(One way 17 miles--7 hours)
The recently constructed ~Ten Lakes Trail~ makes the exceptionally
beautiful ~Ten Lakes Basin~ and ~Grant Lakes~ easily accessible from
Yosemite. The round trip is too long to be attempted in one day. The
lakes offer most attractive sites for a permanent camp, and several of
them are well stocked with trout.
We follow the ~Yosemite Falls Trail~ (Trail Trip 3) from its beginning
just west of ~Yosemite Lodge~ to the trail junction at the top of the
upper zigzags. Here the ~Yosemite Point and North Dome Trail~ turns
right and crosses a small creek. Those who have not visited the top of
the upper fall should by all means turn aside, for it is but a short
distance--less than five minutes' walk. Our main trail continues
straight ahead paralleling without crossing ~Yosemite Creek~ thru a
beautiful mixed forest where the tree-lover will find a few specimens
of western white pine. At about one-quarter mile (4.0 miles from
Yosemite) the ~Eagle Peak Trail~ (Trail Trip 9) branches to the left.
We follow up the west margin of the creek, generally thru dense
forests, but emerging at times to clatter over polished and striated
granite pavements where monster mountain junipers grotesquely spread
their gnarled branches. Great "potholes" have been formed by the
stream where it rushes over the smoothly planed bedrock. At a point
3.7 miles above the Eagle Peak Trail junction the main trail continues
to the left up the west fork (Trail Trip 11). Our trail, which turns
right and keeps on up the main fork canyon, is considerably less
traveled. In the next 2.3 miles we pass over rough granite up the west
bank of the main stream to the ~Yosemite Creek Ranger Station~ on the
~Tioga Road~. There is here a government telephone. Good camp sites
will be found at the crossing a quarter of a mile east of the cabin
and fair feed upstream. Fishing is fair to poor. There are better
camps, feed and fishing about three miles upstream.
At the Tioga Road the trail is indistinct. We cross the bridge and
follow up the east bank of Yosemite Creek on the main road until the
blazes are sighted. The first third of a mile is easily traversed, but
the following one and a quarter miles are rough. About three miles
above the bridge is a meadow with abundant pasturage. This is a good
campsite and fishing is fair upstream. In the next three miles the
trail gradually ascends to an elevation of 9200 feet, leaving Yosemite
Creek and passing over the flat divide into the Tuolumne River
drainage. At the summit one can leave the trail and walk southeast 1.5
miles to ~Grant Lakes~ (Alt. 9500). These are two beautiful mountain
lakes, the upper one being in a rugged cirque with sheer walls rising
above at the east. Both were stocked in 1917 with rainbow and eastern
brook trout.
The Ten Lakes Trail continues north over the tableland and descends
600 feet by switchbacks into the ~Ten Lakes Basin~ (Alt. about 9400),
seven miles from the Tioga Road. Here are many ideal camp sites and
good forage except early in the season. The lakes were stocked with
eastern brook trout in 1908, 1913, 1915 and 1918 with Loch Leven in
1908, and with steelhead in 1918. Fishing is reported excellent. A
walk of one and a half miles due north takes us without climbing to
the summit of ~Grand Mountain~ (Alt. 9350), from which is obtained a
most impressive view of the ~Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne~ and ~Muir
Gorge~ just below. A still finer and more comprehensive panorama may
be had from the summit of ~Colby Mountain~ (Alt. 9700) on the canyon
rim 2.5 miles northeast from Ten Lakes. For this short side trip one
should leave the trail just before its descent into the basin and
follow northward on the ridge that juts out into the main Tuolumne
Canyon.