Cathedral Lakes from Tuolumne Meadows

Park at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center on Tioga Road. The Cathedral Lakes Trailhead is at the edge of the parking lot, and a short connector leads to the John Muir Trail. Follow it southwest, climbing steadily through lodgepole forest. After about 3.3 miles a signed spur drops to the right, across a wet meadow, to the shore of Lower Cathedral Lake. Go back to the junction and carry on up the John Muir Trail for under a mile, then take the short path on the right to Upper Cathedral Lake, under Cathedral Peak. Return the same way.

It is 9.7 miles (15.6 km) round trip with 1,570 feet (479 m) of climbing; allow about 5 hours. The grade is Moderate: a steady climb on a good trail, most of it above 9,000 feet.

No permit is needed for a day hike. The old roadside parking by the trail has gone, so use the visitor center lot. Bears are active: use the food lockers at the trailhead, and never leave food in a car after dark. Expect stream crossings, boggy ground and mosquitoes near the lakes in early summer, and afternoon thunderstorms from June to September.

Tioga Road closes with the first big snow, usually in November, and reopens in late May or June. No overnight parking is allowed along it from October 15.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.