Hiking the
Pacific Crest and Tahoe to Yosemite Trails South to Highway 4

Backpacking Map index                                                                                                                              Backpacking Trail Guide index

High Sierra Topo Hiking Maps
Lake Tahoe Basin Maps

The Trail Head Options: Your Choice

These trailheads are good to start Tahoe to Whitney, Tahoe to Yosemite, or other long backpacking trips South into the High Sierra. And a whole lot more!

These trailheads access to the Desolation Wilderness, Meiss Roadless Area, and the Carson Pass Management Unit also offer an endless selection of local short and medium distance backpacking trips in each of these Wilderness, Roadless Area, and Special Units.

The maps, guide, miles, and elevations information here will give you the information and tools to break out your own loops and trailhead to trailhead trips along the High Sierra Crest.

This guide encourages hikers to add their experiences, comments, or questions about Meeks Bay to Echo Summit and the Trailhead and Trail Options available.

Everything adds to our knowledge.

Road Map
to
All
Trailhead Options

Google Map locating the
 trailheads, with discussion

See the trail guide
for more
information about the trail head options

Click Red Dots on maps for trail guide Information!

Topo Hiking Maps
Lake Tahoe Basin Trailhead Options

South Upper Truckee Trailhead
to
Meiss Cabin

Meiss Country Roadless Area
South Upper Truckee Trailhead in Meyers, also referencing Big Meadow Trailhead on Highway 89. Southern Trailhead.

15 min Backpacking Map
Meiss Country Roadless Area Hiking Map
Click the RED DOTS for trail guide information.

30 min Map
Meiss Roadless Area and CPMA
Click the RED DOTS for trail guide information.

ALL Backpacking MAPS List
Echo Summit to Carson Pass maps

Exiting the Lake Tahoe Basin
CARSON GAP - CARSON PASS - ROUND TOP
Options
Pacific Crest Trail or Tahoe to Yosemite Trail
route
South to Highway 4?

Two Routes Into
the
The Mokelumne Wilderness

Click the Map Above for a detailed Carson Pass Hiking Map

MAPS
Note that the RED DOTS on our topo maps, including the one above, link to the related trail guide pages. The little topo map above is linked to its full-sized version.

All of the 30 minute large-scale map's Black Dotted routes are linked to highly detailed 15 minute maps of that area.

Local Information

Just feet below the South side of the Carson Gap is the first of 3 trail options over the next 3 miles where we can veer off the PCT onto the Southbound TYT.

North of Carson Gap the PCT and TYT have been unified since Middle Velma Lake. South of our exit from the Tahoe Basin they follow very different routes.

Pacific Crest Trail hikers aim for Ebbetts Pass on Highway 4 through Carson Pass by hiking along the Sierra Crest and its Eastern flank.
Tahoe to Yosemite Trail backpackers hike over Round Top and down into a couple of the great canyons of the Western Flank of the Sierra to reach Lake Alpine on Highway 4.

The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail plunges far down the Western Flank of the Sierra before it climbs through Saint Marys Pass around a mile West of Sonora Pass.

Two segments of unmaintained trail between Carson Gap and Saint Marys Pass make the TYT very interesting and challenging.

A review of the maps of both of these routes reveals the tremendous difference in terrain and trail between these two very different routes.

The links to guide pages from the maps brings us to images, videos, and text carefully describing both of these trails, so we can decide which is better suited for our skills, capacities, and expectations.

2 Route Option Discussions

The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail Info I

The Tahoe to Yosemite Trail Info II

Carson Pass Region Topo Hiking Map

Topo Hiking Maps: PCT-TYT Split
Exiting the Lake Tahoe Basin
Southbound through the Carson Gap

Southbound Decision
Departing the Tahoe Basin through the Carson Gap we are faced with two trails South through the Mokelumne Wilderness.

Do we hike the Pacific Crest Trail or the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route South from the Carson Gap? Hummm.

The trail guide index, the basics of the TYT, and the maps below help us figure out the best route to fulfill our expectations, goals, and capacities. We can hike the other route next time.

Carson Pass Region Topo Hiking Map
Click the RED DOTS for trail guide information.

BIG
Mokelumne Wilderness Backpacking Map
Click RED DOTS for guide info, BLACK DOTS for detailed maps.

Topo Hiking Maps
of the
PCT & TYT
South of Carson Gap

Pacific Crest Trail

Trail Section Map
Carson Pass to Ebbetts Pass on the PCT
Click the RED DOTS for trail guide information.

PCT Route Hiking Map
List
Carson Pass to Ebbetts Pass

Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

Trail Section Map
Carson Gap to Lake Alpine on the TYT
Click RED DOTS for guide info, BLACK DOTS for detailed maps.

TYT Route Backpacking Map
List
Carson Gap to Lake Alpine

Three Links
between
TYT & PCT

South on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

There are three trail options breaking off to Round Top Lake hiking South from the Carson Gap on the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route.

All three are detailed on the Carson Pass Region Map. Two of them are unmarked junctions just South of the Carson Gap.

Pacific Crest Trail hikers stay on the main trail to Carson Pass. A miles past Carson Pass the marked trail to Winnemucca Lake accesses our TYT route to Round Top Lake.

Your two choices South of the Carson Gap are simple:

Veer Left, through these two unmarked trail junctions to follow the Pacific Crest Trail South to Ebbetts Pass via Carson Pass.

Veer Right, to follow the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail route to Lake Alpine over Round Top and The Sisters.

We can hike up to Round Top via Winnemucca Lake, Lost Cabin Mine, or the Footbridge routes. The Lost Cabin and Footbridge routes hike around different sides of Woods Lake while the Winnemucca Lake route comes to Round Top from the East.

Wilderness
and
Special Zones and Areas

Desolation Wilderness

The three hiking areas covered by these maps are very different, for a number of reasons. Desolation Wilderness is very popular. Because of this fact we are going to have to make sure we can get the start date we want for our Tahoe to Yosemite Trail hike by inquiring with the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, known as the LTBMU.
Desolation Wilderness Permit Information

Meiss Country Roadless Area

Meiss Country Roadless Area does not require permits for local hiking, though that does not help us. Starting out of South Upper Truckee Trailhead for Tuolumne Meadows requires that we draw a permit to authorize the rest of our trip South of Meiss Country. Even though a backpacking permit is not required,
Meiss Roadless Area does require fire permits, even if our fire is restricted to our own little camp stove.
Meiss Country Roadless Area Permit Information

Carson Pass Management Area

The Carson Pass Management Area is more like Desolation than Meiss, at least as far as permits and people are concerned. The CPMA is very busy and restricts permits, as does the much larger Desolation Wilderness. This special area requires special permits only obtainable from the Carson Pass Cabin, or the Almador Ranger District of the El Dorado National Forest, if the Carson Cabin is closed.
For this reason it is vital to have any camping we want to do on Round Top specifically noted on the permit we pull from the LTBMU. If campsites are named on the permit the subsequent Forests, Parks, and Special Management Areas must honor it.
CPMA Permit Information

1x2 Carson Gap to Highway 4
TYT and PCT