clicking the routes and regions on the 30 minute large-scale maps links to the detailed maps for those positions clicked. Clicking the labels on all the maps brings us to its adjacent maps.
Why
The Five Canyons
has
So Many Names
These massive and majestic Five Canyons of the North Yosemite Backcountry are the feeder canyons draining the whole length of the Sierra Crest wrapping around the North Yosemite Backcountry into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River.
High & Deep
Each of the ridges bracketing these massive canyons is but a stone's throw to the next massive ridge along this series of very-very closely-spaced massive High Sierra ridges divided by deep canyons.
Hard Terrain
What makes these canyons distinctive and merits the many names they've been given, besides and in addition to their obvious beauty on multiple levels, is the fact that there is no distance between the end of one long, steep climb, our immediate descent, and the beginning of our next steep climb. All the climbs and descents across these Five Canyons come in a rapid-fire sequence with no rest between, bringing the name,
"North Yosemite Washboard."
This close-in spacing demands a much higher energy output to maintain pace and daily distance than the rest of the trail South to Mount Whitney and the trail North to Lake Tahoe. This difference is noticeable, and draws the hiker's attention to this demanding terrain, which inspires us to find words that characterize its uniqueness.
Thus we hear the terms, "The Five Canyons," "The North Yosemite Backcountry," and "The Washboard" spoken with respect by informed backpackers.
These two maps below clearly show the relationship between the Sierra Crest wrapping around the North Yosemite Backcountry, the line of the PCT across the Five Canyons below the Sierra Crest, and lines of the Five Canyons draining into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River far below.
Hiking the line of the PCT-TYT across the North Yosemite Backcountry runs us across the top of the Western Watershed of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River from the time we enter the North Yosemite Backcountry crossing Bond Pass into Jack Main Canyon all the way down to our long descent down Cold Canyon to Glen Aulin.
That whole stretch of trail and terrain from Jack Main Canyon to Cold Canyon feeds directly into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, and each of its canyons are "nut to butt," in the parlance of my boot camp D.I.
Yes they are.
The terrain upstream of Glen Aulin also feeds into the Grand Canyon, but that water is coming down from Tuolumne Meadows, and all the terrain wedged in between the Western Flanks of the Sierra and Eastern Flanks of Cathedral Ranges wrapping around Tuolumne Meadows and all the way South to Donohue Pass.
That terrain above Glen Aulin is very different than the run of the PCT-TYT across the Five Canyons.
It is hard to get a "feel" for such a long and difficult section of trail.
Keep on Trucking
Once we cross the Five Canyons enough times to get a good feel for the terrain along the trail we will begin scrambling around off the trail, and explore the trails and terrain off the trail tying the Sierra Crest to the Grand Canyon.
This particular trip is one of those times to explore the next of the Five Canyons, this time the trail from Tilden Lake through Tiltill Valley to Rancheria Falls and down to Hetch Hetchy. Is it time for you to begin exploring this remote terrain?
Then join me below to check out these trails across the North Yosemite Backcountry. I've run down Jack Main Canyon twice, and will build a page covering that freeking-amazing route soon.
I've also hiked in and out of the North Yosemite Backcountry through Twin Lakes in the Hoover Wilderness, but I don't think I ever took any pictures.
NEXT
On the page below we explore the trail tracking from Tilden Lake to Hetch Hetchy. This is the next canyon to the East of Jack Main Canyon running down to Hetch Hetchy.
North Yosemite Backpacking Forum
Top of Page:
TILDEN LAKE
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