Young Lakes Backpacking Guide: Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is best known for its views of the biggest granite walls in the world located in Yosemite Valley. But when you leave the valley behind and venture out to the high country, you’ll find classic High Sierra scenery: rolling green meadows, dipping valleys filled with pine trees and babbling creeks, stunning mountain peaks, and crystal clear alpine lakes. The trek to Young Lakes in Yosemite’s northern wilderness showcases all of these High Sierra treats, and I can guarantee you will not want to hike back to reality after spending a night (or three) here.
Note: Included in this blog post are affiliate links. I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to use these links to shop! Thank you so much if you do use these links. It keeps this website up & running!
Trail Stats
Where: Yosemite National Park
Miles: 14 miles
Elevation Gain/ Loss: +/- 2,400 ft
Time to Complete: 2 days, could be extended to complete other objectives in the area
Trail Type: Out-and-back or Loop
Permits Required: YES
Pets Allowed: NO
Trailhead: Young Lakes via Dog Lake on recreation.gov.
AllTrails hike information link.
Want to download offline maps for this hike onto your cell phone? You can get AllTrails+ for 30% off with my discount code backcountryemily30. Try it out here!
Itinerary & Trip Planning
Permits
Yosemite National Park requires wilderness permits for all overnight trips. These permits are awarded by entry trailhead based on a quota system.
There are two different trailheads for this hike: Young Lakes via Dog Lake or Young Lakes via Glen Aulin. There are more permits available for the Dog Lake trailhead each day, and I recommend starting from this trailhead because of the amazing views you get of the Cathedral Range on the hike in, which is a perfect excuse to stop and take a breather.
Permits can be reserved on recreation.gov by a 24-week advance lottery system. You can view the 24-week planning chart here.
60% of the permits are available in advance, and the remaining 40% are available as “walk-ups” online. Online walk-up permits are released one week before the trip start date at 7:00 am PT. E.g. if you want to start your trip on a Friday, you should be on the computer, ready to book the previous Friday. Another thing to note is that unclaimed lottery permits will show up as bookable on recreation.gov after the application window closes. E.g. if you want to go on a trip sometime between June 16 - 22, 2024, but miss the lottery entry week, which is Dec. 31 - Jan. 6th, the unclaimed permits will be put on sale on January 12th at 9 am PT.
The latest you can book a permit online is three days prior to the entry date, after that, you must inquire about permit availability in-person at a wilderness center in the park.
Yosemite National Park requires you to pick the permit up in-person at one of their ranger stations by 11 am on the day of your permit start date. Late pickups can be arranged by checking the box on your permit for late pick-up, which you can edit online.
Permits cost $10/lottery entry, then $5/person when a permit is awarded and accepted. If booking after the lottery, it will be $10/permit, then $5/person. If you do not win the lottery, you will not be refunded the $10 lottery entry fee.
Yosemite National Park also charges $35/ car to enter the park. You must pay this entry fee even if you have already paid for a permit reservation. If you visit National Parks, Forests, and BLM land only 2-3 times/year, I’d buy an America the Beautiful pass for $80 - well worth it (you can also buy at the park entrance!)
Looking to score a permit for Young Lakes but everything is sold out? You can use the tracker below and sign up for personalized alerts for this trailhead (and many more) on Outdoor Status!
Campfires
Campfires are prohibited above 9,600 ft in Yosemite National Park, and Young Lakes is above this elevation, so no campfires or stoves that use sticks for fuel are allowed.
Bears
Bears are prevalent and active in Yosemite National Park and you must use an approved bear canister for storing all of your food and scented items. There is no other approved backcountry food storage method in the park.
Yosemite does rent bear canisters to those who don’t own one of their own. You can rent them from the ranger station when you pick up your permit for $5/ week, plus a $95 deposit. Learn more about canister rentals here.
The ranger should inform you of this when you pick up your permit, but Yosemite recommends keeping your bear canister within 50 feet of your campsite so you can hear if a bear is sniffing around or trying to get inside of the canister in the middle of the night. They ask that you attempt to shoo the bear off to help keep bears afraid of humans and the consequences of messing around with canisters.
My favorite bear canister is the BV450 - perfect for solo outings up to 4-5 days long! The BV500 is great for sharing with a buddy (pictured here).
Bear spray is prohibited in Yosemite. Black bears are generally pretty skittish and just want your food, so you shouldn’t really need it. Just get big and get loud and they’ll run away.
Tioga Road
Summer is the most popular time for backpacking in Yosemite, especially for trips starting on Tioga Road, aka Highway 120, like the trail to Young Lakes does. The opening of Tioga Road will dictate when you can start going on trips in this area. You can view the chart of historical open/ close dates of Tioga Road here.
Sadly, if you reserve a permit for a date before Tioga Road opens, you will not be able to use your permit, and you will not be given an option to reschedule. Tioga Road closes to overnight parking every year on October 15th. This means that if you want to brave the cold and do this trip starting October 15th or later, you will need to be dropped off at the trailhead, or take YARTS, if it is still running. The schedule for YARTS can change year to year, so make sure you check the website for the most up to date schedule.
Seasons & Weather
Lower Young Lake sits just below 10,000 ft in elevation, which is pretty high up! The trail to the lake basin is mostly south-facing and the basin itself is north facing. This means that the basin will take a little longer to melt out than the trail itself in the spring. The High Sierra sees variable winters year-to-year. You can pretty much guarantee that Young Lakes will receive some amount of snowfall no matter how dry the winter is, but how fast it will melt will depend on how warm the spring temperatures are. In a heavy snow year like the ‘22-’23 winter, snow will linger well into the summer, so make sure you hit the trail prepared. There aren’t any drop-offs or terribly consequential terrain on the hike to Lower Young Lakes, so an ice axe may not be necessary, but if snow is on the ground, microspikes will be a helpful addition to your hiking kit.
Generally, thunderstorms can be a possibility once summer starts. They aren’t a daily occurrence, but you should be prepared. Thunderstorm risk for the area dies down towards the end of August and into September. During my trip in late September, we experienced evening rain showers and thunderstorms!
Summer heat can be a doozy in Yosemite, even in the high country. This trail is a mix of forested and exposed. Where the trail is more forested, the trees aren’t very thick, so you should still make sure you are wearing UPF protected clothing and/or SPF sunscreen!
Since Lower Young Lake is at 10,000 ft in elevation, nights can be cold, even in the middle of the summer! A sleep system rated down to 20* F is usually sufficient for most summer backpacking in the Sierra. Make sure to bring an insulated puffy jacket too! In late September, we had ice on our tent fly in the morning: it got down near freezing overnight!
Trailhead & Parking
There are a couple of trailheads for this hike: Young Lakes via Dog Lake or Young Lakes via Glen Aulin. I will be describing the itinerary as a loop with the starting trailhead as Dog Lake and returning via the Glen Aulin route. If you will be doing the trail as a loop with Dog Lake as your starting point, I’d recommend parking at either the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center or the Dog Lake parking lot (not noted on Google Maps).
There are amenities all over Tuolumne Meadows, but the most convenient ones for this hike will be at the Wilderness Center. Here you can find toilets (mix of port-a-potty and flush) and a water spigot. There are also toilets at the Dog Lake trailhead. When the store and grill is open, you can also buy any last-minute snacks there, or get a meal before/ after finishing your hike.
Backpacker’s Campgrounds
Yosemite National Park maintains backpacker’s campgrounds at various frontcountry locations in the park to help backpackers with camping before or after their wilderness permit itinerary. You are allowed to spend one night before your trip (must be the night before your permit start date), and one night the day you exit the backcountry in these campgrounds. It costs $8/person each night.
The backpacker’s campground in Tuolumne Meadows Campground is the most convenient for this hike. However, it is currently closed due to a major remodel of the campground. It is slated to re-open in summer 2024 or 2025.
The Yosemite Valley backpacker’s campground is open to all wilderness itineraries, even if you don’t start or finish your hike at a valley trailhead. It is located in the back of North Pines Campground.
What To Pack
When backpacking, gear can be an important factor to happiness on the trail.
Check out my post: Ultimate Lightweight Backpacking Gear List for the items I always bring backpacking and my favorite pieces of gear!
Route Description & Trail Notes
Day One: Dog Lake Parking/ Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center to Lower Young Lake
7 miles, +2,000 -800 feet, including the short detour to Dog Lake.
After the long drive from the Bay Area to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite, we were so ready to hike! We picked up our permits at the Big Oak Flat Station on Highway 120, just inside the entrance to the park, took a bathroom break, and then continued our drive to Tuolumne Meadows, deciding to park at the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center parking lot since we planned to do this hike as a loop. Parking here adds about a half mile hiking to the first day’s mileage, but it’s flat and a nice warm up, especially after driving for 5 hours.
After departing, we quickly make our way to the Dog Lake parking area, which is a pretty large lot, decide that we don’t need one final bathroom break, and then begin our climbing - right from the lot! We hiked up a set of stairs that brought us to Tioga Road, crossed the road (look both ways!), and then continued hiking up the trail.
It was so hot today. I was not expecting 65° F at 8,000 ft elevation to require me to strip down to my bra for hiking, but that is exactly what happened! The climbing was pretty relentless until the Dog Lake turn-off. It was ~500 ft of gain in half a mile - way to start the trip!
After some leisurely, flatter trail, we passed the Lembert Dome summit trail, which we did not detour to, and continued to Dog Lake for our first little break at 1.75 miles into the hike. This lake is a really nice stop and has beautiful views of Mt. Dana and Mt. Gibbs. These are the first real views on the hike, as we were in the trees up until Dog Lake! I’d highly recommend stopping here for a quick snack break.
After admiring the mountains, we turned back and continued our hike to Young Lakes. The trail was a gradual climb through the trees to Delane Creek, our first on-trail water of the hike. This water was super crystal clear and had plenty of supply this late in the season after the huge snow year in the mountains. Luckily, we were able to cross without getting wet. Still early in the hike, we didn’t need to fill up our bottles just yet, and we kept hiking, admiring the meadow we were trekking across, which was golden with the colors of fall.
After Delane Creek, the trail continues to climb, steeper now, but still mainly in the trees up to the headwaters of Dingley Creek. This part of the hike was killing me: mid-afternoon, the hottest heat of the day, and a seemingly unrelenting upward climb. Whew! But the climbing was worth it. Once we broke above the treeline, the views to the south were amazing. The whole Cathedral Range opened up to us and we got to see all of the peaks of south-eastern Yosemite: Cathedral, Echo Peaks, Unicorn, and even Mt. Lyell and Mt. Maclure - just to name a few. It was pretty spectacular.
We sat here for a while on some rocks, having snacks, refilling our water, taking pictures, and admiring nature’s skyline. We couldn’t believe how lucky we were with the weather. It felt like a summer day (but better, because it wasn’t 80°)!
But, we needed to get hiking. We couldn’t believe we’d only gone a little over halfway. The afternoon was getting late and we needed to get to camp! After a final 200 foot push to over 10,000 in elevation, we rapidly descended 300 feet to the junction of the other trail that takes you to Young Lakes. Now, we were out of the sun and surrounded by quiet forested meadows.
The trail was nice and flat for a while, and I was enjoying this jaunt through the woods, somehow believing we were almost at the lake. But of course, there was a little surprise: a 250 foot climb in the last mile to the lake, most of it occurring in the first half mile. I was pretty tapped out at this point, even though we were in the shade!
Once I saw the side of Ragged Peak, I knew the lake had to be close. And luckily, it was! Seeing Young Lake was awesome after that trek. The early evening sun was glistening on the crystal clear water. It was almost inviting enough to think about going for a swim - almost. We hiked about a quarter of a mile along the north side of the lake until we saw some use trails going away from the lake to the large sandy camping areas.
I was shocked to see the terrain here: there was so much room for tents, and enough spaces to have some privacy, and the sites here had the most amazing views of Ragged Peak, White Mountain, and Mount Conness - something I was not expecting! We immediately fell in love with the whole area and started dreaming up subsequent backpacking trips here.
The sun was starting to set though, so it was time to set up camp, get into our warm clothes, and get dinner cooking so we could fully enjoy the sunset. After refilling our water, eating, and cleaning up, we were treated to the most amazing alpenglow on White Mountain and Mount Conness. Then we retreated into the tent to sleep after the incredibly long day we had.
Day Two: Lower Young Lake to Upper Young Lake, and back to the trailhead
Young Lakes Loop: 2 miles, +/- 400 feet
Lower Young Lake to Trailhead via Glen Aulin Trail: 7.3 miles, +550, -1,800 feet.
After a chilly night, we woke up to my alarm indicating the sunrise was about to happen. Not wanting to leave the warmth of my sleeping quilt, but having to pee and knowing I’d regret not seeing the sunrise, I emerged and put on all of my warm layers. The layer of ice on the tent fly confirmed my suspicions: it was freezing last night! After a relaxing morning photographing the sunrise and eating dinner, it was time to get on with our day.
We originally planned a cross-country hike to Roosevelt Lake, which we did embark on. However, the terrain was more forested than we were expecting, and about 45 minutes into our foray, we decided to bail on Roosevelt Lake and leave it for another time. This meant needing to navigate back to Young Lakes. Instead of going back to Lower Young Lake, we decided to go more directly to Upper Young Lake.
Once we got back up the mountainside, the hiking through the alpine tundra to Upper Young Lake was smooth sailing and absolutely gorgeous. Normally to get to Upper Young Lake from the lower lake, you’d follow a use trail (it’s fairly obvious!) from the eastern side of the lower lake, but since we attempted this off-trail adventure, we did not go the “normal” way.
We hung out at Upper Young Lake for a bit, eating snacks and admiring the view. Madi contemplated a route along the ridge above the upper lake that sounds amazing - when I’m in better shape - ha! Sadly, a new fire began recently, and the smoke was starting to come this way due to the strong winds. I could feel the subtle smoke burn in my nose and eyes.
We decided to head back down to camp. And since we didn’t really know how to get back down, we just decided to choose our own adventure. The terrain was very workable - there was just one little rock gully that might not seem doable from down below if you were looking up on it, but it was pretty easy to shimmy down - class 2 terrain, tops. Pretty quickly, we were down at Lower Young Lake, popping out at the very southeastern edge of the lake on a cute, sandy shore.
Once we made our way back to camp, we contemplated our next move. With our original plan, we were going to spend another night here. But with the winds and smoke moving in, plus the storm that was due to arrive overnight, we decided to eat lunch, pack up, and make our way back down to the trailhead, even if it was a long, 7 mile hike back to the car.
Leaving Young Lake could be the same way you go in, but since there was another trail option that didn’t include another climb up above 10,000 feet, we decided to do the other trail toward Glen Aulin. So instead of turning left at the junction, we went right, climbed a tiny rise, and then it was smooth sailing on a gradual downhill trail for almost the whole hike!
This trail was pretty, but nothing spectacular. Lots of trees, not a lot of views, but still lovely nonetheless. We hiked and hiked, only stopping once for a bathroom break before joining up with the Pacific Crest Trail. Here is where the trail turned familiar for me, and where the climbing began! There are a few small climbs along this trail to bring you back to Tuolumne Meadows, and a few stream crossings. One of the crossings was really long (but very shallow, and crossable on logs) due to this very wet winter - super impressive to see!
After passing Soda Springs, the trail turns into a road leading to the Lembert Dome parking lot. We crossed the road and continued on the PCT/JMT on a gravel path that parallels Tioga Road all the way back to the Tuolumne Wilderness Center. Another successful Yosemite trip in the books! To reward ourselves for our 10 mile day, we drove the the valley, set up in the backpacker’s campground, and got a pizza and beer at Curry Village - the perfect way to end the trip!
