Mount Whitney Rock Formation
Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney: Crown Jewel of the Pacific Crest Trail
Woods Crossing
Map Banner: Tahoe to Yosemite Trail at Meeks Bay and the North Desolation Wilderness.
Whitney rock
USGS TOPO HIKING MAPS: Meeks Bay, Homewood, Emerald Bay, and Rockbound Valley
Woods Crossing

Backpacking Map
of
Meeks Bay Trail Head
to Dicks Pass
Topo Hiking Map

Starting The
Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

4 USGS 7.5 minute Topo Hiking Maps
The North Desolation Wilderness out of
Meeks Bay

Maps
TYT-PCT
DESOLATION
INDEX

Meeks Bay
to
Echo Summit

7.5 min
MAP
NORTH

NONE

Meeks
Bay
is our
SOUTH
BOUND
Start Point

7.5 min
MAP
SOUTH

TYT-PCT
TRT

Phipps Pass
to
Lake
Aloha

Miles
and
Elevations

NORTH

NONE

Meeks
Bay
is our
SOUTH
BOUND
Start Point

Miles
and
Elevations

SOUTH
TYT

Meeks
Bay

to
Echo
Summit

Trail Guide
PAGE

Meeks
Bay


30 minute
MAPS


ALL
Desolation
Wilderness
MAP

NORTH
Desolation
Wilderness
MAP

Click
RED DOTS
for
Trail Guide Pages

WEATHER

Desolation
Stations

Tahoe
Weather

All
High Sierra
Weather

RESUPPLY

South Lake
Tahoe

Echo
Summit

Lake Alpine

PERMITS

Desolation
Wilderness

LTBMU

Tahoe
Weather

All
Weather

Map Information

 

Road Map

North Desolation Wilderness Map

16.83 miles
Backpacking Map
of
M
eeks Bay Trailhead to Dicks Pass along the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

North Desolation, Meeks Bay trail head and Sugar Pine State Park
North Desolation and Sugar Pine
7.5 Central Desolation Wilderness topo map
Phipps Pass to Lake Aloha
7.5 South Desolation Wilderness topo map
South Desolation Wilderness to Echo Summit
Meeks Bay Trailhead region topo hiking map.
The Northern Desolation Wilderness High Density 7.5 minute Topo Hiking Map: magnify for greater detail.
North Desolation, Meeks Bay trail head and Sugar Pine State Park
North Desolation and Sugar Pine
7.5 Central Desolation Wilderness topo map
Phipps Pass to Lake Aloha
7.5 South Desolation Wilderness topo map
Dicks Pass to Echo Lake

Meeks Bay trail head
Tahoe to Yosemite Trail

Main Features
Meeks Bay is the starting trailhead for backpacking the Classic Tahoe to Yosemite Trail, and an excellent entry point for short and medium length backpacking trips and loops into the North Desolation Wilderness.

For trips shorter than hiking the whole TYT down to Yosemite we can backpack across the 28.71 mile length of the Desolation Wilderness itself down to the Southernmost Desolation Trailhead at Lower Echo Lake. This section can be part of our hike to a destination further South, a trip in itself, or an element in a nice 2 to 5 day backpacking loop around the Desolation Wilderness.

What do you need? Desolation Wilderness has it, or can lead you there. Check out this whole Desolation Wilderness Map, and click the map, the trails, and the red dots for more map and guide information.

In pursuit of trip flexibility this trail guide also measures the distances from access trails and trailheads to the main Pacific Crest and Tahoe to Yosemite Routes from Eagle Falls and Bayview Camp along the Western Shore of Lake Tahoe. Locate the red dot marking the junction on the topo map you are interested in, and click it to review the trail guide information for that location.

Trailheads paralleling the Tahoe to Yosemite and Pacific Crest Trail routes all the way from Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney allow us to craft nice trailhead-to-trailhead and loop trips along the High Sierra trails between Tahoe to Whitney. Using a section of the PCT-TYT-JMT to connect two trailheads or as part of a hiking loop is real rewarding, especially around the Northern Desolation Wilderness, which is crisscrossed by a web of trails.

Meeks Bay is good for a lot more than just beginning your long trip down to Yosemite and on to the Whitney Portal.

Backpacking Desolation Wilderness
Meeks Bay can be the beginning of the perfect short trip for you, be it a short in-and-out trip up to Rubicon Lake and back, a longer hiking loop around the Velmas and West out to Bayview Camp, or a big hiking trip down the length of Desolation Wilderness to Lower Echo Lake
.

Desolation Wilderness is an excellent location to develop backpacking experience. It is nearby. It is beautiful. It has lots of people, which provides a feeling of security for many new backpackers.

Though this guide describes the Pacific Crest and Tahoe to Yosemite Trail routes spanning Desolation Wilderness from Meeks Bay to the Whitney Portal, you can break off as big or little piece of trail as suits you.

Trail Guide Pages Describing this Topo Map

The topo map above depicts the
Tahoe to Yosemite trail
from
Meeks Bay Trailhead

to
Dicks Pass.

MAP NOTE
Those squares breaking the USGS maps up into grids are the Universal Transverse Mercator / Military Grid Reference System, otherwise commonly known as UTM.

What's important for our general reference purpose is that each side of a square is 1000 meters, or a Kilometer.

From my point of view that is 1093 yards or .62 of a mile.

Diagonal: 1414.22 meters, if my trig is correct.

That converts into 4,639.8 feet or .88 of a mile.

Map Information Common Map Symbols

Online and Trail Maps Online Length Conversion

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Road and Trailhead
access to
West and South Shore Lake Tahoe Backpacking
  Three Excellent Representative Trailheads
Highways 50 and 89

Meeks Bay, Echo Summit and South Upper Truckee Trailheads
  South Lake Tahoe Resources
Highways 50 & 89
 
 

More
Roadmaps

South Lake Tahoe
Resources

 

Lake Tahoe
Trailheads

 
         

Schematic trail map of Eagle Falls and Bayview Trailheads to the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail in Desolaton Wilderness.

Desolation Wilderness
Mapping Information, miles, and Elevations

Miles and Elevations

Meeks Bay Trailhead to Phipps Pass

2561 feet, 8.88 miles

Location                         Elevation           Mileage

Start: Meeks Bay               6239                     0

 

Lake Genevieve                 7400                  4.39

 

Crag Lake                         7440                  4.77

 

Hidden Lake Jnct               7560                  5.35

 

N. side, Stony Ridge Lake   7800                  6.03

 

S. side, Stony Ridge Lake   7800                   6.62

 

Rubicon Lake                    8360                   7.75

 

Grouse Lake Jnct               8400                   7.89

 

Grouse Lake Jnct 2            8800                   8.73

 

Phipps Pass                      8800                  8.88

All Miles/Elevations: Meeks Bay to Echo Summit

 

Backpacking Permitting Authority

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

Contact Information

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

National Forest

LTBMU

Wilderness Area

Desolation Wilderness
TahoeWhitney

Desolation Wilderness
the feds.

Physical Location

Meeks Bay Trailhead and Highway 89

Meeks Bay on Road Map

USGS Topo Map Information

 

Map Names
I stitched together 4 USGS 7.5 maps to make this baby:

NE: Meeks Bay (1992)

NW: Homewood (1992)

SW: Rockbound Valley (1992)

SE: Emerald Bay (1992)

 

Compass Offset
Magnetic North is 15 and 1/2 minutes East of True North

 

scale
1:24 000

Contours
40 Feet

 

Tahoe to Alpine Trail Guide Index

Meeks Bay trail head, Trail Guide

 

USGS MAP LOCATOR

Download Free USGS Topo Maps

USGS Map Locator

INSTRUCTIONS

1>Locate the position you need a map for on the google map.

2>CLICK the MARK POINTS mode.

3>Select the size of MAP FOOTPRINTS you wish to see.

4>CLICK the Map Footprint you want to down load. This will leave a red marker on that map footprint.

5>CLICK the red marker, and the maps available for you to download will appear.

6>Select and download the map you need.

NOTE: These are "GEO Maps" that load in Adobe Reader with many cool functions. If you want to manipulate and print custom sections, you must first load the map into MS Paint before it can be manipulated in PhotoShop.

 

Trailheads Map

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North Desolation, Meeks Bay trail head and Sugar Pine State Park
North Desolation and Sugar Pine
7.5 Central Desolation Wilderness topo map
Phipps Pass to Lake Aloha
7.5 South Desolation Wilderness topo map
Dicks Pass to Echo Lake
Elevations   More Information

Lake Tahoe
6226 feet

Phipps Pass
8800 feet

elevation gain
2574 feet

Trail Guide, Section
Meeks Bay to The Carson Gap

Trail Guide Page
Meeks Bay Trail head

Google Road Map
All Lake Tahoe trailheads

 

Map Credit

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior:

The
USGS

Download this topo map free from the
USGS MAP LOCATOR

USGS Topographic
Map Information

Common Map Symbols

The Trail Guide
Meeks Bay Trailhead

Trailhead
Post your comments, questions, or experiences in the
FORUM
Meeks Bay
Post your comments & questions in the
FORUM
Mapping Desolation Wilderness
Contact
Alex Wierbinski

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Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney

Your guide to backpacking the Sierra Crest, including the Tahoe to Yosemite, Pacific Crest, and John Muir Trails

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© Lake Tahoe to Mount Whitney: Crown Jewel of the Pacific Crest Trail