Merced Lake
TRAIL USE
Backpack, Horse
LENGTH
26.6 miles, 12–18 hours (over 2–3 days)
VERTICAL FEET
One-way: +4,020', –550'
Round-trip: ±4,570'
DIFFICULTY
TRAIL TYPE
Out-and-Back
FEATURES
Canyon
Lake
Stream
Waterfall
Wildflowers
Great Views
Camping
Swimming
Steep
Granite Slabs
Geological Interest
FACILITIES
Bear Boxes
Campgrounds
Horse Staging
Lodging
Restrooms
Shuttle Stop
Store
Visitor Center
Water
Best done in three days with overnight stops at Little Yosemite Valley (on the way up) and Merced Lake, this hike is often done in two by energetic weekend hikers. Its route, up a fantastic river canyon, is one of the Sierra’s best. Located at an elevation of about 7,200 feet, relatively large Merced Lake is about 2,000-plus feet lower than the popular lakes reached from Tuolumne Meadows’ trailheads, and therefore it—and the route to reach it—is snow-free sooner and stays accessible into the fall. Also, autumn snowstorms are not a serious concern at these elevations, making October forays quite safe.
Permits
Overnight visitors require a wilderness permit for the Happy Isles to Little Yosemite Valley (LYV) Trailhead (first night at LYV backpackers’ camp) or Happy Isles to Sunrise/Merced Lake Pass Thru (first night beyond LYV backpackers’ camp), issued by Yosemite National Park. Pick up your wilderness permit at the Yosemite Valley Wilderness Center.
Maps
This trail is covered by the Tom Harrison Yosemite High Country map (1:63,360 scale), the National Geographic Trails Illustrated #306 Yosemite SW map and #309 Yosemite SE map (1:40,000 scale), and the USGS 7.5-minute series Half Dome and Merced Peak maps (1:24,000 scale).
Some folks make this hike in May and June, when Vernal and Nevada Falls are spectacular, the Merced River is churning, and wildflowers are spectacular, but unfortunately that is also when mosquitoes are ubiquitous and voracious at Merced Lake, though tolerable at some of the slab-infused campsites a little below Merced Lake. Mid-July is better, but you’ll still want a tent. By late July, the lake’s environs are relatively mosquito free, and the lake is about as warm as it is going to get. This deep lake stays tolerably “warm” through mid-August, then begins to chill. Anglers and the relatively recluse may find September best, after the crowds have left. I have even enjoyed October walks, with the yellow hues of fall and bright blue skies. The nights and morning temperatures are nippy, but the afternoon ones are about perfect.
Finding the Trail
The trailhead is located at Happy Isles, Yosemite Valley shuttle stop 16, along Happy Isles Loop Road. Because this road is closed to vehicular traffic, except the shuttle buses, use the shuttle bus or walk to reach the trailhead. Overnight hikers should park their cars at the backpackers’ parking area, located along Happy Isles Loop Road about halfway between Half Dome Village (Curry Village) and Happy Isles. The Happy Isles shuttle stop is a 0.4-mile walk from the parking area—from here it is more efficient to walk than to take the shuttle bus. Water faucets and toilets are at the shuttle stop and just beyond the Vernal Fall bridge, 1 mile into your hike.
There are two wilderness permit options for this walk, and you will have to select which one you prefer at the time you book your permit, eliminating the ability to be flexible based on fatigue. Those with a Happy Isles–Little Yosemite Valley permit must spend their first night at the large backpackers’ campground in Little Yosemite Valley (LYV). Those with a Happy Isles pass-through permit must spend their first night at least 2 miles east of the Little Yosemite Valley backpackers’ campground. However, it is at least 2 more miles before you will find the first campsite not affected by the 2014 Meadow Fire and several more miles again until there are larger sites.
Note that hikers who unsuccessfully apply for a Happy Isles permit—the most sought-after in the park—could begin this hike at Glacier Point. Again, there are pass-through and stop at Little Yosemite Valley options. If you do this, follow the instructions for the Panorama Trail (Trail 41) until it intersects the John Muir Trail, and then continue following the instructions given for this hike starting with ▶5. This adds 2.35 miles to your hike each direction but reduces the elevation gain.
Trail Description
From the Happy Isles shuttle stop ▶1 you walk briefly east across a bridge and then turn south onto a trail, soon reaching a sign proclaiming the start of the famous John Muir Trail (JMT), which heads about 210 miles southward to the summit of Mount Whitney. Winding past large boulders through a forest of oaks, California laurel, and conifers, your paved path takes you past a small spring-fed cistern whose water I wouldn’t drink. Beyond it the climb south steepens, and before bending east, you get a glance back at Upper Yosemite Fall, partly blocked by the Glacier Point Apron.
Entering forest shade once more, you ascend a steep stretch of trail before making a quick drop to the Vernal Fall bridge (1.0 mile). ▶2 From it you see Vernal Fall, a broad curtain of water plunging 320 feet over a vertical cliff before cascading toward you. Looming above the fall are two glacier-resistant masses, Mount Broderick (left) and Liberty Cap (right). Just beyond the bridge are restrooms, a drinking fountain and water faucet, and an emergency telephone.
Now you hike up to the start of the Mist Trail (1.2 miles). ▶3 (The 0.8-mile shorter Mist Trail, to the brink of Vernal Fall, past Emerald Pool, and across the Silver Apron, certainly is worth taking, but the stairs ascending the steep stretch to the top of Vernal Fall are no fun with an overnight pack, especially if you are trying to race upward to avoid drenching yourself and all your gear. If you do wish to take this route, it is described in Trail 33.)
Instead you now turn right, continuing along the JMT corridor, a route yielding different rewards. One is that the miles to Clark Point are along shady, moderately graded switchbacks. Above Clark Point (2.2 miles) ▶4 you have spectacular views across the canyon to Half Dome, Mount Broderick, and Liberty Cap, the last rising to the left of downward-leaping Nevada Fall. The last stretch of trail has been blasted out of the steep granite slab. A tall wall provides safe passage, except in winter when the trough with the trail is snow-filled and the trail is closed, forcing a detour from Clark Point down to the Silver Apron bridge and an ascent of the upper half of the Mist Trail. Beyond this section you intersect the end of the Panorama Trail, which started at Glacier Point (3.15 miles), ▶5 and then descend to the bridge over Nevada Fall (3.4 miles). ▶6 Just a few steps beyond the bridge, you can strike northwest (left) to find a short spur trail that drops to a viewpoint beside the fall’s brink. This viewpoint’s railing is seen from the fall’s bridge, thereby giving you an idea of where the trail ends, though it starts about 50 feet farther north, curving counterclockwise down to the railings where topography permits. Back on the main trail, you descend briefly and reach the top of the Mist Trail, where hikers taking this shorter, steeper trail will rejoin this route description (3.6 miles). ▶7
From the junction and its adjacent outhouses, you begin the final climb to Little Yosemite Valley, first by ascending a brushy, rocky slope and then quickly descending and reaching both forest shade and the Merced River. Beneath pines, firs, and incense cedars, you continue northeast along the river’s azalea-lined bank, then quickly reach a trail fork (4.2 miles). ▶8 You keep right on the main, riverside trail and continue just out of sight of the river’s edge, mostly through a quite dense forest, to reach a junction at the southern edge of the Little Yosemite Valley backpackers’ camp, complete with toilets, food-storage boxes, and (usually) a ranger (4.65 miles). ▶9 Those bound for the JMT or Half Dome branch left, while you continue straight ahead.
With the majority of hikers heading left (north), your route is now much quieter—and wonderfully flat. Starting just a little east of the backpackers’ camping area, the forests in Little Yosemite Valley and Lost Valley (the next valley east) were burned in the Meadow Fire in September 2014. Previously much of this section had been a dense forest, with abundant dead material on the ground, providing ample fuel for the fire to spread; this is a natural process and was caused by a natural lightning-strike fire, but the lack of shade and loss of beautiful dense forest stands are nonetheless unwelcome.
Trying to be optimistic, you now have a better view of the canyon’s walls and admire the blackened tree trunks as artistic totems. A thick accumulation of glacial sediments covers most of the valley floor, which, like beach sand, make you work even though the trail is level. Progressing east through Little Yosemite Valley, you stay closer to the base of glacier-polished Moraine Dome than to the Merced River, though a 5-minute walk leads to the water anytime you need refreshment. Most of Little Yosemite Valley is a designated day-use area and only once you’re beyond a sign (6.5 miles) ▶10 in the eastern stretches of the valley may you camp. The valley’s east end is graced by the presence of a beautiful pool—the receptacle of a Merced River cascade. A cluster of popular campsites were once nestled under conifer cover to the north of this pool, but with the area badly charred and tree fall a real danger, this area will now be more popular as a midday swimming hole than a night’s destination for many years to come, though some hikers are still using the once-popular campsites. Climbing slabs past the cascade, you glance back to see the east face of exfoliating Moraine Dome and the many charred trees.
Your brief cascade climb takes you closer to the 1,900-foot-high cliff dropping from Bunnell Point, which is exfoliating at an amazing rate. Rounding the base of a glacier-smoothed dome, unofficially called the Sugar Loaf, you enter Lost Valley, the next in a series of flat valleys punctuated by climbs on slabs. This valley has also been badly charred by the Meadow Fire, with barely a tree still standing. At the valley’s east end, switchback up past Bunnell Cascade. The magnificent canyon scenery can easily distract one from the very real danger of this exposed section of trail.
Just beyond the V gorge, the canyon floor widens a bit, and, just before descending to the river’s banks, if you trend east (right) from the trail, you will find a small camping area atop some slabs. The trail now crosses the Merced River on a bridge (8.8 miles) ▶11 and follows the south bank briefly upstream. Where the stream banks again transform into steeply sloping slabs, your upcanyon walk diverges from the water’s edge and climbs a series of more than a dozen switchbacks that carry you 400 feet above the river. Your climb reaches its zenith amid a spring-fed, profuse garden bordered by aspens, which in midsummer supports a colorful array of various wildflowers and in fall is decorated with brilliant yellow aspen leaves.
Beyond this glade you soon come out onto a highly polished bedrock surface. Here you can glance west and see Clouds Rest standing on the northern horizon—a long, not terribly attractive ridge from this aspect. Now you descend back into tree cover, and among the white trunks of aspens, you continue through a forest carpet of bracken ferns and cross several creeklets before emerging on a bedrock bench above the river’s inner gorge. From the bench you can study an immense arch on the broad, hulking granitic mass opposite you and watch the water churning down the bottom of the gorge. Traversing the narrow trail winding along the bench, you soon come to a bend in the river and a bridge that crosses the Merced just above the brink of its cascades (10.5 miles). ▶12 Strolling east, you soon reach the west end of spacious Echo Valley, pass a few small campsites on sandy knobs south of the trail, and proceed to a junction at its north edge with a trail ascending Echo Creek (11.3 miles). ▶13
A mile up the Echo Creek trail is a fork, where left is an alternate route back to the backpackers’ camp in Little Yosemite Valley, the Merced Lake High Trail. The overall distance is 7.2 miles, versus 6.65 miles following the Merced River canyon. When the trail along the river was completed in 1931, the High Trail fell into disuse because it is almost a mile longer and climbs 750 feet more. More important, it lacks the spectacular Merced River views you’ve been captivated by. It does provide an alternative return route if you are curious to see some different landscape. This trail is plotted on the trail map. Note that much of its length will be through forest burned in the Meadow Fire.
For now your goal is Merced Lake. Stay right, immediately crossing Echo Creek’s braided river channels on three bridges, then strike southeast through boggy Echo Valley, a dense tangle of approximately 15-foot-tall lodgepole pines, regenerating after fires in 1988 and 1993; the combination of downed logs and thickets of young trees make camping implausible. After mounting a shelf at the east end of Echo Valley, you are again at the river’s edge, and from here there are multiple campsites north of the trail, some in sandy flats among slabs and others in small stands of lodgepole pine. If conditions are expected to be buggy at Merced Lake, these make ideal campsites for smaller groups. Continuing on slabs past the churning river, you reach Merced Lake’s outlet (12.65 miles) ▶14, at which there are no suitable campsites, and continue around Merced Lake’s north shore to the designated backpackers’ camping area, just a little northeast of the lake (13.3 miles). ▶15 The backpackers’ campsite is the only decent camping option along the shores of Merced Lake, with most other flat areas being too close to the water’s edge. Pit toilets and food-storage boxes are an added bonus. Other camping options present themselves if you continue approximately 0.3 mile upstream, past the Merced Lake High Sierra Camp to flat forested terrain on the next shelf up. Eighty-foot-deep Merced Lake, being a large one at a moderate elevation, supports three species of trout: brook, brown, and rainbow. After your stay, return to the Happy Isles shuttle stop (26.6 miles) ▶16.
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▶1 | 0.0 | Start at shuttle stop 16, Happy Isles |
▶2 | 1.0 | Vernal Fall bridge |
▶3 | 1.2 | Right onto John Muir Trail at Mist Trail junction |
▶4 | 2.2 | Right at Clark Point junction |
▶5 | 3.15 | Left at Panorama Trail junction |
▶6 | 3.4 | Nevada Fall bridge |
▶7 | 3.6 | Straight ahead on John Muir Trail at top of Mist Trail |
▶8 | 4.2 | Right at trail fork along Merced River |
▶9 | 4.65 | Straight at junction near Little Yosemite Valley backpackers’ campground |
▶10 | 6.5 | End of Little Yosemite Valley no-camping area (CAMPING ALLOWED EAST OF HERE sign) |
▶11 | 8.8 | Bunnell Point bridge |
▶12 | 10.5 | Echo Valley bridge |
▶13 | 11.3 | Straight at Echo Creek junction |
▶14 | 12.65 | Merced Lake outlet |
▶15 | 13.3 | Merced Lake backpackers’ campground |
▶16 | 26.6 | Return to shuttle stop 16, Happy Isles |
MILESTONES