Sierra North: Backcountry Trips in California's Sierra Nevada

by Elizabeth Wenk, Mike White

Overview

Find the Best Hikes and Backpacking Trips in California’s Sierra Nevada

The rush of trekking through nature, the thrill of experiencing new places, the reward of discovering beautiful sights—all of this awaits in the Sierra Nevada. For more than 50 years, this definitive guidebook has led readers along the top trails between the mountain range’s northern boundary and the southern edge of Yosemite National Park. Now, with this revised and updated edition, let hiking experts Elizabeth Wenk and Mike White show you the way.

Sierra North is the award-winning guide that features 80 meticulously selected trips, from new routes to old favorites. Traverse Hoover Wilderness, Ansel Adams Wilderness, Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, Emigrant Wilderness, Desolation Wilderness, and more. The trips are organized around major highways and roads, so it’s easy to choose your next adventure. Just pick an area, drive there, and go hiking.

Inside you’ll find

• 80 trips that range from quick overnighters to 11-day excursions
• Complete trip details, including day-by-day trail descriptions, GPS waypoints, and elevation data
• 36 trailhead maps that show the routes for every trip
• Beginner tips and trusted advice on camping, fishing, and bear safety
• Information on side trips, geology, natural history, and more

Planning your trip into the northern Sierra backcountry is easier than ever before. For additional hiking and backpacking opportunities, see the companion guide Sierra South. Both titles are recipients of a National Outdoor Book Award.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899978864
Publisher:	Wilderness Press
Publication date:	12/15/2020
Series:	Sierra Nevada Guides
Edition description:	10th Revised ed.
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	657,403
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Since childhood, Lizzy Wenk has hiked and climbed in the Sierra Nevada and continues the tradition with her husband, Douglas Bock, and daughters, Eleanor and Sophia. As she obtained a PhD in Sierran alpine plant ecology from the University of California, Berkeley, her love of the mountain range morphed into a profession. But writing guidebooks has become her way to share her love and knowledge of the Sierra Nevada with others. Lizzy continues to obsessively explore every bit of the Sierra, spending summers hiking on- and off-trail throughout the range, but she currently lives in Sydney, Australia, during the “off-season.” Other Wilderness Press titles she has authored include John Muir Trail, One Best Hike: Mount Whitney, One Best Hike: Grand Canyon, 50 Best Short Hikes: Yosemite, and Wildflowers of the High Sierra and John Muir Trail, the latter a perfect companion book for all naturalists. Mike White was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He learned to hike, backpack, and climb in the Cascade Mountains, and he honed his outdoor skills further while obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University. After college, Mike and his wife, Robin, relocated to the Nevada desert, where he was drawn to the majesty of the High Sierra. In the early 1990s, Mike began writing about the outdoors, expanding the third edition of Luther Linkhart’s The Trinity Alps for Wilderness Press. His first solo project was Nevada Wilderness Areas and Great Basin National Park. Many more titles for Wilderness followed, including the Snowshoe Trails series; books about Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Lassen National Parks; Backpacking Nevada; Top Trails: Northern California’s Redwood Coast; Best Backpacking Trips in California and Nevada; Best Backpacking Trips in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico; 50 of the Best Strolls, Walks, and Hikes Around Reno; and Afoot & Afield: Reno-Tahoe. Two of his books, Top Trails: Lake Tahoe and 50 Classic Hikes in Nevada, have won national awards. Mike has also contributed to the Wilderness Press classics Sierra South and Sierra North, as well as Backpacking California. In addition to his books, Mike has written for Sunset, Backpacker, and the Reno Gazette-Journal. A community college instructor, Mike is a featured speaker for outdoors groups. He and Robin live in Reno; his two sons, David and Stephen, live in the area as well.

Read an Excerpt

Young Lakes

Trip Data: 37.93783ºN 119.33566ºW (upper Young Lake); 14.1 miles; 2/1 days

Topos: Tioga Pass, Falls Ridge

Highlights: The three Young Lakes, cupped under soaring Ragged Peak, are some of the most accessible lakes from Tuolumne Meadows that allow camping. Although busy, they are less crowded than the popular destinations south of Tioga Road. The cluster of lakes offers a large selection of campsites, some in heavy woods and others at timberline. These camps provide a base for exciting excursions into the headwaters of Conness Creek and for climbing Mount Conness itself.

Day 1

(Glen Aulin Trailhead to Upper Young Lake, 7.3 miles): Go around the locked gate where the road to the stables trends right (north) and continue west on the service road along the lodgepole-dotted flank of Tuolumne Meadows, enjoying fine views south toward the Cathedral Range. After 0.25 mile you meet a smaller trail heading right (northeast) to the horse stables and soon thereafter the main trail splits. Here, the left (southwest) branch heads to a bridge across the nearby Tuolumne River, while your route, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), veers right (west), slightly uphill, still on an old road, and quickly encounters a spur trail to the bubbling natural Soda Springs.

Above Soda Springs the road forks, and you go right (northwest), still on the PCT. (To take a peek at the nearby buildings—McCauley Cabin and Parsons Memorial Lodge— briefly go left [southwest], then return after having satisfied your curiosity.) Your westbound trail passes a reed-filled lake, then traverses open sandy flats interspersed with lodgepole pine patches. Another spur trail from the stables merges from the right (southwest) and just beyond you descend to cross Delaney Creek, a potentially treacherous crossing in late May and June if no log is availale to balance across. In late season, this is your only water source until the Young Lakes.

Continuing not far from the northern edge of Tuolumne Meadows you soon reach a junction, where you go right (north) to Young Lakes, while the PCT continues left (west) to Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp (Trips 31 and 51). From the junction, you ascend gradually across a broad expanse of boulder-strewn sheets of granite. An open spot affords a look south across broad Tuolumne Meadows to the line of peaks from steep, rounded Fairview Dome to the steeplelike spires of the Cathedral Range. After a little under a mile, the trail dips to first parallel and then cross Dingley Creek (may be dry by late season).

The trail continues winding gently upward in shady pine forest carpeted with a fine flower display even into late season. Through early July, enjoy the delicate, creamy-white flowers of mariposa lilies, with one rich brown spot in the throat of each petal; mariposa means butterfly in Spanish, for the petals resemble a butterfly’s wings. The trail remains just south of the ridge, denying the hiker spectacular northward vistas, so be sure to take a few steps north and enjoy the panoply of peaks: majestic Tower Peak, Doghead and Quarry Peaks, the Finger Peaks, Matterhorn Peak, Sheep Peak, Mount Conness, and the Shepherd Crest. From this viewpoint a moderate descent leads to a step-across crossing of a Conness Creek tributary and, just beyond, a junction with a southeast-climbing trail, the other Young Lakes Trail, your return route.

Turn left (generally north) and start a roller-coaster traverse through a cool forest of mountain hemlocks, lodgepoles, and western white pines, crossing seasonal rivulets. Turning east you climb up to a plateau, en route passing a meadow that was the fourth Young Lake before it filled in with stream sediments. From your high point enjoy the fine view of the steep north face of Ragged Peak and descend to the west shore of the lower Young Lake (9,910'; 37.93718°N, 119.34860°W). The north shore of the lowest lake easily has the most campsites of the three lakes—and indeed most hikers camp here, though I’ve listed the upper lake as the official destination, as I recommend that everyone visit it as a side trip. At about 9,900 feet, lower Young Lake lies in the subalpine realm, so it still has sufficient trees for shade and to diminish the sometimes strong late-afternoon winds. Fishing on the Young Lakes is fair to good for brook trout. (Stopping here shaves 1.7 miles from the round-trip distance given.)

More secluded campsites may be found at the upper lakes. To reach them, follow the trail east around the lower lake, fording the lower lake’s outlet, and picking up a use trail that climbs to the middle lake. Remaining on the north side of the inlet stream, the route parallels the creek east up to the relatively small Middle Young Lake (9,995'). The most used campsites are on a rocky ridge above the middle lake’s northwest shore, but there are also options farther to the northeast, nestled in a grove of lodgepole pines.

To reach the uppermost lake, after encircling the middle lake’s north shore clockwise, most people follow a use trail just north of the creek, but it is narrow, eroded, and often muddy. A better, if sometimes cryptic, use trail stays just slightly farther to the north, meandering eastward up to benchlands across which you make an easy, nearly level, open, scenic traverse southeast emerging on the slabs ringing this stunning alpine lake. There are a few small campsites along Upper Young Lake’s north and west shores (10,210'; 37.93783°N, 119.33566°W). These are small sandy patches among slabs and stunted white- bark pines that offer outstanding views, but little protection from the elements, so many people choose to visit this lake for a view after establishing camp at a lower elevation. From here, relatively easy cross-country travel leads to the giant plateau leading to Mount Conness’s summit, although note that the final stretch to the summit is a little exposed.

Soda Springs Campground

This former campground was once the private holding of John Lembert, namesake of Lembert Dome. His brothers, who survived him, sold it to the Sierra Club in 1912, and for 60 years Club members enjoyed a private campground in the marvelous subalpine meadow just northeast of the Soda Springs. But in 1972 the club deeded the property to the National Park Service so that everyone could use it.

Day 2

(Upper Young Lake to Glen Aulin Trailhead, 6.8 miles): After exploring the Young Lakes area, retrace your steps to the junction where the two Young Lakes trails merge. Turning left (south), you will now take the trail that passes close to Dog Lake. First climb the southwest spur of Ragged Peak, a sandy, boulder-scattered slope with moderate lodgepole-and-hemlock cover. Views from atop are outstanding, with Yosemite’s tallest peak, Mount Lyell, crowning the skyline, easily identified by its monumental snowfield. From here, the trail descends through a very large, gently sloping meadow dotted with small lodgepoles. This broad expanse is a wildflower garden in season, laced with meandering brooks, but it may be almost dry late in a low-water year. Expanses of paintbrush and lupine in the fore- ground set off the views of the entire Cathedral Range, strung out on the southern horizon.

Near the lower edge of the meadow, you cross the headwaters of Dingley Creek. Beyond, you descend, steeply at times, past exfoliating Peak 10,410 to reach a seasonal creek in a mixed forest of lodgepole and hemlock. The trail then levels off and veers east on a rolling course through more lodgepole forest, where the sandy soil sprouts thousands of prostrate little lupine plants. After another seasonal creek is crossed, you make a short but noticeable climb to the crest of a large, bouldery ridge. Down its gravelly slopes (that is, slower walking), you descend to a very large, level meadow where the reddish peaks of Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs loom in the east and Delaney Creek meanders lazily through the grass. You cross on a collection of logs because the channel is too wide to leap across and would be a deep (but easy) wade.

After climbing briefly over the crest of a second bouldery ridge, your route begins its final descent into Tuolumne Meadows. Lembert Dome can be glimpsed through the trees along this stretch of trail. The trail levels slightly before it fords Dog Lake’s outlet and soon meets the signed lateral that leads 0.1 mile left (northeast) to Dog Lake (worth the brief detour); you continue right (south). After another 0.1 mile, you reach a junction with a trail that leads left (east) along the north side of Lembert Dome and you again stay right (southwest). You parallel the outlet creek from Dog Lake, switchbacking quite steeply down a rocky, dusty trail, dropping approximately 500 feet. As the gradient lessens, there are two spur trails right (west) to the stables, while you continue left (south) on beautiful white polished slabs extending from the western base of Lembert Dome. Passing through a few lodgepole pines, you reach the Lembert Dome parking area; turn right along the road to find your car.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Sierra North Locator Map

Going High to Get High

Trip Cross-Reference Table

Introduction

• Updates for the 10th Edition
• Care and Enjoyment of the Mountains
• Safety and Well-Being
• Maps and Profiles
• How to Use This Book

I-80 Trips

• Castle Peak Trailhead

CA 89 Trips

• Powderhorn Trailhead
• Meeks Bay Trailhead
• Bayview Trailhead
• Big Meadow Trailhead
• Armstrong Pass Trailhead

US 50 Trips

• Twin Lakes Trailhead
• Echo Lakes Trailhead
• Echo Summit Trailhead

CA 88 Trips

• Silver Lake–Granite Lake Trailhead
• Thunder Mountain Trailhead
• Woods Lake Trailhead
• Meiss Meadows Trailhead
• Carson Pass Trailhead
• Upper Blue Lake–Granite Lake Trailhead

CA 4 Trips

• Mosquito Lakes Trailhead
• High Trailhead

CA 108 Trips

• Crabtree Trailhead
• Gianelli Cabin Trailhead
• Kennedy Meadows Trailhead
• Sonora Pass Trailhead
• Leavitt Meadows Trailhead

CA 120 Trips

• Hetch Hetchy Trailhead
• White Wolf Trailhead
• Ten Lakes Trailhead
• Yosemite Creek Trailhead
• May Lake Trailhead
• Sunrise Lakes Trailhead
• Murphy Creek Trailhead
• Cathedral Lakes Trailhead
• Elizabeth Lake Trailhead
• Glen Aulin Trailhead
• Lyell Canyon Trailhead
• Mono Pass Trailhead
• Saddlebag Lake Trailhead

Western Yosemite Trips

• Wawona Tunnel Trailhead
• Yosemite Falls Trailhead
• Happy Isles Trailhead
• Bridalveil Creek Trailhead
• Glacier Point Trailheads

CA 41 to South of Yosemite Trips

• Quartz Mountain Trailhead
• Fernandez and Walton Trailheads
• Isberg Trailhead

US 395 Trips

• Corral Valley Trailhead
• Buckeye Creek Trailhead
• Robinson Creek Trailhead
• Green Creek Trailhead
• Virginia Lakes Trailhead

Useful Books

Index

About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

Over the years, the guides have gone through a number of editions and have sold over 100,000 copies. The latest editions have been meticulously updated by Elizabeth Wenk and Mike White and include a feature that [original authors Thomas Winnett and Karl Schwenke] could never have imagined back in 1967: GPS trail coordinates. These fine books are certain to continue to guide hikers for generations to come, all thanks to the foresight and pioneering work of Winnett and Schwenke.”
—National Outdoor Book Award reviewers

From the Publisher