Trail Guide
JMT
NORTH

Sunrise
HSC
to
Little
Yosemite
Valley

30 min
Map

Central
and
South
Yosemite
Wilderness

Resupply

North
Tuolumne
Meadows

South
Yosemite
Valley

Sierra
Weather

North
Yosemite
Weather

Crux Move
This page begins at the point where we've arrived at the Little Yosemite Valley trail junction along the Merced River. This junction is located between the nice beach along the Merced River a few feet to our South and the backpackers camp a few yards to our North.

South, Eventually
From this point we are hiking the next segment of this section of trail South from Yosemite Valley to Reds Meadow Pack Station along an alternative route crossing the Cathedral Range via Vogelsang High Sierra Camp, instead of the standard route over Cathedral Pass along the John Muir Trail.
The standard route of the John Muir Trail climbs North out of the Merced River Canyon from our current position at this Little Yosemite Valley junction up the Southwest flank of the Cathedral Range through Sunrise High Sierra Camp on its way to Tuolumne Meadows. Since we already hiked down from Tuolumne Meadows to The Valley along that route we have crafted and are now going to follow an alternative route to further expand our knowledge, on the pages following below.
Another goal here is to get back up to the Sierra Crest and the route of the JMT in such a way as to minimize our loss of miles along the Sierra Crest while maximizing our exploration of the Central Yosemite Wilderness. As much, "bang for our buck" as possible, as we hike down to and out of Yosemite Valley.

Simply stated, I want to miss as few miles along the Sierra Crest as possible, while getting in as many miles along our way down into Yosemite Valley and on our way back to the Sierra Crestline.

Alternative Route back to the John Muir Trail
We continue East up along the Merced River from Little Yosemite Valley until we turn North from Merced Lake Ranger Station to begin climbing over the Cathedral Range via Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. We do have another, much longer option via Isberg Pass that brings us up to, then around the South end of The Ritter Range under the Minarets to the John Muir Trail at Reds Meadow Pack Station.
That even-longer route requires we hike straight upriver through the Merced Lake Ranger Station trail junction, rather than turn North for the hike over the Cathedral Range via Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. That hike up the Merced River through Isberg Pass looks like a significantly longer alternative route to Reds Meadow than our route across Vogelsang and then South along the John Muir Trail.

Back to the
John Muir Trail
After reaching Vogelsang High Sierra Camp along the Cathedral Crest our Golden Triangle Route descends Northeast to pick up the John Muir Trail 5.6 miles South of Tuolumne Meadows in Lyell Canyon.
From there we'll continue South on the John Muir Trail along the East Flanks of the Cathedral and Ritter Ranges, eventually descending under the Minarets to where we'll pick up our next resupply at Reds Meadow.
This route through Yosemite Valley on our way from Tahoe to Whitney and back across the center of Yosemite Wilderness to the Sierra Crestline adds substantial miles, elevation, and a wide variety of natural and social experiences to our "standard" Tahoe to Whitney Backpacking Route.

A Good
"Investment"
Though the Golden Triangle brings us substantially off the line of the Sierra Crestline I have found that every part of Yosemite is well worth the time and energy invested to explore it. Any valley located at 4000 feet of elevation with three-thousand foot vertical granite cliff faces rising out of it is well worth carrying a heavy backpack down across its vast sheets of ice-cut and weathered granite, so we can ourselves experience physically linking the Sierra Crest to Yosemite Valley as many times and as many ways as we posiibly can...

Always More Trails
I look forward to eventually exploring the Western Alternative Route around the West and Southwest Flanks of the Cathedral and Ritter Ranges via Isberg Pass to Reds Meadow. I've looked over the crest of the Ritter Range at this route from the backside of Banner more than a few times.

Paths Less Taken
That route over Isberg Pass really looks like a much less-used alternative to the standard route of the John Muir Trail. The JMT wraps around these same mountains' Eastern flanks hiking South to Reds Meadow, while the trail over Isberg Pass finds its way around their Southwestern flanks. These views are very complimentary!

Find All Possible Routes
We can trace the Isberg Pass route out on the South-Central Yosemite 30 minute backpacking map below. We can also find both legs of our Golden Triangle hike down to Yosemite Valley along the JMT and back up our alternative route to the Sierra Crest on that map, as well as the route of a standard Tahoe to Whitney trip simply transitioning from the TYT-PCT in the North Sierra onto the JMT-PCT down the South Sierra by simply tracing out the route of the main Sierra Crestline trails running North to South across Tuolumne Meadows.

Central & South Yosemite Hiking Map
30 minute topo hiking map

From our Current Position at
Little Yosemite Valley Backpackers Camp Trail Junction

EAST-WEST
Link to the previous guide page for the John Muir Trail running East-West covering the:
John Muir Trail from Little Yosemite Valley to Yosemite Valley.
3.92 miles

EAST-WEST
The trail guide page below covering the John Muir Trail running East-West between:
Little Yosemite Valley and Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
8.18 miles

NORTH on the ALT ROUTE
Our Next page where this Eastbound page following below turns North to climb from
Merced Lake up the Cathedral Range to Vogelsang High Sierra Camp.
7.75 miles

NORTH JMT on the STANDARD ROUTE
The classic route of the John Muir Trail North out of Little Yosemite Valley is covered here:
Sunrise High Sierra Camp to Little Yosemite Valley.
8.72 miles

YOSEMITE VALLEY to REDS MEADOW
Our series of daily objectives after hiking through the Happy Isles Trailhead in Yosemite Valley will roughly work out to be Little Yosemite Valley, Merced Lake, Evelyn Lake, Donohue Pass, Island Pass, then into Reds Meadow.
Your tastes in backpacking pace likely vary from mine, so adjust your plan to suite your
own pace, preferences, and capabilities.

Section Tip
I typically pack two days of extra food along this section of trail to allow for a couple of days of scrambling and exploration around Banner Peak, or one full day around Banner & 1000 Island Lake and an extra night at another to-be-selected place along the route. There are lots of beautiful places to be explored more extensively than the parameters of daily backpacking allows. So I pack a day or two of extra food to give myself that space.

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
Little Yosemite Valley
Miles and Elevations

1090 foot elevation gain over 8.4 miles

Little Yosemite Valley was one of the early High Sierra Camps.

Here at Little Yosemite Valley begins a wide selection of hiking option for local hikers remaining in Yosemite National Park. Our options split off North and East.

To the North is one of the busiest, most regulated, and hardest to get hiking permits in the United States, being the route of the John Muir Trail. But, it does not get a whole lot easier to get permits continuing East up the Merced River to our destination in Lyell Canyon. Nor to connect these lines of trail together into local loops. Hiking in Yosemite requires permit planning as much as logistical and physical preparation.

Hikers must remember that permits become available for reservations six months in advance of desired dates, and all the reservations for the most desired dates on Yosemite's popular trails are rapidly snapped up.

Inspect the Yosemite Permits Page for more information.

The High Sierra Backpacking Calendar notes each year's opening of reservations
with the close of the calendar year. That's when we need to start thinking about Yosemite permits for the following Summer.

Regardless of permit issues and the popularity of the "named" trails, all of the routes through the Central Yosemite Wilderness have a classic appeal and draw substantial public and backpacker attention, which requires study and sustained attention to obtain desired permit dates.

How do I deal with the popularity of Yosemite?

I became a four-season backpackers so I would have three seasons of the Sierra to myself.
Problem Solved.

Comments

Little Yosemite Valley
to
Merced Lake
Backpackers and High Sierra Camp

8.4 miles in 12:50 minutes.

This trail winds its way up the base of the Merced Canyon along the Merced River
below a line of sheer granite walls, striking points, and rounded domes. We make our way upriver
following the undulating line of granite canyon arcing from one green little valley wedged in along
the floor of the canyon to the next, spaced out like a series of forest-pearls along a precious chain of pure granite.

It's a necklace by and for the Spirit of Life.

Transitions
Merced River Trail Junction
Little Yosemite Valley Backpackers Camp

Up and Down
Across
The Heart of Yosemite

The last time we were at this junction in Little Yosemite Valley was when we were turning down to Yosemite Valley at the end of our hike down the John Muir Trail from Tuolumne Meadows. This time we are continuing up the Merced River hiking out of The Valley, out of the Little Yosemite Valley, out of the Central Yosemite Wilderness, and we will shortly be hiking out of Yosemite National Park as well.

We are going to do this using two great canyons divided by the Cathedral Range. On this side of the mountain we are following the Merced River through its fantastic upper granite canyon up between the Southwest flank of the Cathedral Range and the Northeast Flank of the Clarks Range.

I make the distinction between the upper section of the canyon
from the lower. Yosemite Valley itself is what I consider the Lower Merced River Canyon.

Once we get up to Merced Lake we will have the Vogelsang Massif of the Cathedral Range separating us from Lyell Canyon draining the Northeastern flank of the Cathedral Range. Our long gradual ascent East up the Merced River turns steep where we turn North climb out the canyon to get over Vogelsang. Our serious climbing begins from the trail junction at the substantial Merced Lake Ranger Station-cabin.

This page below looks at the trail from Little Yosemite Backpackers camp up to the Steele Yosemite Trail Miles Signs at the Merced Lake High Sierra and backpackers camps.

Trail Section
INDEX

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JMT North

(Sunrise HSC to Little Yosemite guide page)
follows the
ARROW
pointing to
Backpackers Camp
(Maybe 75 Feet)
followed by the

Sign Below:

JMT
Climbing North
to
Half Dome
&
Tuolumne Meadows
As Indicated:

Sign pointing North to the steep climb up the John Muir Trail to Tuolumne Meadows from junction along the Merced River a few steps South of the backpackers camp in Little Yosemite Valley.

Little Yosemite Valley is a brief interlude between the steep climb up from Yosemite Valley that led there, and the steep climb up to Sunrise High Sierra Camp laying below the West end of the Cathedral Range.

Standard JMT Miles
Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley
Miles and Elevations

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East
from
Little Yosemite Valley
up the
Merced River

Climbing the Main Line
out of
The Heart of Yosemite

Trail Junction at the Beach

6140 feet

3.92 miles East of Yosemite Valley

22.02 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Lake Merced HSC
8.18 miles

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
LITTLE YOSEMITE
Miles and Elevations

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This Is
Merced Lake trail junction just South of Little Yosemite Valley backpackers camp.

We are facing East looking at the arrow pointing to Left, North to the Little Yosemite Backpackers Camp and the JMT climbing North out of Little Yosemite Valley to Half Dome & on to Tuolumne Meadows.

WE, & THE PAGE BELOW
CONTINUES STRAIGHT EAST THROUGH THIS JUNCTION TO MERCED LAKE.

Following the arrow pointing North, Left, brings us to and past the Little Yosemite Backpackers Camp along the route of the John Muir Trail for the hike covered by the trail guide page from
Little Yosemite Valley up to Sunrise High Sierra Camp

The second sign above specifics the John Muir Trail miles to Tuolumne Meadows.

The guide page below covers our hike continuing East, straight through this junction above, upriver along the Merced River to Merced Lake. Let's explore our local hiking options hiking up the Merced River from here.

Central Yosemite Wilderness
Backpacking Loops
The map above lays out both the John Muir Trail climbing North to Tuolumne Meadows and our route Eastbound up the Merced River to Merced Lake. Our route up the Merced River also provides a different route up to Tuolumne Meadows than the John Muir Trail. Our route hiking further up the Merced River from Little Yosemite Valley crosses the Cathedral Range just above Merced Lake via Vogelsang High Sierra Camp.

Both these routes to Tuolumne Meadows radiate from their shared start point in Yosemite Valley like two sides of a great triangle reaching up to two different points along the John Muir Trail in high altitude Yosemite. The JMT climbs to Tuolumne Meadows while our route up the Merced River brings us to a point in Lyell Canyon 5.6 miles South of Tuolumne Meadows. This complete circut would be the full extent of the Golden Triangle.

Another trail from Vogelsang also offers us the option of hiking directly to Tuolumne Meadows through Tuolumne Pass. We choose the trail South into Lyell Canyon as it suites our route continuing South out of Yosemite along the John Muir Trail, but we do have shorter backpacking route options remaining within Yosemite National Park to explore, so let's explore them.

Shorter Loops
Out of Yosemite Valley
We can see three ways to turn these two trails, the trail up the Merced River to Lyell Canyon and Tuolumne Meadows via Vogelsang, and the John Muir Trail route up to Tuolumne Meadows, into fine short Central Yosemite backpacking loops on the map above. Our shortest potential loop up the Merced River turns around through Echo Valley by climbing to the Merced-Washburn Lakes Trail junction on the John Muir Trail, then returning to Yosemite Valley via the JMT.

A second and longer loop also turns up, North from Echo Valley, but hikes further up the Cathedral branch of Echo Creek all the way up to Sunrise High Sierra Camp before follwing the JMT back to Yosemite Valley. Our third and longest loop option continues up the Merced River and over Vogelsang into Lyell Canyon before following the John Muir Trail route back to Tuolumne Meadows and eventually down to The Valley.

These loops are all shorter versions of The Golden Triangle, which we Tahoe to Yosemite backpackers hike to where it intersects with the route of the John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon 5.6 miles South of Tuolumne Meadows, to better position ourselves to exit the South end of Yosemite National Park, as our ultimate goal is the Whitney Portal.

Hiker's Choice
Central Yosemite Backpacking Loops
The length of our potential loops around the Heart of the Central Yosemite Wilderness depends on which trail junctions we use to tie the trail up the Merced River with our return route down the John Muir Trail. Or visa-versa. The web of trails linking the John Muir Trail to Clouds Rest and Tenaya Lake allow us to craft expanded custom routes around the center of Yosemite.

The Longest Trail
My favorite route is as depicted on this guide. It's not a loop, but a transect of of Yosemite National Park's premium trails and routes from North to South and East and West. We enter the Northwestern-most corner of Yosemite National Park on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route, and follow it down to Tuolumne Meadows. In Tuolumne Meadows we pick up the John Muir Trail down to The Valley. Hiking back out of The Valley through Happy Isles up the Merced River until we turn North to cross Vogelsang. We pick up the Southbound John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon just 5.6 miles South of Tuolumne Meadows for our impending climb out the Southern end of Yosemite National Park over Donohue Pass. That's my favorite Yosemite backpacking trip, heads and shoulders far above all others.

It makes me shout, jump up and down, spin all around, and go "whooo-hooo!"

That's a trail dance of mine. I dance Moons, Animals, Trails, or any Cool Spirits that catch my fancy.
Most times It "dances" me, like I'm its own little freeking puppet.

Nonetheless, the trail is life's ultimate dance floor.

Hokey-Pokey or Time Warp?
Backpacking Navigation Dance Floor

Kalidascopic
The Yosemite Section of our Tahoe to Whitney backpacking trip is fully packed with experiences spanning a mind-blowing variety of social and physical terrains. The North Yosemite Backcountry, the Tuolumne Meadows-Cathedral Zone, then the hike across the Central Yosemite Wilderness down to the unique experience that is The Valley and back out on a different route through the Central Yosemite Wilderness to pick up the JMT in Lyell Canyon for the hike out the South end of Yosemite puts us through both our psychological and physical paces.

The full-version hike through the length and width of Yosemite offers an impressive range of experience.

North Yosemite Backcountry
The top level physical challenges and relative isolation in the North Yosemite Backcountry are thickened up by increasing populations of both backpackers and tourists approaching Tuolumne Meadows. Our long, hard approach to backpacking is drowned in the ocean of weekenders and day hikers formed up around Tuolumne Meadows each Summer.

Central Yosemite Wilderness
Climbing over the Cathedrals to follow the John Muir Trail down to and back out of The Yosemite Valley is as if descending into whole different worlds of both beauty and trail culture out of North Sierra isolation along the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail. All the social and policy changes we felt approaching Tuolumne Meadows intensify approaching and finally reach a cresendo entering Yosemite Valley. It is a "through the freeking looking glass" type of experience. This is a zone of highly structured and regulated backpacking created by the easy access of vast populations to exceptional beauty.

Out the South End
Now we are slowly climbing our way back out of society climbing out of Yosemite Valley as we are working our way back up to the Sierra Crest via the Merced River, rather than hiking out on the same Muir Trail route we hiked into The Valley. Now we are moving away from the center of activity through gradually decreasing densities of activity as we put more distance between ourselves and Yosemite Valley.

But we are still in "the hot zone," the Central Yosemite Wilderness, and climbing back over the Cathedral Range into Lyell Canyon will only marginally mitigate the density of humans in the environment.

Back to the Crest
These sections of the Tahoe to Whitney backpacking the longest way possible through Yosemite National Park leaves us fully charged to enter the South Sierra. Dropping into Lyell Canyon marks the point we are stepping back onto the Sierra Crest trails, onto the shared trailbed of the John Muir and Pacific Crest routes through the South Sierra, once we hike South out of the beehive of activity that surrounds Tuolumne Meadows.

Sustained Use
The JMT-PCT across the South Sierra is also a busy route, as were the trails through Yosemite. Once we suss out the standard route of the John Muir-Pacific Crest Trails across the South Sierra we will expand our knowledge and experiences by replacing segements of the standard trail with much quieter alternative routes. We are going to push off the main route of the combined JMT-PCT as wise and possible to get as broad a perspective on the logic and beauty of the South Sierra as we possibly can, as we do in the North.

OK, that's the approach we are going to take, the outlines of the environment, and the plan to make it happen.

Now we just need to get this thunder rolling.

East through Little Yosemite Valley
Merced River

Hiking East, upriver from the trail junction at the Little Yosemite beach next to the Backpacker's Camp runs us up the length of the dense forest filling Little Yosemite Valley.

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
MERCED LAKE CAMPS
Miles and Elevations

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Cotton Joe Norman from Tennessee.

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Page Index

Trail East towards Merced Lake through Little Yosemite Valley.

An extended flat associated with Little Yosemite Valley stretches into what looks like it was once meadow.

Land bridge protects vunerable terrain in Little Yosemite Valley.

We find extensive restrictions and prohibitions along Yosemite Trails.

This sign is posted just East of the trail junction at the Little Yosemite Valley backpackers campground beach and access to the Merced River.

Second ramp over fragile terrain East of Little Yosemite Valley backpackers camp.

Katie-Kate jogging to Merced Lake from Yosemite Valley.

Katie is one of the fantastic group of kids working for DNC in Yosemite so they can access the Natural beauty and experiences Yosemite offers.

Katie's pals working at Merced Lake High Sierra Camp were going to put her up for the evening, and she was jogging back down to The Valley the next day.

Katie turned out to be friends with the DNC dudes who put me up in The Valley. The DNC crew evolves some really interesting social sub-groups.

DNC
Tahoe to Whitney Forum Topic

DNC has been replaced by Aramark.

Sandbox trail across East Little Yosemite Valley.

The thin soils of the forested floor of Little Yosemite Valley break down into sandy trails.

Sandy trails sap backpacker's energy.

I forstall this by modifying gait. We stay more "on top" of our steps by shortening them and reducing ankle rotation, thereby reducing slippage across each stage of foot contact.

Our steps don't reach as far down the trail, we pull the foot earlier at the end of the step, and we reduce push-off to stay within the limited traction.

I might even cant the foot angles out and start "waddling" a bit, if the trail is wide enough.

Sand-Stepping.

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Bend in Merced River in Little Yosemite Valley.

We are still at a low elevation where the aspens grow thickly with hemlock and it's even hot enough for Jeffery Pines here. Lots of fir and western white pine looking at the bottom of their range, too.

Moraine Dome towering above Little Yosemite Valley becomes visible as we approach East end of the valley.

The canyon narrows as we climb above Little Yosemite Valley. This brings the sheer granite walls closer, but also shortens the segements where the shape of the terrain on the canyon floor can capture soils and build little valleys along the canyon floor.

This canyon's steep walls above the carved granite canyon floor make it hard for eroding material to remain in place and consolidate.

This makes the series little green valleys strung out along the floor of the Merced Canyon special. They are stashed between vast sheets of granite. They sit below the sheer walls of verticle granite.

Hiking through here is like looking through a fantastic kalidascope of amazing views constantly juxtiposing themselves as our perspective shifts.

These valleys along our route to Vogelsang along the Merced would be Yosemite Valley, Little Yosemite Valley, Lost Valley, Echo Valley, and Merced Lake sitting below its forested mirror-valley.

To our East we can see the great dome extending off the North wall of the Merced Canyon. We will rotate around the base of that dome where it pinches the canyon and the Merced River between it and the base of Bunnell Point into the falls and cascade above the East end of Little Yosemite Valley.

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Little Yosemite Valley Lizard.

The terrain here is dry. Rattlesnakes, lizards, and lots of Sierra Foothill life are perfectly adapted for the crazy range of weather here.

Snowpacked Winters, wet and wild Spring Thaws followed by long dry Summers puncuated with random local and regional storms favor the ability to survive long and lengthening Summers with little water, and be able to swim through the regular happenings of Winter and Spring floods.

I'd say the range of the lizards in the Sierra Nevada is expanding with expanding heat.

The Merced River narrows significantly on the East End of Little Yosemite Valley.

East End of Little Yosemite Valley
Climbing around Base of Dome 7683
Merced River

Into Lost Valley

Climbing
out
The Heart of Yosemite

Ch-Ch-Changes
Things are changing now, and keep changing as we hike up to Merced Lake. The first part of this section, our climb up to Nevada Falls, can only be characterized as unique on all fronts. The climb, the crowds, and the nature of the Yosemite Valley experience hikes with us all the way up to Nevada Falls, and even spends the night with us in the Little Yosemite Valley backpackers camp. It is nice. It is a good group of folks that venture off the Valley Floor to explore Nevada Falls and Half Dome.

Continuing East from Little Yosemite Valley brings a step down in the level of trail traffic we experience by leaving the majority of day hikers behind on the trails to Nevada Falls and Half Dome.
Hiking out the East end of Little Yosemite Valley marks our entrance into a narrow segment of the Merced River Canyon. The next few miles of our trail East up the Merced Canyon undulates North and South following the river around and between the bases of massive battleship grey granite monoliths projecting off the North and South walls of the Merced River Canyon. These features tower above us as we follow our serpentine route on the floor of the canyon around their feet. These narrow segments are relieved on a regular basis by a series of little green valleys spaced out along the length of the Merced River Canyon.

Each segment of trail through the sheer, narrow runs of the canyon serves to bring us from one tiny little green pearl of a valley to the next, until we arrive at Merced Lake.

The series of little forested valleys opening up along this otherwise narrow granite canyon up to Merced Lake are Lost Valley, a unnamed little valley, and Echo Valley.

The main granite features, the epic pieces of rock pinching the course of the Merced River & Canyon are the Great Blocks of Granite labeled Peaks 7683, Bunnell Point, the unnamed dome under the JMT across from Bunnell Point, and Peak 7673.

The layout of just how these granite features were glacially carved determined where the river runs, where our route was laid, the shape of our skyline, and it is only between these massive features that our little green valleys along the greater Merced River Canyon could form and grow.

The Bottom Line
Our hike up to Merced Lake alternates between runs through narrow canyon under sheer granite broken up by a series of wider, flatter, forested and well bushed tiny shady spots spaced out along the canyon.

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A short climb brings us past Merced Falls under the base of Peak/Dome/Point 7683 into our short green passage through Lost Valley.

Above we see a horsepacker exiting the East end of Little Yosemite Valley.

Sitting and kicking it with Greg Clover.

Greg was shipping out to Iraq, and was soaking in as much of the Natural beauty, peace, and engagement with American Beauty before dealing with the ugly side of the coin.

Great guy, and I hope he did well and came back in one piece.

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Horsepacker coming down through what we are climbing between the East End of Little Yosemite Valley and little Lost Valley just above.

Note how that trail horse is very carefully inspecting the errant boulder on the trail, while keeping an ear cocked on the backpackers ahead.

That is a sensitive horse.

Those backpackers would be me and Greg sitting beside the trail talking about observing everything as the mule train approached.

"Falls" at Base of Dome 7683
Merced River

Crossing
The Heart of Yosemite

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Pool below Merced Fall.

Top of Merced Fall.

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Merced River sliding off Merced Fall.

Lost Valley
Merced River

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
MERCED LAKE CAMPS
Miles and Elevations

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Looking downriver from the Northeast end of Lost Valley we can see the distinctive shape of the rounded top of the nearest and highest of Cascade Cliff's domes.

Our view is looking to the Southwest lengthwise down across this little green valley along the steel grey granites of this Merced River Canyon.

Entering
Bunnell Cascade

Crossing
The Heart of Yosemite

This position is marked by the distinctive ramp leading up into the throat of a narrow riverside granite channel known as the Bunnell Cascade.

6360 feet

7.08 miles East of Yosemite Valley

18.86 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
5.02 miles

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
ENTERING BUNNELL CASCADE
Miles and Elevations

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Upriver we enter the narrow channel of Bunnell Cascade as it runs through the narrow channel carved between the base of Bunnell and the great point projecting from the North Wall of the Canyon.

The Cascade Cliffs and Starr King from the top of Lost Valley.

As we are climbing into Bunnell Cascade we turn to our Southwest, our Left, to notice the Merced River taking a ninety degree turn out of the base of Bunnell Cascade into the top of Lost Valley.

The beauty of this little valley view grows as we take note of the distinctive beauty imparted to the scene by the rounded crown of Peak 8070's highest dome of Cascade Cliffs rounding out our view.
We enjoyed Peak 8070's appearance as we descending the John Muir Trail towards Yosemite Valley a few days ago. We begain getting glimpses again through and above covering forest as we made our way East across Little Yosemite Valley.

The situation at our feet is we are climbing, switchbacking up this rustic turn of trail running us into what is essentially a slot alongside the Bunnell Cascade carved into the base of thousand foot granite walls rising on either side.

We will not see the Cascade Cliffs again on this trip once we enter Bunnell Cascade..

Central & South Yosemite Hiking Map
30 minute topo hiking map

Bunnell Cascade is interesting. We are passing between the bases of massive thousand foot tall vertical & near vert granite cliff faces. Bunnell Point rises 1600 feet above our position, while the massive dome projecting off the North face of the canyon wall only reaches up a thousand feet.
And still these sheer faces rising above us only represent a small fraction of the extent of the vast granite formation surrounding us. Bunnell Point and its associated features are parts, unique and beautiful parts, of a formation dozens of miles in length and width.

This small planet-sized chunk of granite called Bunnell Point arcing into space above us has more different aspects than the moon. Just like the moon's appearance shifts under its changing lighting so too does the look of Bunnell Point change with our changing position, and its shifting lighting daily and seasonal lighting.

Traversing along Bunnell Cascade is the key segment of our rotation around this massive multi-faceted feature.

Bonus Views
See the little droplet of a distant peak peeking just above the the furthest Right side of the most-distant forested treeline on highest ridge, in the image above?

That's Mount Starr King!

Much lower down in elevation and closer to us is the great granite wall rising on the near-Right edge of the photo. See that great rising dome? That's the base of the massive Dome 7683. We rotated around the base of 7683 climbing out the East end of Little Yosemite Valley, as we are rotating around the base of Bunnell out the East and Uppermost end of Lost Valley.

Yosemite Valley to Merced Lake
15 Minute topo hiking map

We are getting good perspectives on the features as we hike through them. We also got some good looks from above as we descending the John Muir Trail towards Yosemite Valley.

Bunnell Cascade under Bunnell Point.

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Pool along the Bunnell Cascade.

Zebra-stained granite North wall of Merced Canyon.

The Merced Lake trail crosses the top of the well-decorated wall above, running East-West along its edge. Our route hiking East up the bottom of the Merced River Canyon intersects with the trail up there at the upcoming trail junction in Echo Valley.

The trail on the North rim of the canyon Tees-out with the trail running North from Echo Valley. That trail climbs North out of Echo Valley along the Cathedral Branch of Echo Creek, up intersect with the John Muir Trail in the middle of Long Meadow a short distance North of, and above Sunrise High Sierra Camp.

Trail carved in granite along Bunnell Cascade of the Merced River.

The cascade is running in its granite channel to our Right.

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Placid scene along low flowing Bunnell Cascade.

Nice cool spots to sit, watch the light play off the rippling surfaces, feel the cool air running down the rocky channel, and listen to water music.

Approaching small grove in unnamed valley under Bunnell Point.

We're looking almost directly East at the significant West flank of the vast granite outcropping topped by Peak 7673. Echo Valley is on the other side of that block.

Our last two dramatic turns following the course of the Merced up-river to this point followed the course of the river as we traversed around the bases of the vast granite features guiding the course of the river. That's not the case with the upcoming block of granite we see in the picture above. This next section of trail climbs up out of the bottom of the canyon up some nice switchbacks once we hike through the unnamed little valley in the foreground.

That grand block of granite we see ahead is going to force up to climb its opposite flank to get around its effects on the course of the river.

We'll actually descend down river level to cross the next footbridge marking the point we find a short gentle climb into Echo Valley.

Looking up at the North face of Bunnell Point from the grove in the tiny unnamed valley under the North face of Bunnell Point.

Two
Close-Spaced Bridges
in
Small Unnamed Valley
Wedged Under
North Face Bunnell Point
Merced River

Crossing
The Heart of Yosemite

The Canyon begins to briefly open up a bit above Bunnell Cascade's narrow channel between the precipitous walls of the canyon. The configuration of our trail here is interesting in many ways, one of which is the sequencing of its physical construction.

The sequence: Lost Valley-Narrow Canyon-Unnamed Valley-Narrow Canyon- Echo Valley.

Exiting the open space of Lost Canyon we make our way around the base of Bunnell Point in narrow canyon conditions to the open spaces of the tiny unnamed valley. From there we make our way around the base of the equally massive, but more "squat" feature of Block 7673 to Echo Valley. Rather than hiking along in the base of the narrow canyon as we have climbing up here so far, our trail now climbs switchbacks cut, carved, and stacked into the South wall of the Merced Canyon to get us over and around this narrow segment of the river's canyon.

The alternating pattern of narrow canyon followed by little valley followed by narrow canyon continues here, even though the narrow nature of this particular segment of the canyon is driving us out of the canyon. This is good, as our climb up the switchbacks and onto the South wall gives us a much better overview than we have had in either the narrow canyons or the tiny valleys as we climbed up here.

Our descent off the high point of this excursion up the South wall brings us down to the bridge marking the short hike up into Echo Valley.

6560 feet

7.74 miles East of Yosemite Valley

18.2 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
4.36 miles

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
ENTERING BUNNELL CASCADE
Miles and Elevations

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Temperate grove and growth in small valley above Bunnell Cascade.

Ladyfinger ferns growing in tiny grove in the small valley in the shadow under the North face of Bunnell Point.

We find the first of two bridges in quick succession in this tiny bulge, this brief lapse in climbing just big enough to allow a small clump and scatter of extra shade to gather along this intense course of reflective river rock.

The sheer granite walls concentrate vast amounts of extra refected light at any time of the year, but especially during Summer. Though the refleced light is noteworthy, our position in the bottom of this steep, deep, and narrow canyon gives degrees of protection unavailable exposed among a sea of granite High Sierra Peaks.

I see the real physical threats here to be a combination of high Summertime temperatures, combined with powerfull direct and reflected sunlight. When these combinations line up I expect the most trouble to be focused on those backpackers not quite properly trained or prepared for the trip.

Those will be the folks testing their own mettle, when the trip they never quite properly prepared themselves for turns even harder than expected or anticipated. Then begins the suffering.

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The first bridge hiking up the Merced River under Bunnell Point.

The first bridge is over the main body of the river, necissitating a center pier.

Just a few feet upriver from the first, we come to the second bridge hiking up the Merced River in this tiny unnamed valley under the North End of Bunnell Point.

"Tiny Two bridge Valley?"

This is a shorter bridge over the smaller of the two channels splitting around the central area of our little grove of forest, essentially creating an "island."

"Island Valley?"

I am not saying this configuration is durable. It may or may not be. Rivers do crazy things with their courses. Or not. But right now the Merced splits around a tiny island.

Bookends
This island will dissappear if the long term drying trend continues or it will drown if wet weather dominates our long-term climate.

Northeastern of two bridges above Bunnell Cascade.

I have it at .38 of a mile from the center of this bridge hiking upriver along the length of the traverse to the bottom of the first switchback.

The length of the switchbacks from bottom to top is coincidenally another .38 of a mile, putting this next segment of trail from this upstream bridge under Bunnell Point to the top of the switchbacks at .76 of a mile.

From the top of those switchbacks we have a very rare thing for the next .95 of a mile: Downhill Trail! The .95 of a mile from the top of the switchbacks to the bridge just below Echo Valley is a downhill run.

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Crossing the second bridge brings us out the top of the little grove in this tiny valley, now putting us on the South Bank of the Merced. Looking upriver we can see that our trail is funneling up into a narrowing great granite V-gorge of titanic porportions as we hike upstream out of this tiny wide spot beneath Bunnell Point.

Let's take a look around this tiny valley before we hike upriver out of it.

Looking at the low dome on the North Wall of the Merced Canyon opposite Bunnell Point.

The image above is our view to the Northwest turning back to look across the tiny little unnamed valley we are departing. The John Muir Trail is located about a half-mile further up the mountain beyond the top of that dome on the wall of the canyon. The high trail to Merced Lake from Little Yosemite Valley is also up there, located below and running parallel with part of the route of the JMT.

Lets take a better look at the dome:

VIEW

Dome with Southeastern features of Clouds Rest Massif in background.

From the top of that dome the slope of the mountain runs first up to the Merced Lake Trail up there running East-West. To the East the Merced Lake Trail either descends to Echo Valley or climbs to Long Meadow/Sunrise High Sierra Camp. Hiking West on the Merced Lake Trail leads to the John Muir Trail running down to Little Yosemite Valley.

A short ways above the line of the Merced Lake trail up there on the South Rim of the Merced Canyon the John Muir Trail is descending towards the Clouds Rest and Half Dome junctions from Sunrise High Sierra Camp.

Consult this map to figure out the trail configuration above the North Rim of the Merced Canyon:

Yosemite Valley to Merced Lake
15 Minute topo hiking map

VIEW
The Same North Wall Dome

Face of the Dome on the North wall of the canyon across from the North flank of Bunnell Point.
The mountain in the background is the Southeast flank of Clouds Rest, a spur off the Clouds Rest Massif.

Lets take a look at this part of the Merced River Canyon and Bunnell Point from above, from up on the John Muir Trail descending towards the North Rim of the Merced Canyon as we were descending towards Little Yosemite Valley:

Bunnell Point and Dome 7683 from the John Muir Trail.

We can't really see the top of the low dome in the images links above. Those pictures I took along the John Muir Trail did not really highlight that dome, which is my fault. But these views of the Merced Canyon from the JMT do give us a somewhat broader context on the relationships between the trails and terrain along the bottom of the canyon, and our various changing positions on these trails and in the terrain.

Context is a critical Key to Understanding Terrain.

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UP
Above us to the Southwest rises the North Face of Bunnell Point.

It is much more an impressive view than this image indicates.

Crossing the second bridge in the little valley under the North Face of Bunnell Point brings us onto what is essentially a very long built-up gradually climbing traverse along the South wall of the canyon until we are under the switchbacks.

I put the distance from the bridge to the bottom of the switchbacks at .38 of a mile.

Betsy and Cody hiking from Tuolumne Meadows to the Valley via Clouds Rest.

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Yosemite Trails.

Wow.

Extensive, stable build up.

A very long section of remarkable trail.

A lot of rock was hauled, processed (hammered), chipped, formed, and finally interlocked into this amazing structure.

This thing is designed to become stronger as greater pressures are applied to it.

Laurel and George backpacking Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley via the Merced River.

We are looking West down the length of the traverse up from the Eastern bridge under Bunnell Point.

We can see the slab of granite where we began the traverse above George's head.

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Downriver view approaching switchbacks at end of the traverse.

View upriver from under the switchbacks. We'll climb the .38 of a mile zig-zagging up the switchbacks to get up on a flat, then descending segment of trail taking our trail around this segment of the Merced River.

Here the Merced runs through a segment of sheer unbroken granite canyon walls composing a formidible chute along its course

From the high point of our traverse once we reach the top of the switchbacks we begin a long descent (in the upriver direction) back down to river level, finally reaching water at the bridge below Echo Valley.

This bridge marks the point we again begin climbing, rather than descending up-river, over the short distance to our entrance into the Western end of Echo Valley.

Trail passage atop switchbacks.

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Chris and Terry Nilsen hiking down the Merced River Canyon.

The location of this creek precisely locates us on our maps.

Rust streaked granite marks creek overflow, Spring runoff patterns.

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Our view opens up to the Northeast of Peak 9890.

Echo Creek runs down to Echo Valley along the edge of the great granite cliff making up its Southwestern base.

We are working our way down into the granite channel to the edge of the South Bank of the Merced to follow the river up into Echo Valley under the Southwestern flank of Peak 9890.

Entering Echo Valley draws us close to Merced Lake. Merced Lake sits under the Southeastern flank of Peak 9890. We close this gap along a short moderate difficulty climb continuing upriver along the Merced.

Dropping down into a bit of forest as we run down to river level again. Ahead we see the narrow channel under the great wall our trail will follow up to the bridge marking our the Southwestern entrance into Echo Valley.

First we pass through a dot of forest and green, an outpost of life that grabbed hold of a crack in the granite, filled it with soil crafted by captured erosion and generations of failed seedlings and dead insects as each healthy root pried each crack a little wider, capturing a bit more soil, until...

Little grove in granite desert along the Merced River.

The trees have a long strategy in play with colonizing big stretches of granite desert.

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The great black stripe zone approaching the bridge on the Southwest end of Echo Valley.

We crossed the red stripe zone at the creek marking the end of the flat after climbing up the switchbacks.

Now this black zone marks our return back towards river level.

Soft trails are a relief after the hard impacts of so much unmigitated hard granite terrain. The relief on the feet and rest of the body from the reduction in shock is noticable.

The Winds and fierce power of the Sun are known and protected against. But many folks neglect to anticipate the shock from the harshness, the hardness of the terrain itself, on the whole structure of our body.

We notice when the stress is reduced, when crossing onto soft soils reduces the intensity of our experience.

The scale of the wall along the North Bank of the Merced become apparent as we get closer and drop down into the South side of the channel under it.

A couple of hundred feet of rock.

The end result of a not well thought-out old style of trail construction.

Removal would be preferable.

I would bet that is on Trails schedule.

The goal of those spikes is what I call, "The Rustic Fool" style of trail marking.

"Rustic," because of its appearance. "Fool," because of the level of defacement and unnecessary work to stand up rocks that could just as easily be anchored by gravity.

Approacing Merced River as we descend to it and the bridge below Echo Valley below this fantastic granite wall.

Jeffery Pine.

Bridge
below
Echo Valley

Crossing
The Heart of Yosemite

The bridge marking the short hike up into Echo Valley.

6960 feet

9.4 miles East of Yosemite Valley

16.54 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
2.7 miles

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
ENTERING BUNNELL CASCADE
Miles and Elevations

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Our climb around the course of the Merced River on the South Bank passing around the sheer South flank of Peak 7673 and the deep granite channel the Merced flows around it is coming to a close.

We are again approaching river level and the bridge over it a short distance below Echo Valley.

View down the Merced River from bridge South of Echo Valley.

Entering Echo Valley hiking up Merced River.

Buck hiding behind bush in Echo Valley. It did not work.

A buck was grazing as I entered the South end of Echo Valley. Rather than startle him, I clicked to reveal my postion. I detected that Buck was a bit unhappy that a creature had approached so close without his knowledge.

He was hoping that his little shrubby fir was offering as good cover for his back end as his front, but it offered little cover for either.

I defused the situation by continuing hiking into the heart of Echo Valley, leaving Buck to relax back into his grazing after my momentary disturbance of his day.

Looking upriver from Echo Valley.

Merced Lake is close. Looking up the base of the valley we can see an arm of granite angling from Left to Right. Merced Lake is on the near side of that low arm, Washburn Lake on the far. The Mount Florence Massif is rising on the furthest Left side of the image.

Echo Creek Bridge
&
Trail Junction
along the
Merced River

7000 feet

10.15 miles East of Yosemite Valley

15.79 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
1.95 miles

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
ENTERING BUNNELL CASCADE
Miles and Elevations

Page Index

Approaching the bridge over Echo Creek.

Eleven miles to Yosemite Valley from the bridge in Echo Valley.

Miles to Merced Lake and on to Tuolumne Meadows.

Miles up Echo Creek from Echo Valley.

Echo Creek bridge towards Merced Lake.

Between the bridges.

Middle of three bridges in Echo Valley along the Merced River.

The second bridge is about 150 yards upriver from the first bridge.

The third most substantial and last of Echo Valley's standard footbridges lays a couple of hundred yards East, upriver from the middle bridge.

Observations
Everything in nature is under regular stress that rises up into catastrophic-level events every now and again. The effects of this constant stress and occassional periods of extreme destruction are regular and predictable events to some extent.

The only difference between constant environmental stresses and the periods of concentrated destruction are the scales of energy involved. The former describes engergy applied consistently over time, while the latter applies it all at once. An analogy would be the difference in the intensity of the experience of a life lived over fifty years being experienced in a second. Though the same life would be lived in a second as over fifty years, the difference in intensity between the experiences makes them very different ways of doing the same thing. But Nature is not bound by human rules, nor our conceptions or perceptions of time and space.

Nature can age gradually for fifty years, then age fifty years in a "second."
Then remain static for a thousand years.

So too are flood events a speed-up of the slow, but already operating processes of soil production and distribution.

Every tree that grows will fall, every river that flows will flood. Floods and fallen trees move together. Everything that is flexible to these forces, or can regrow after being crushed and swept away, survives. Everything in Nature that is not flexible facing Nature's overwhelming power is either broken quickly or worn away over time.

The plants are the ultimate in flexible. The product of their individual deaths produces the very soil for, and fertilizes their next generation. The ultimate in flexibility is their ability to turn failure, the very death of plants, into the basis of their success, soil, as the plant world has achieved.

Plants understand that life and death are interdependent factors feeding each other.

The granite is the ultimate in inflexible. It stood against the ice, it drowned under lava and lahars. It stubbornly resists thousands of years of generations of plants leverging cracks on its flanks and splitting its sheets into slowly expanding groves, forests, and meadows while at the same time gradually eroding off the sands necessary for its destruction, or slow conversion into soil.

What we see depends on how, and how long, we look at it.

The interaction of the flexible and inflexible is moderated by the water cycle. The rains, snows, and thaw all work to time the cycle of life in the Sierra, to set the interelated paces of plant growth and erosion all fueled by rain and runoff feeding life.

Looking at the Sierra in my mind's eye as a time-lapse movie of the last thousand years over five minutes of running time presents an amazing spectacle as the annual cycle of weather poweres the life, growth, and death of generations of High Sierra plants and trees, drawing all elements of its vast web of life up the rock. As the rain feeds the water necessary for the plant world to grow into, leverage, and crack out the granite this same rain and runoff also drives the other side of the equation, the erosion that supplies the plants their even more fundamental need: minerals to mediate into soils.

We would start our "mental-movie" by watching a thousand seasons of rain scouring sands and rocks off the barren Sierra Crest. Infinite seedlings would sprout and die in this sand and rocks, until their very deaths transformed sand into soil, their prying roots cracked a beachead, and a self-perpetuating soil-plant community rises from the enduring fertility of their own ashes.

Life out of death, baby!

The same weather driving erosion and plant growth is the same mechanism driving soil creation. Weather provides the energy for the plants to invade the hard rock as it simultanously wears granite mountain peaks into sand. The effeciency of Nature is profound.

All of this vortex of life, this engine of life is moving. We can see this motion in the layout of the series of little valleys laid-out along the course of the Merced River. All of these valleys are composed of rich soils eroded as sand off the surrounding mountians thousands of years ago, mediated by thousands of generations of plant growth, animal and insect death, all slowly transformed into soil and washed downstream to be deposited as a series of fertile little pearls of green valleys strung out along, and linked to each other by the granite-bound course of this magical Merced.

Art of the Highest Degree.

Thus the mountains, forests, and our trails through them are all moving imperceptibly every season, moving perceptably over decades, and it all moves a bit faster during wetter seasons, and slower during the dry. Everything up here is in fact being swept down mountain to the sea in slow motion as soil and forest climb to engulf a slowly eroding High Sierra Crestline. Slow motion until the forces of Nature line up, and things begin to move very quickly.
The fastest mover is the water, followed by everything it carries down with it. Behind the water is the soil, all of which is always slowly moving down its river drainage, and especially during every Spring Thaw. All the soil we see in these mountains is trying to, and will eventually move down into its nearby creek or river, and be rapidly carried to its next stage on its long journey down the mountain towards the sea.

These mountains are vast engines of soil creation and distribution, a vortex of life itself.
If the weather holds up.

Every now and again Nature gets things moving very rapidly. Spring Thaws during tropical-affected seasons can quickly transform Spring rains on the Spring snowpack into Spring flooding. These events move vast loads of soil and topple lots of live trees along the riverbanks, dropping them into their engorged rivers to join the many dead trees already caught-up and being swept down-mountain by flood conditions.

Unless the changes in weather starve the Sierra of the water necessary to fulfill its tasks.

In that case the timing of life, the very pace of time and rate of change in the Sierra will slow down into a very different ecology. Changing the timing of life changes its distribution, timing, and the very character the face of Nature shows.

We trifle with forces beyond our understanding capable of bringing our destruction.

Kicking the Life Production Machine, this Vortex of Life
that is the Sierra Nevada into "neutral" is beyond stupid.

That is Evil

Tahoe to Whitney Definition
of
Evil
e·vil /ēvəl/

adjective
profoundly immoral and malevolent.

noun
An approach, philosophy, or effect that reduces the totality, the weight, or the sophistication
of the web of life, especially through acts of free will motivated by desire for brutal self-gratification.

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We make our way across the East end of Echo Valley through alternating forest and meadow after crossing the iron bridge.

Trail protection in East Echo Valley.

We've noted that the density of trail traffic in Yosemite requires attention to identify and protect the even the smallest areas of terrain "weakness."

That this level of protection is necessary is apparent from the common degraded state of triple-trails and deeply grooved trails etched into the mountains. These common degraded trail conditions characterize the heavy damages the heavy use of Yosemite brings, even within the considerable restrictions imposed.

WE are apparently too big for Nature, our own britches, or to even concieve of the failure of all our policies, programs, or our most fundamental error:

That Nature is a bottomless pit of natural resources to be converted into consumer products by an ever-expanding population of consumers.

We apparently have little collective conception of what Nature is, or of any enduring role for humans in it, judging by the commonly accepted definitions of Nature mediated by our greedy motiviations and material goals.

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Facing East hiking out the East end of Echo Valley looking at our final little low climb up to Merced Lake.

East end of Echo Valley up Merced River to Merced Lake.

Check the bird.

Looking beyond our last bridge in Echo Valley at our moderate climb East out of Echo Valley.

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Climb to Merced Lake from East end of Echo Valley.

Onto the sheets of granite rising towards Merced Lake.

To the edge of the Merced River hiking East out of Echo Valley.

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We see the cliff above the South Shore of Merced Lake before we see the lake.

Detail of small waterfall below Merced Lake.

Fine granite slab rising on South shore of Merced Lake, but just a bit West of Merced Lake, part of the great slab rising from the South Bank of the Merced just below, West of the lake.

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This image gives us context on the course of the Merced River below Merced Lake despite the glare from shooting into a late afternoon Sun. The map is a good reference for the image above.

Yosemite Valley to Merced Lake
15 Minute topo hiking map

In the image above we are looking West down the canyon of the Merced River as we climb very last segment of trail to Merced Lake. Let's identify the landmarks we can pick out along our route up here, which gives us some context on our route so far.

In the furthest distant Left of center we see massive top of Bunnell Point projecting over the tops of the subsequent bends in the serpentine canyon of the Merced River up to our position. Our trail up here wrapped around its base.

In the center of the image we have the visible upper elements of the East-face of the vast block of granite called Peak 7673 facing us, shining in the reflected Sun as the bright face in the middle of the image. Its rounded top is descending to the South, to the Left in the image above to the point it cuts off our view of Bunnell Point beyond it, and is cut off by our next feature in front of it.

That feature is the face of the pointy-topped dome and face cutting off the Left end of Peak 7673 from our view. That pointy dome and its North-facing face is eclipsing both of our views of Peak 7673 and Bunnell Point behind it. That feature is faint, you may have to squint and search to see it... Its most noticable feature is the top of its rounded dome sitting in front of the far lower-Right ecge of Bunnell Point.

Our Route
Our route up to our current position below Merced Lake following the course of the Merced River swings North then South as we hike Eastward around the bottoms of each of these incredible individual features, except for our short climb out of the bottom of the canyon going around the base of the sheer Southeast face of Peak 7673. Those specific terrain features around the base of Peak 7673 drove us up the switchbacks climbing out of the base of the canyon onto the South Rim on our approach to the bridge below Echo Valley.

Bonus View
Local Loop Options
Our bonus view is of the great granite spur ridge descending Southeast from the crest of Clouds Rest that we can see in the upper Right hand corner of the image above. Now imagine our John Muir Trail route is roughly running along the base of that feature on its way hiking down to Little Yosemite Valley via Sunrise High Sierra Camp from Tuolumne Meadows. The JMT runs down mountain under that spur of ridge to the Clouds Rest Trail junction.

What If ?
Echo Valley
Now imagine we turned North at the trail junction in Echo Valley onto the trail up the Cathedral Fork of Echo Creek. That route North would have drawn us closer to the route of the John Muir Trail as we climbed higher up, and further apart further down. Before the JMT enters the drainage of Sunrise Creek it is traversing the Southeast Flank of Sunrise Mountain, which is the Western Flank rising above the Cathedral Fork of Echo Creek. The trail climbing from Echo Valley is at the base of that canyon below the Southeast flank of Sunrise Mountain.
Both those trails draw closer to each other just as spokes approaching a hub climbing higher up the West Flank of the Cathedral Range. The JMT and the trail up Echo Creek are linked by three trails.

Yosemite Valley to Merced Lake
15 Minute topo hiking map

Echo Valley-John Muir Trail
NEXUS
First, they are bound together at the bottom through the trail junction at Little Yosemite Valley Backpackers Camp on the Merced River. Their middle connection is the Merced-Washburn Lakes trail junction along the JMT above the Clouds Rest trail junction. That junction directly linking the JMT to Echo Valley is located just below the Left-edge of the spur we see on the upper Right corner of the image above. The top Junction is where the trail North out of Echo Valley Tees-out with the JMT trail junction in Long Meadow.

We can hike up to the top of Echo Creek and access the John Muir Trail just a short ways above Sunrise High Sierra Camp in Long Meadow. Or we can hike just a short ways above Echo Valley and turn West to intersect with the JMT at its Merced-Washburn junction above its Clouds Rest trail junction. Or we can hike downriver to connect with the JMT in Little Yosemite Valley.

If we want to hike a longer loop, say Yosemite Valley to Yosemite Valley, or TM to TM, we are better served using the trail to Merce Lake in one direction to access Tuolumne Meadows over Tuolumne Pass. Our return leg to the Valley would use the classic route of the John Muir Trail. Or visa-versa.

Reservations Required
Remember, we have to make reservations about six months in advance to have a chance of getting popular hiking dates in Yosemite, and it is much preferable to hike the Golden Triangle loop early or late in the season before or after the main body of John Muir Trail hikers are on the scene.

Make reservations for the upcoming backpacking season in December of the previous year.

Though not too steep, our trail up to the West Shore of Merced Lake kicks out a leg a long way away from the river to the North, as we can see from our chaning perspective with the wall of granite rising off the South Shore of Merced Lake.

Our trail brings us back to the course of the Merced River by turning a 45 degree line back towards the Merced River after it ran us away on a 45 degree angle.

I figure Yosemite Trails are alternating the line of the trail through here over long periods of time, resulting in unique routes as they give overused segments of terrain some rest and rehab.

I don't mind walking the long way to preserve terrain.

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The Merced River begins to descend after coming through the forested channel along the Western Shore of Merced Lake.

West Shore of Merced Lake

7230 feet

11.41 miles East of Yosemite Valley

16.54 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
.69 miles

Maps and Miles

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
ENTERING BUNNELL CASCADE
Miles and Elevations

Page Index

Is it a tongue or is it a tail? In either case Merced Lake has a unique granite channel through which it drains West.

The Merced River exits the West end of Merced Lake through the narrow finger or channel above we see bending around the small triangular flat of forested terrain on the very Western end of the lake.

This little forested shelf gives the West end of the lake a little spot of breathing room between the surrounding cliffs and the shoreline. The remainder of the trail East to the Merced Backpacker and High Sierra Camps is along a narrow track between cliff wall and shoreline.

Merced Lake sign.

Merced Lake Sunset.

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Mergansers on Merced Lake.

The
Merced Lake Backpacker
and
High Sierra Camps
at
Merced Lake

7320 feet

12.1 miles East of Yosemite Valley

16.54 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
0 miles

to
Vogelsang High Sierra Camp
7.75 miles
Via Fletcher Creek

Maps and Miles

Tuolumne Meadows Area Map
15 minute topo hiking map

Miles

Yosemite Valley to Lyell Canyon
MERCED LAKE CAMPS
Miles and Elevations

Current Access, History, and Perspective on
Yosemite High Sierra Camps

Page Index

Trail splits between Merced Lake Backpackers and High Sierra Camps.

Left to backpackers camp, Right to the High Sierra Camp

One row of Merced Lake High Sierra Camp tents.

The other row of Merced Lake High Sierra Camp tents.

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Merced Lake High Sierra Camp mealtime.

Merced Lake Backpackers Camp.

Merced Lake Trail Miles Signs
at the
Merced Lake Backpacker
and
High Sierra Camps

7320 feet

12.1 miles East of Yosemite Valley

16.54 miles West of John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon

to
Merced Lake High Sierra Camp
0 miles

to
Vogelsang High Sierra Camp
7.75 miles
Via Fletcher Creek

Merced Lake to Lyell Canyon
15 minute topo hiking map

Page Index

Yosemite Trail Sign miles from Merced Lake to Yosemite Valley.

Yosemite miles sign East and North from Merced Lake.

Ranger Station .8

Washburn Lake 3.

Babcock Lake 3.7

Emerick Lake 5.8

Bernice Lake 6.8

Vogelsang HSC 7.6

Tuolumne Meadows 14.7

Climbing
out of
The Heart of Yosemite

Up!

Next Segment of Our Trail
from
Merced Lake
WE hike upriver through the Merced Lake trail markers and mileage signs to pass over a low berm of granite dividing the smaller, Western "wide spot," the oval valley carved-out along the course of the Merced River Canyon containing Merced Lake, separating it from the next, even larger oval wide spot carved out of the canyon on the other side of this granite berm.

Crossing the berm to our East and observing the terrain and studying the map indicates this larger upriver oval valley along the Merced Canyon once held an even larger lake than Merced Lake. It is clear that thousands of years of sedimentation and associated meadow and forest incursions eventually filled in the upper lake, converting the wide spot in the canyon above Merced Lake into a sweet treasure of forest and meadow filled valley along the Merced River's Canyon.

We can see this is the same fate that will eventually befall Merced Lake in its turn.

We find our way around the Northwestern edge of this upper bowl to find the impressive Merced Lake Ranger Station sitting at our trail junction below the substantial climb up to Vogelsang High Sierra Camp.

Our next page brings us from the Miles Posts at Merced Lake to Vogelsang High Sierra Camp, then down to the John Muir Trail in Lyell Canyon 5.6 miles South of Tuolumne Meadows to resume our Southbound hike along the Sierra Crest to Mount Whitney.

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Backpacking Trail Guide

JMT
West

Little Yosemite Valley
to
Yosemite Valley

Backpacking Trail Guide

to
JMT
South

Merced
Lake
to
Lyell
Canyon