Sierra North: Backcountry Trips in California's Sierra Nevada Ninth Edition

The backpacking bug hit Kathy Morey hard in the 1970s and hasn’t let go yet. In 1990 she abandoned an aerospace career to write for Wilderness Press, authoring four hiking guides on Hawaii, “Hot Showers, Soft Beds, and Dayhikes in the Sierra,” and “Guide to the John Muir Trail.” She was a co-author of several previous editions of “Sierra North” and “Sierra South.” For the 9th edition of “Sierra North,” Kathy served as lead author. Kathy lives in Mammoth Lakes, California. Mike White was born and raised in Oregon and learned to hike in the Cascades. In the early 1990s, he began writing about the outdoors full time, and he has since written or contributed to almost a dozen Wilderness Press books, including “Kings Canyon National Park,” “Sequoia National Park,” and “Top Trails Lake Tahoe.” He also has written for “Sunset” and “Backpacker” magazines and the “Reno Gazette-Journal.” Mike lives in Reno and teaches backpacking and snowshoeing at Truckee Meadows Community College. Stacy Corless is a hiker, trail runner, and writer in Mammoth Lakes, California. Since trading the Berkeley Hills for the Eastern Sierra seven years ago, Stacy has logged hundreds of miles in the backcountry that, conveniently, is her backyard. Thomas Winnett founded Wilderness Press in 1967 with the publishing of “Sierra North,” his first guidebook. During his more than 30 years as publisher, he also wrote numerous books on how to backpack and where to hike in the wild areas of the western United States. He is now retired and lives with his wife, Lu, in Berkeley, California.

LEMBERT DOME TRAILHEAD 8584’; 11S 292591 4194973

DESTINATION 57 Young Lakes
UTM COORDINATES 11S 293594 4201417
TRIP TYPE Semiloop
BEST SEASON Mid or late
PACE (HIKING/LAYOVER DAYS) 2/1 Moderate
TOTAL MILEAGE 15.1

Information and Permits: These trips enter Yosemite National Park: Yosemite Permits, PO Box 545, Yosemite National Park, CA 95389; 209-372-0740; www.nps.gov/yose/wilderness/permits.htm. Bear canisters are required; pets and firearms are prohibited.

Driving Directions: From Hwy. 120 in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows, just 7 miles southwest of Tioga Pass and just east of the bridge over the Tuolumne River, turn west on a dirt road along Lembert Dome’s western face. The road leads to a locked gate, which we consider the trailhead, and from here the road turns right toward the stables. Find a parking spot where permitted along the road between the highway and the gate. You may not park overnight in the lot at the base of Lembert Dome.

57 YOUNG LAKES

Trip Data: 11S 293594 4201417; 15.1 miles; 2/1 days

Topos: Tioga Pass, Falls Ridge

Highlights: The three Young Lakes, cupped under soaring Ragged Peak, offer a large selection of campsites, some in heavy woods and some at timberline. These camps provide a base for exciting excursions into the headwaters of Conness Creek and for climbing Mt. Conness itself.

DAY 1 (Lembert Dome Trailhead to Lowest Young Lake, 8.2 miles): Go around the locked gate and continue west along the lodgepole-dotted flank of Tuolumne Meadows, with fine views south across the meadows of Unicorn Peak, Cathedral Peak, and some of the Echo Peaks. Approaching a boulder-rimmed old parking loop, you veer right past a shelter around a rust-colored soda spring and climb slightly to what was once Soda Springs Campground.

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 this marvelous subalpine meadow. But in 1972 the Club deeded the property to the National Park Service so that everyone could use it.

Here the road forks, and you go right (northwest), now on the PCT. (To take a peek at the nearby buildings―McCauley Cabin, Parsons Memorial Lodge, and a restroom―briefly go left, and then return after having satisfied your curiosity.) The sandy PCT undulates northwest through a forest of sparse, small lodgepole pines and passes a trail to the right that leads southeast and back to the stables. You continue north-northwest and descend to a ford of Delaney Creek (the only year-round, reliable water in either Delaney or upcoming Dingley creeks). Immediately beyond the ford, you hop a branch of Delaney Creek and then hop another in 300 yards; by late season, these branches are dry.

Soon the trail almost touches the southwest arm of Tuolumne Meadows and then ascends to a signed trail junction where you go right (north) toward Young Lakes. From the junction, you ascend slightly and cross 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 Fairview Dome to the steeple-like spires of the Cathedral Range.

After crossing the open granite, the trail climbs a tree-clothed slope to a ridge, turns up the ridge for several hundred yards, and then veers down to cross Dingley Creek (may be dry by late season). Past floods have strewn this area with logs, and it is easy to lose the trail here. Head across directly perpendicular to the creek; you will find the clearly worn trail on the far side of the extensive flood debris. In the first mile beyond this small creek, you jump across its north fork (also likely to be dry late in the year) and then wind gently upward in shady pine forest carpeted with a fine flower display even into late season: groundsel, daisies, lupine, squawroot, gooseberries, and perhaps the delicate, creamy-white flowers of Mariposa lilies, with one rich brown spot in the throat of each petal. Near the ridgetop, breaks in the lodgepole forest allow you glimpses of the whole Cathedral Range.

On the other side of the ridge, a new panoply of peaks appears in the north: majestic Tower Peak, Doghead and Quarry peaks, the Finger Peaks, Matterhorn Peak, Sheep Peak, Mt. Conness, and the Shepherd Crest. From this viewpoint, a brief, moderate descent leads to a ford of a tributary of Conness Creek (may be dry by late season), where more varieties of flowers decorate the green banks of this icy, dashing stream.

At once, the descending trail reaches the signed Dog Lake Trail junction, temporarily ending the loop part of this trip. Turn left (generally north) and descend into thickening hemlock forest. On a level stretch of trail, you cross another branch of Conness Creek, and then switchback a half mile up to a plateau from where the view is fine of the steep north face of Ragged Peak.

The trail curves east, and after passing a meadow that was the fourth Young Lake before it filled in with stream sediments, the path descends to the west shore of Lowest Young Lake (9894’; 11S 293594 4201417), the most popular destination of the three Young Lakes. (The mileage given for this trip is only to Lowest Young Lake.) There are both primitive and well-developed campsites along the north shore of this lake. More secluded campsites may be found on Middle Young Lake (9892’) by following the trail east around the lower lake, fording the lower lake’s outlet, and picking up a use trail east to the middle lake. From the middle lake, you can go up the inlet to the highest lake (10,218’), which is the most attractive and also the most exposed. Fishing on the Young Lakes is fair to good for brook trout.

DAY 2 (Lowest Young Lake to Lembert Dome Trailhead, 6.9 miles): From Lowest Young Lake, retrace your steps to the signed Dog Lake Trail junction. Turn left (southeast) toward Dog Lake, “reopening” the loop part of this trip, and climb the southwest spur of Ragged Peak on a sandy, boulder-scattered slope under a moderate lodgepole-and-hemlock forest cover. Views from this point are outstanding. 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 dry year. Paintbrush, lupine, and monkeyflower in the foreground set off the occasional 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 (may be dry by late season) and then descend, steeply at times, some 300 feet through a moderately dense forest of lodgepoles and a few hemlocks. Then the trail levels off and veers east on a gently rolling course through more lodgepole forest where the sandy soil sprouts thousands of prostrate little lupine plants. Beyond is a very large, level meadow where the reddish peaks of Mt. Dana and Mt. Gibbs loom in the east, Delaney Creek meanders lazily through the grass, and Belding ground squirrels pipe away. The Delaney Creek ford is difficult in early season; you might look upstream. Beyond the creek, you will find the continuation of your trail.

After crossing a little ridge, the route drops once more toward 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 meets the signed 0.1-mile lateral left to Dog Lake; you continue ahead (south). Then it passes a junction with a trail that goes east; you go ahead (generally south) here. The 560-foot descent from here is terribly dusty, loose, rocky, and steep and is heavily used by dayhikers as it switchbacks down close under the steep west face of Lembert Dome. At the bottom of the deep dust, a lateral trail leads right (west) to the stables; you continue ahead (south-southeast) here. Soon, another lateral goes left, but you continue ahead (south-southeast) to cross slabs between parallel rows of rocks before passing through lodgepole forest and past restrooms to the Lembert Dome parking lot and the road you drove in on. Turn right on the road to find your car.