McCabe Lakes – Yosemite High Route Section Hike

I’d never really heard of the Yosemite High Route until Andrew Skurka’s guide came out outlining his version of the route. Once we saw it, we immediately started planning a trip!

Yosemite High Route Section Hike Prep

We originally were planning on spending 4 nights on the trail – but as you’ll see, we ended up cutting a portion of the loop off – doing some bigger mile days so we could get home and see our families faster.

But whether it’s a 3 day or a 5 day trip, we still had to plan for a trip in the Sierras in September where conditions are usually great – but can be unpredictable!

Things to think about for a multiple night backpacking trip in the Sierras:

• Weather
• Daytime vs Nighttime Temps
• Food and Water Packing (Weight adds up)
• Food Storage (Bear Cannister is required in Yosemite)
• Trail Conditions
• Overnight Wilderness Permit (Normal)
• Parking Permit (Site-specific, but can be different if certain roads are closed)

Just like all backpacking trips, it’s important to be prepared for the unexpected – but that doesn’t mean having to bring a pack that weighs 200 pounds. Try to bring gear and clothing that serves multiple purposes and try to find the right balance for you in both safety, weight and comfort.

The biggest difference in preparation for High Routes vs 100% on trail trips is the preparation that happens in route planning and skill building – primarily making sure you have solid off-trail navigational skills even in sub-optimal conditions.

Gear List for McCabe Lakes Yosemite High Route Section Hike

Shared Gear

• Tent: Zpacks Triplex (with Tyvek footprint)
• Stove: MSR PocketRocket Deluxe
• Bear Cannister: Bearikade Expedition

McCabe Lakes – Yosemite High Route Section Hike

Day 0 – The Drive

We decided to leave our houses at around 1 am so we could get some sleep in our beds for at least a few hours before heading out.

We arrived at the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness (after a few food stops) to check to see if there were any permits available to get started then vs our reserved permit for the next day – and we were in luck!

We got our permit and drove to the trailhead and we were on the trail by about 11:30 am.

Day 1 – Glen Aulin Trailhead to McCabe Lakes Trail Junction

Distance: 12.8 miles
Elevation Gain/Loss: +1,751′ / -1,425′

This entire day was spent on the PCT starting from Tuolumne Meadows via the Glen Aulin Trailhead. Even being up since 1 am and driving 7 hours, we felt surprisingly good! Though, almost the entire first half of this day was downhill.

We saw a few Southbound PCT hikers come by throughout the day and we made pretty good time hiking about 2.5 mi/hour – even with the rain…

And it did rain! We had rain on and off for most of the day with the longest stretches of rain lasting about 90 minutes. Since we were on the trail it didn’t cause any navigational issues, but did require us to stop a lot more to put on/ take off our rain gear.

Setting up Camp

We were planning on making it to Spiller Canyon on day 1, but we were just too tired from not having slept and dealing with the rain all day, so we found a spot just before the McCabe Lakes Trial junction to set up camp. There wasn’t much water close by, but we found a kind of clear puddle to filter for dinner.

It rained on us all night, but we stayed dry for the most part.

Day 2 – McCabe Lakes Trail Junction to Upper McCabe Lake

Distance: 6.06 miles
Elevation Gain/Loss: +1,686′ / -136′

We had set up camp on a pretty good slope, so we spend the night sliding down the tent, which caused a little water to get in at the foot of our tent – which wasn’t a big deal – but Chris’ only shirt got soaked.

Once we wrung out some gear, at breakfast and packed up, it was probably already about 8 am. Since it had been raining on and off since we started our hike the day before, we decided to cut the side trip up Spiller Canyon off and headed straight to McCabe Lakes.

We continued on the PCT to just before the McCabe Lakes Trail Junction where we were pleasantly surprised to come across a Ranger checking for permits and bear canisters. He did ask us to actually pull out our bear canister to make sure it was an approved canister (we used the Bearikade Expedition MKII) – but it didn’t take long and we headed off the PCT shortly after that on the McCabe Lake Trail.

After about 1.5 miles on the McCabe Lakes Trail, we left the trail and followed McCabe Creek up the valley from there. This next section from when we left the trail to the climb before Upper McCabe lake quickly became one of my favorite places of all Yosemite.

As we followed McCabe creek, we quickly came across a large meadow that was absolutely beautiful.

The meadow was followed by a forested slope up to the base of the rocky (and willow covered in the beginning) climb to Upper McCabe Lakes.

Once we got to the base of the “pass”, we scouted out our route and decided to just bushwhack through the 50-100 yards of willows – though in hindsight, I think we both agreed the better route started about 500 feet west – with NO bushwhacking required.

The climb is a class 2+ climb where you very rarely need to use your hands.

Once up over the small climb, we found a great campsite near Upper McCabe Lake and got set up, went for a swim, made dinner and listened to an audio book before crashing for the night.

Day 3 – Upper McCabe Lake to Tuolumne Meadows

Distance: 15.4 miles
Elevation Gain/Loss: +1,880′ / -3,789′

We got a great night sleep – even though the wind picked up a bit over night and caused some little waves to break on the shore and it sounded like an animal walking in the water all night – we got excited to see something only to find out it was just the wind on the water ha!

After eating and packing up, we started our hike for the day. We headed up Not a Smart Pass and were surprised to see it was 100% covered in snow from about a third to half way up to the top.

It is a pretty straight shot climb with snow and made for a easy – but slow and steady climb to the top. The view from the top is amazing! You can not only see Roosevelt Lake, but can see all the way across highway 120 and the more southern ranges.

The climb down is an easy walk. We decided to take the eastern shore and headed towards young lakes.

I can imagine that you could get turned around pretty easily in this section if you don’t pay attention and check your landmarks (that you found beforehand with a map and compass or a GPS unit) frequently. The trees are pretty dense and you are ascending a descending a few times before making it Young Lakes.

We were planning on potentially camping at Young Lakes, but we only had about 7 or so miles (mostly downhill) to the car and we missed our families, so we decided to book it using the few hours of sunlight we had.

We made it to the car with about an hour to spare – changed into some more comfortable driving clothes and decided to make the drive home!

Final Thoughts

This trip was a ton of fun and it Chris’ first trip to Yosemite – so that’s awesome!

We wished we would have stuck to our original plan to head up Spiller Canyon since the rain didn’t come back, but we still got to get outside, head off trail and see some of the most beautiful places most people never have the chance to see – so we’ll take it!