This trip was a long time in the making. I had orchestrated a highly advanced operation 7 days prior in order to secure a “walk-up” Yosemite permit, which were available online for 2022. Dani, David, Chris and myself each had an assigned trailhead, and we woke up at 7 am to try to snag a permit before they sold out in a few seconds. I was able to get one for Ten Lakes, which happened to be the hike I was most excited about!

We stayed the night before (Friday) at Koga’s Mammoth condo, which was awesome. Dani and I left around 1:45 pm and got dinner at Holy Smoke BBQ in Bishop – pretty whatever, honestly. The brisket was dry, but the cornbread was great. We hit pretty bad traffic getting out of LA, and ended up getting to the condo around 9:30 or so. Koga and Chris left around 6 pm and absolutely smoked us due to no LA traffic and Koga’s maniac driving, but we were still in bed by the time they showed up.

Day 1

We got an early start the next morning. We had to drive about an hour to the Tuolumne Wilderness Center to pick up our permit, and then another 30 minutes to the trailhead. Even the drive in was stunning. After a short jaunt north on the 395 up to the south shore of Mono Lake, we turned westward onto Tioga Road, which spans the entirety of Yosemite National Park. The road immediately climbs into a valley, cutting its way along the north face and offering great views of the sheer northern face of Mt. Dana. We skirted Tioga Peak and Ellery and Tioga Lakes before reaching the pass at nearly 10,000 ft. Near the pass is the Yosemite entrance gate, where the rangers check for reservations – required during peak hours. We made it to the wilderness center around 8:30 am, about 30 minutes after it opened. We checked in and received a short orientation on leave-no-trace, wilderness practices, etc. Interestingly, all Yosemite black bears are very docile and visitors are encouraged to scare them off in basically any circumstance. This is to discourage them from associating humans with food, which can lead to contact and potentially risk-mitigating euthanasia. Chris and Koga also rented bear cans for $5 and stuffed them up good.

30 more minutes down Tioga Road took us past Lembert Dome, Tuolumne Meadows and the meandering Tuolumne River, Tenaya Lake and the surrounding granite giants, and Olmsted Point, which I totally drove past without noticing its amazing view of Half Dome via Tenaya Canyon.

First Leg (1)

The first mile or so took us through fields of golden grass and a pine forest that had seen fire damage – lots of charred trunks. The second mile opened up into large glacier-polished granite slabs. The reduced tree density revealed a wonderful view across to the east side of the valley housing Yosemite Creek, with Mt. Hoffman standing guard above.

Halfmoon Meadow (2)

About 4.5 miles in, after a few (dry) creek crossings and trail forks, we reached Halfmoon Meadow, a handsome grassy bowl at the foot of the ridge we were about to ascend. Here, Dani was nearly killed by an enormous lizard which sprinted towards her with murderous intent. She was absolutely terrified. It really did almost get her.

Torture Switchbacks (3)

After a quick break, we shouldered our packs for the most strenuous segment of the day: the switchbacks that would take us up the last 800 ft or so to the pass. This would happen in only about a mile of trail – an aggressive grade. We took lots of breaks, gaining about 100 ft at a time, until at last the woods opened up to this beautiful meadow near the top studded with orange and sage brush.

Ten Lakes Pass (4)

Finally, we reached Ten Lakes Pass, a bit above 9600 ft. Here we were granted a stunning view northwards to the Yosemite high country. We could see a significant amount of smoke from the Rodgers wildfire (a lightning-started fire that had been burning for almost a month). Unfortunately, the smoke had blown northeast and obscured much of the more distant ranges. But it was still quite breathtaking. The ground up here was mostly granite and gravel, devoid of most plant life.

Looking eastwards, we saw a range of peaks, including Mt Dana, which we had driven past on Tioga Road on the way in!

Secret Overlook (5)

I had scoped out a potential spot for Dank Views™ beforehand on Google Earth (I am an absolute Google Earth maniac). It was about 100 yards north off the main trail just before it started descending into the basin. Turns out, some other folks must have thought the same thing because there was a small trace trail leading right to the spot I wanted to check out! On the way, we were treated to our first view of the basin and four (of ten?) of its unnamed lakes. The sheer granite cliffs along the southern rim were absolutely stunning. It looked like a giant had taken a huge bite out of the land.

The overlook itself offered a jaw-dropping view north across the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne to vertical granite faces and smoke plumes from the Rodgers wildfire.

Descent into the Basin (6)

The last mile or so of the day was a steep, rocky descent into the Ten Lakes Basin. It felt great to do a little downhill after the tough battle we had fought to get up to the pass.

And finally, we arrived at Lake 1!

After getting a tip from some friendly backpackers, we traversed along the left side of the lake. There was a well-established trail that circled the entire lake, so this was pretty easy going. We found a spot nestled among the granite boulders near the outlet of the lake, next to a small circular bay. In all, we hiked 8.25 miles and gained about 2300 ft of elevation that day. Koga tossed a line in for a bit and I couldn’t resist a dip in the water, which was surprisingly warm (relatively, for an alpine lake). I swam to the rock in the middle of our bay and did a cannonball.

We pumped water and made dinner (REI freeze-dried meals – they’re so freaking good). Most of the meals had beans in them which meant…things started moving. We were actually allowed to build a campfire here (this was no accident – I had spent many hours finding such a permissive spot) which was nice, and kept us up a bit past sundown so we could see the stars. From the top of our little granite hill, we could also see flames from the Rodgers wildfire across the Grand Canyon, which was pretty wild!

Chris and Koga were sharing a tent, and it really sounded wild over there. Koga function as our automatic bear defense system by snoring like a snarling lion, and Chris was a chaos tornado, zipping and unzipping every zipper in reach and shuffling through all his belongings for a solid 30 minutes straight. Dani was glad she brought ear plugs…

Day 2

The next morning, I got up before everyone else and snapped this pic of the glassy, serene lake.

While Dani and I were pumping water for breakfast, I couldn’t resist another swim, this time to the bigger islands in the middle of the main lake.

After breakfast (oatmeal, mandarins, coffee), we decided to go on a fishing expedition to some of the other lakes in the basin. Koga got a really cool pic of Dani’s influencer outfit – red wool socks, new Teva sandals, and leggings.

Lake 1 (1-3)

We decided to start off by hiking along the other (eastern) side of our lake (Lake 1). We departed camp (1) and crossed a pile of (beaver?) logs at the outlet (2).

We stumbled across a huge, flat campsite with a large firepit and lots of seating (3). It would be a great spot for a larger group.

Lake 2 (4-5)

The first stop was Lake 2 after a quick hike up an established trail. We hung out on the east shore and did some fishing (4). Dani caught 2 brook trout (she has a magic touch) and I caught one, and we kept 2 for lunch. I also set up my hammock on the shore and relaxed for a bit. We were much closer to the steep edges of the basin here, and granite loomed above, solid and stoic. The day was heating up, probably around mid 70s F, and I took another swim.

When we got hungry, we hiked south along the shore until we found an existing firepit atop a huge granite boulder at the southeast corner of the lake (5). We set up our jetboil to make ramen and roasted our two small trout over a campfire. They were surprisingly delicious, considering we used only a tiny bit of ramen seasoning.

Lake 3 (6-7)

After Lake 2, there was no trail, so we started bushwhacking. We passed some gorgeous meadows (and a few deer) and scrambled up a long valley of boulders (6) to reach the north shore of Lake 3.

Koga fished a bit here, but didn’t get much action. We also pumped water to replenish our drained Nalgenes. At this point I decided I was going to swim in every lake, so I jumped right in (7).

After a short rest, we decided (democratically!) that we’d continue around the full loop I had plotted out rather than turning back the way we came.

Lake 4 (8-9)

It took some more extended off-trail exploration (guided by my new Garmin watch, which really did a lot of heavy lifting this trip) to reach Lake 4.

Lake 4 was a bit smaller and even more remote. We took a rest and a swim before moving on (9).

Lake 5 (10-12)

The last segment of bushwhacking was by far the longest and most varied. We headed off north and followed the contour of the basin floor around eastwards to Lake 5. On the way we stumbled upon a beautiful view (10) of Lake 1, our home base!

Next, we turned eastward and made our way across a giant, glacier-polished slope of brilliant white granite. It was smooth enough to slide on (kind of) (11).

After this, a short trek though a gentle wooded area led us to Lake 5, which was about the same size as Lake 1 and almost perfectly round. The sun was beginning to fall close to the rim of the basin, and I was able to get a nice shot of the lake reflecting the granite cliff above its south shore. And of course, I took a swim! (12)

Return Home (13-14)

We didn’t have much daylight left by this point, so we didn’t stick around Lake 5 too long (though I almost forgot my camp towel there drying on a tree branch). We rejoined the established trail skirting the north shore and headed back towards Lake 1. This took us past a beautiful overlook of Lake 1, where we were also able to catch a glimpse of the secret lake to the northwest of Lake 1, which we did not get the chance to explore.

After a clomp down some rough stone stairs (13) and a stroll through a grassy meadow (home to a few more deer) (14), we had arrived back at our familiar Lake 1.

Here’s the path of our trek across the granite face between Lakes 4 and 5, and the final leg back to Lake 1 overlaid on a photo I took from the pass on Day 1. Pretty cool!

In all we did 5.5 miles with 800 ft elevation gain that day. Not bad for a day hike. After getting back to camp, we pumped water, made dinner (more delicious freeze-dried meals), and chatted around the campfire for a few hours before turning in.

Day 3

We got up around 6:30 am to get an early start on the trail. Chris had some wocky logistics (classic) to do for his morning flight the day after, so we were trying to get out as early as possible. After breakfast and coffee (and a lot of pooping in holes), we got on the trail around 9 am. The nice thing about going out was that all the really hard stuff was at the start of the day when we were fresh. We had to climb about 800 ft of switchbacks to get up out of the basin to the pass, before heading downhill for the rest of the day. The light on the basin was different on the way out, and I got some more good pics of the views at the pass.

The smoke was blowing west now, so the views of the northern Yosemite high country were unobstructed and magnificent from the secret overlook.

The way out is always a blur, especially when it’s downhill. Near the top of the switchbacks we saw a buck, which was very cool. He really didn’t seem to give a shit about us making all sorts of noise less 50 feet away.

We had our last lunch on the trail – salami, crackers and apples (which Koga had been complaining about all trip). We kept each other alive and distracted from the knee-crushing marathon by telling riddles. I told the annoying riddles I had learned in GATE: the one about the dead man and the puddle of water, and the one about the man who didn’t see the sawdust. This kept us busy for at least 2 hours. We made it out around 2 or 3 pm, and headed back to the wilderness center to return our bear cans. The drive out on Tioga Road was no less stunning than on the way in. We did a pit stop at the Mammoth condo to shower and clean up before heading home. We encountered at least 2 accidents on the 395 – a Labor Day special. Chris and Koga had a truck almost rear-end them, swerve, and cause their trailer to jackknife and flip. So we ended up getting home around 11:30 pm, exhausted. But at least we were clean!