Northern Sierra Trailheads
(Lake Tahoe, Sonora Pass, Tioga Pass)

Revised 19 Jan 2015 - please send updates to the webmaster

home See Driving Directions for context and how to get here.
north Shasta and Lassen Area Trailheads
east Great Basin Trailheads (Mono Lake Area, southern Utah, northern Arizona, northern Nevada)
southeast Eastern Sierra Trailheads and Junctions (accessed from Hwy 395)
south Western Sierra Trailheads and Central Valley Highways
west San Francisco Area Trailheads
north first in Northern Sierra: Adams Peak Trailhead
south last in Northern Sierra: Curry Village Yosemite Valley Curry Village Area Trailheads
info GPS waypoints: download GPX file
Different people consider different areas part of the Northern Sierra Nevada...
This page includes trailheads near or north of Hwy 120 through Yosemite, including Yosemite Valley and Glacier Point.

To get to the Northern Sierra, use these passes:

To save time, bypass these bottlenecks:

Click on the map labels or scroll down to find links to each of the trailheads shown on this overview:

Northern Sierra Trailheads (click on any black label) and Junctions

Ebbetts Pass Sno-Parks bypass the town of Jackson Mt Rose Summit Leavitt Meadow Iron Mountain Sno Park Silver Fork Sno-Park Permits Hwy 108 Sno-Park and Gate Warren Fork and Camp 9 Dana Meadows and Mono Pass Snow Flat, Olmsted Point, and Tenaya Lake Saddlebag Lake Tioga Pass Tuolumne Meadows Porcupine Flat and Porcupine Creek Curry Village Yosemite Valley White Wolf, Yosemite Creek, Ten Lakes Crane Flat Old Priest Grade (shortcut) Clark Fork, Iceberg Meadow Twin Peak Sugar Pine Point Silver Lake: Tragedy Springs and Kit Carson Resort Sonora Pass and St Mary's Pass Kennedy Meadow Carson Pass and Meiss Mdw Sno Parks Echo Summit and Echo Lake Sno Parks Hope Valley Freel Peak / Meyers Fallen Leaf / Tallac Wrights Lake Emerald Bay Coldstream Donner Summit Yuba Gap Sierra Buttes Sacramento Bypass Oakdale and Tracy Bypass Adams

waypointtrailheadcomments
FRENCH
SPRJCT
Adams Peak winter trailheads near Loyalton/Chilcoot, NW of Reno
COLMBO
HIPARK
SWRIDG

PCTNTH

Sierra Buttes trailheads near Sierra City, NW of Truckee
YGPARK Yuba Gap a Sno-Park 17 miles west of Donner Summit
DONERN
DONERS
Donner Summit Sno-Park where the PCT crosses I-80 N of Lake Tahoe
DMPARK
HSBEND
Coldstream Valley winter and summer trailheads for Tinker Knob from Donner Memorial Park (NW of Lake Tahoe)
ROSEPW
ROSETH
ROSEPE
Mt Rose
(NE of Lake Tahoe)
winter snowplay and summer Mt Rose trailhead on the Mt Rose Hwy
BLAKSP
BLAKTH
STANTH
WARDTH
Twin Peak Blackwood Sno-Park, Ward Creek and Blackwood Creek approaches to Twin Peak
RUBCON
SUGARP
Rubicon and Sugar Pine Point Rubicon Trail staging area
Sugar Pine Point all-year parking lot
DLBLIS D L Bliss for Jakes and Rubicon, SW Lake Tahoe
EAGLEC
VIKING
Eagle Creek Eagle Creek trail, Eagle Falls, Vikingsholm viewpoint, SW Lake Tahoe
INSPIR Inspiration Point for Maggie Peaks, SW Lake Tahoe
TALLTH
TAYCTH
GLENTH
Fallen Leaf Lake
(SW Lake Tahoe)
all-year trailhead for Mt Tallac
Taylor Creek Sno-Park
Glen Alpine summer trailhead south of Fallen Leaf Lake
MEYRTH Meyers summer-only access to Freel, Jobs, Jobs Sister from Meyers
(between Luther Pass and South Lake Tahoe)
ECHLAK
ECHSUM
Echo Summit Sno-Parks
(SW from Lake Tahoe)
backcountry winter Sno-Park at Echo Lake (aka Johnson Pass - immediately west of Echo Summit)
day-use winter Sno-Park at Echo Summit
LUTHER
BIGMDW
Luther Pass
(SE from Lake Tahoe)
Luther Pass and the Big Meadow trailhead for the Tahoe Rim Trail are summer-only parking areas!
Both are signed strictly no parking in the winter.
BURNLK
HOPESP
WILLOW
HORSEJ
Hope Valley
(south of Luther Pass)
free Hope Valley winter parking lot (ski/snowshoe to Freel, Jobs, Pickett, Hawkins)
separate Hope Valley Sno-Park (snowmobile)
Willow Creek no-vehicle trail to Horse Meadow
Horse Meadow dirt road and snowmobile trail (all year access to Jobs and Freel)
CARSON
MEISSM
Carson Pass Sno-Parks two winter Sno-Parks: at the pass and immediately west of the pass
TRAGDY
KITCAR
Silver Lake parking at Tragedy Springs for access to Mokelumne
parking at Kit Carson Resort Road for access to Thunder and Thimble
(neither lot is a Sno-Park, both lots are free)
IRONSP Iron Mountain Sno-Park two winter Sno-Parks: at the pass and immediately west of the pass
W88104
E88104
Jackson Bypass This isn't a trailhead, it's a way to avoid traffic on the way to Carson Pass!
SPCRTH
ALPNTH
Ebbetts Pass Sno-Parks two winter Sno-Parks: Spicer (in big trees) and Lake Alpine (where Hwy 4 is gated)
H108SP Hwy 108 Sno-Park Hwy 108 is gated here in winter, 7.7 miles east of Strawberry
CLARKF Clark Fork Clark Fork turnoff from Hwy 108, further west of Sonora Pass, for Disaster Peak
KENMTH Kennedy Meadow Hwy 108 west of Sonora Pass, for Blackhawk Mtn
(the northern one, not the other Kennedy Meadow in the Southern Sierra)
STMARY
SONPAS
Sonora Pass Saint Mary's Pass for Stanislaus Peak (immediately west of Sonora Pass)
High point of Hwy 108, for the PCT and Stanislaus, Sonora, Leavitt peaks
LEAVTH
LEAVPS
Leavitt Meadow East of Sonora Pass, hiker and pack station trailhead often used for Tower Peak
PRESTW
PRESTE
Old Priest Grade This isn't a trailhead, it's a shortcut to Yosemite!
CRANEF
TGROVE
Crane Flat Where Hwy 41 from Fresno ends at Hwy 120, Tuolumne Grove, filling station.
CURRYV
CORRAL
BACKPP
MIRROR
HAPPYB
Yosemite Valley trailheads and backpacker parking lot near Curry Village
Four Mile Trail, Mirror Lake, Snow Creek, Happy Isles, Yosemite Falls, Camp 4
DISCOV
BADGER
MONMDW
GLACPT
Glacier Point trailheads and backpacker parking along the Glacier Point Road
Badger Pass, Mono Meadows, Glacier Point
WHITEW
YOSTEN
White Wolf
Yosemite Creek
Ten Lakes
Campground plus access to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.
PORCUF
PORCUC
Porcupine Flat Porcupine Flat and Porcupine Creek trailheads, 6-7 miles west of Tenaya Lake.
SNOWFP
OLMSTD
TENAYA
Snow Flat
Olmsted Point
Tenaya Lake
Snow Flat parking area for the May Lake High Sierra Camp and Mt Hoffman.
Olmstead Point is a great lookout point, not really a trailhead.
Sunrise Creek, at the west end of Tenaya Lake for the Sunrise High Sierra Camp, Tenaya Peak, and Clouds Rest.
CATHED
LEMBRT
TUOLUM
DOGLAK
Tuolumne Meadows Cathedral Lake trailhead for Cathedral Peak, Unicorn Peak, Echo Peaks, etc.
The Lembert Dome Trailhead for the Pacific Crest Trail, Soda Springs, and Glen Aulin High Sierra Camp.
The Tuolumne Meadows Permit Kiosk parking lot for backcountry permits.
The Dog Lake Trail Backpacker Lot for Vogelsang, Lyell, etc.
MONOTH Dana Meadows
Parker Pass
Mono Pass
Dana Meadows south to Parker Pass and Mono Pass for Koip Peak, Mount Gibbs, etc.
SADLAK Saddlebag Lake Saddlebag Lake for North Peak and Mount Conness. (Outside Yosemite National Park.)
WARNFK Warren Fork / Camp 9 Warren Fork of Lee Vining Creek for climbing Mt Warren.
Also a free walk-in campground and 'Camp 9' car camping.
LEEGAT Lee Vining Gate Hwy 120 is gated somewhere near here in winter.


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