Lower Cathedral Lake
9/14/2022: This trail is probably one of my top 25 of all time…as long as you do the hike from the trailhead described here. There is another trailhead near Tuolumne Meadows that takes you to the lakes only and does not give you the same views of Tenaya Lake as the hike described here. The first mile of the hike is very steep and rocky, but then levels off nicely as you approach the lakes. It is worth the steep hike to get the views of the valley and Tenaya Lake. I think that extra bit makes this an overall top-25 hike.
Key: Lakes | Forest | Views | White Granite | Backpack | California | National Park Service | Yosemite National Park | High Sierra
Marg’s Notes: Lower & Upper Cathedral Lakes. Very chilly in the morning! Left around 8:15 heading to some GPS coordinates for our hike. Started hiking ~9:25. This was quite a hike! The first mile was a very steep climb. After a mile, we needed energy! We found a beautiful place overlooking Tenaya Lake. It was a clear beautiful day. A bit chilly too. After our snack, we continued to climb to Lower Cathedral Lake. On the way, we had many beautiful views. The lake was beautiful too! A bit breezy w/ lots of gnats! We hiked counter clockwise around the lake to catch the trail to the upper lake. We saw NO people on our hike up! There were several people at the lake tho. The original trail across a meadow was closed, but the alternate was fine. Hiked thru a burn area, then a right turn to the upper lake. We were pretty tired when we got there! Had lunch. Another beautiful lake. I took a rest while Rod wondered around! The hike out was much shorter, but the last mile was very steep! A great hike if tiring. Back to camp. Picked some wood up on the way back. Shuffled food again, then happy hour. I was HUNGRY!
Fettuccine Alfredo, veggies.
View of Tenaya Lake at 1.0 miles
Snack Here
Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: Getting late start because of construction. Starting about 9:25. It is 39°. There is no marker to mark the trail, so you got to follow the GPS coordinates to get to the trailhead. There's a turn off and parking for 7 or 8 cars. Elevation at the start was 8,560 ft. This looks very, very “beary”. The first part of the trail is indeed very steep. You are likely to put your hands down from time to time, so you don't fall. In the first part, maybe first half mile, there is thick forest of fur and pine strewn with granite boulders. It's quite beautiful. This is a wow hike! And could go down in my top 25. At about 0.5 miles in you go from beautiful to wow! The views are phenomenal! At 1 mile in, we came to a beautiful overlook where you can see Tenaya lake and up and down the valley. This is an incredible place to stop and have a snack and water. The elevation of our 1 mile lookout point was 9,000 ft plus or minus a few feet. The GPS comes in handy because the trail meanders through places where everything looks like a trail. And another great thing about this trail is that there's no horse poop. At 1.6 miles we have reached the lower cathedral lake. This is stunningly beautiful. We are taking the loop to the west of the lake. Unless we get stuck up here trying to get around and then we will come back the other way around the lake. We got to the first lake just a little bit before 11:00. Lower cathedral lake is 9,300 ft. There is a detour to the upper lake from the lower lake. The usual route through the meadow is closed for restoration. We saw maybe upwards of 8 to 10 people at lower cathedral Lake. The new access trail will take you through a burn area. It looks fairly recent maybe within the last 5 years. We reached upper cathedral lake at 12:40. We left upper cathedral Lake at 1:25 p.m. It would be nice to have a few more cairns below the lower lake just so people could see where they're going if they don't have GPS. We finished the hike at 3:30. 6 hours later. A wonderful hike. It is currently 59 degrees, but it feels a lot warmer. This is a top 25 hike if you do it from this trailhead.
People: As we rounded the far end of Lower Cathedral Lake we met a guy with a backpack on. I asked him if he was backpacking. He said no because he couldn’t figure out how to get a wilderness permit and his only backpack was his backpacking pack. He was day hiking. He had done some pretty serious day hikes and he was just doing Lower Cathedral Lake today as an easy day. He wasn’t going to the upper lake. We chatted for a very long time, about what, I can’t remember. He was from Boston. He was a very nice guy and it was just fun to chat for a while.
Per the Yosemite Wilderness Permits site (2022): A wilderness permit is required year-round for backpacking, overnight climbing, or any other overnight stay in the Yosemite Wilderness. A wilderness permit is not required for day hikes (unless hiking to Half Dome) or for staying in lodging facilities and front country campgrounds.
Lunch Spot at Upper Cathedral Lake
Wilderness permits are only issued to a limited number people for each trailhead in order to provide outstanding opportunities for solitude, as required by the Wilderness Act. Since many trails are very popular, reservations are recommended. Of each daily quota for a trailhead, 60 percent can be reserved ahead of time. Normally, 40 percent of wilderness permits are available on a first-come, first-served basis at park wilderness centers. Instead, in 2022, this portion of wilderness permit reservations will be available online 7 days in advance and up to three days in advance. See below for more information.
Lunch Spot: We had lunch at Upper Cathedral Lake. While we saw many people at Lower Cathedral Lake, we were the only ones at the upper lake. So, we decided to have lunch and take a long rest here.