Miwok Lake

Another lakes tour of the Yosemite North Country. This would be my third trek into the area, having done a week trip in ’05 and ’03. The North Country of Yosemite offers lots of off-trail opportunities to discover some beautiful country away from the crowds. Also, there’s the challenge of finding a good route and of course ending up at your intended destination. I wanted to hit a couple of prime places I had visited previously, stay at a few lakes that I had passed by and see some of the area I had missed on both previous trips. The trip was eight nights in early September.

Small Lakes

I left on labor day weekend out of the Lake Eleanor trailhead. I had been to this area before and hiked into lower Eleanor Creek Canyon via this trailhead so knew the lay of the land. Lake Eleanor is somewhat low in elevation and a bit brushy on the hot dry slopes off-trail so I had initially planned on sticking to the trail on the way toward Laurel Lake. Fortunately, when checking in, a ranger had told of a shortcut from the lake to the upper trails that cut off from the cabins at the middle part of the lake. As this would save miles of what would essentially be old-road hiking, I changed my plans. The short cut was somewhat hard to find initially, but soon became more defined. It was a hot afternoon when I left the trailhead and a fair grind up to the upper trails with a full pack complete with the 2 and a half pound mandatory bear canister. I passed some people on the trail section and some near Laurel Lake but not that many considering the holiday. I camped my first night past Laurel Lake on the trail leading toward Lake Vernon.

The next day I left the trail toward Frog Creek. There is something freeing about leaving the trail and heading off into the unknown. The trail tends to leave your mind to wandering, whereas once off trail you’re constantly making decisions as to where to go. If it’s not determining which direction to take, it’s figuring a way around some obstacle or another. And you have to pay attention. You also go a lot slower – for better or worse.

Tilden Lake

My route to my next camp was along Frog Creek and then up the ridge toward Miwok Lake. Pretty country, open and easy traveling. The lake itself was quite nice. Situated on the ridge line it was easy to wander over to the edge and look down on Bearup Lake which I had visited on my last trip. The next day I wandered over to Ardeth Lake, another nice lake with good views overlooking Jack Main Canyon.

From Miwok, I followed the ridge line toward the Otter Lakes. It was noon on a beautiful afternoon when I came upon two small lakelets along a narrow section of the ridge. The scene was so nice, I decided that I would camp there. I usually like to leave my itinerary pretty flexible as you never know when you might stumble across some beautiful place like this. As they say, it’s the journey not the destination. The lakelets were really nice with great views nearby off toward Frog Creek and the Jack Main Canyons.

Mary Lake

My plans were kind of morphing as I went along. I decided to pass by Otter Lakes and instead head over to Tilden Lake and the high country up that canyon. But I did plan to come back this way as I thought Otter Lake was definitely worth a stay.

I kind of expected to see people around Tilden Lake as it’s near the PCT but saw no one. I camped about mid lake on a spit of land that extended into the lake and offered great views up and down the lake. A little bit windy in the afternoon, but the weather was overall quite nice, warm and sunny mostly.

I spent two nights at the camp, and had a day to explore up the Tilden Creek toward Mary Lake. This area I thought was spectacular. This is the kind of country I go to Yosemite to find. Upper alpine meadows with forest pockets and high granite ridges. Very pretty. And still green with plenty of flowers, though tired flowers, this being September. Mary Lake was a pretty alpine lake with just some stubby trees about but mostly above timberline.

Next day it was back to Otter Lake. Though perched in a low valley without the grand vistas, the lake itself, not terribly big, has many islands and peninsulas to explore. Spent some time wandering and looking for the perfect camp for the night.

Otter Lake

The next day I crossed paths with my trip three years previous when I visited some remote little lakes below Richardson Peak. The area, kind of the upper reaches of Frog Creek is a pretty setting with forest pockets, small meadows and little lakes. My route continued out around and to the South of Richardson Peak with some great views overlooking Frog Creek Canyon and Bearup Lake and looking out toward the ridge I climbed up on a few days previous with Miwok Lake.

View from Richardson Peak

Being so near the peak, I decided to drop pack and climb up to Richardson Peak. Nothing too strenuous, but great views all around. Now looking over to Peninsula Lake, Haystack Peak and points North. The ridge leading West from here is wide open area and easy hiking. My plan now was to hit some interesting points on the map and try to descend into Kendrick Canyon and ultimately, Edith Lake.

There looked to be some interesting lakes below Richardson Peak, grouped in a cirque to the West, but getting down there was going to be a steep descent. There didn’t appear to be any easy way in, so I chose one that looked relatively safe, but it still required a bit of time to carefully make the descent with a pack. These lakes really looked untouched and wild here as you might imagine. I decided this was a good spot to camp, but open and interesting campsites proved to be hard to come by with tree cover complete to the lakes edge and not too many openings. I did manage to find a good one and had a nice night here.

Hidden Lakes

Getting down into Kendrick Canyon the next day proved to be easier than I thought it might be. Mainly just working your way down the steep slope of granite. There were some steep spots but easily workable. Getting down to Edith proved a bit more difficult. I’ve been to Edith Lake three times via three different routes and have found none of them easy. My route could have been better planned, but as it was, it was steep and I kept getting cliffed out on sections I thought were workable. Anyhow, I made it into this lovely basin – one of my favorites – and had a great night here.

Edith Lake

The route out and back to the car took me down Eleanor Creek to Eleanor Lake and back to the car. At this point the elevation is back into oak level and with it the thick tangles of oak scrub and mazanita. Fortunately water levels were low so it was easy travel down the creek. But, that said, there were many thick tangles of brush and thick aspen groves that slowed progess. I camped down near Lake Eleanor pretty tired out.

I had been to this area before, but between these trips a fire made it’s way through this area. There was a hard to follow trail that lead back to main trail, but it was pretty obscured with downed and burned out trees this time out and I pretty much missed the most crucial spots. This lead to a long, hard slog through some thick brush to make it back the trail along the South shore of the lake.

The trip was a memorable one for sure. Some easy days and some hard. the weather throughout was fantastic and the views and the lakes spectacular.

Tags: Alpine Lakes, Backpacking, Off-Trail Hiking, Yosemite