Yosemite's High Country: A Night at Evelyn Lake
After my thru-hike of the Colorado Trail, I was feeling kind of done with backpacking for the summer. But, I remembered that I was invited on a backpacking trip in Yosemite way earlier in the year for early September. Not wanting to renegade on plans, and always wanting to go to Yosemite, I re-packed my gear and drove to the mountains! I was meeting two brand new friends from a women’s hiking group: another Emily and Sam! It can always be risky meeting people for a backpacking trip, but luckily these were some pretty cool gals and we got along really well, and had a great and relaxing time. The perfect way to wrap up the summer backpacking season!
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Trail Info + Stats
Where: Yosemite National Park, Tuolumne Meadows
Miles: 20
Elevation Gain/ Loss: 2,700 ft
Time to complete: 2 days
Trail Type: Loop
Permits Required: YES
Pets Allowed: NO
Trailhead: Rafferty Creek to Vogelsang
All smiles soaking in Yosemite’s beautiful high country!
Itinerary & Trip Planning
The hike up to Vogelsang High Sierra Camp is a really wonderful trip. It is very mild climbing - don’t let the above elevation profile fool you. This is the perfect trip for a beginner backpacker, because you’ll fall in love with the high country and be itching to get back out there! If you’re a runner or ambitious day hiker, this hike could definitely be done in a day as well.
Direction?
I went counter-clockwise and I would recommend this direction. The views of the Vogelsang area are more stunning while you are hiking up from Rafferty Creek, and just get better and better as you go!
Permits
Obtain permits through recreation.gov. They are available via a lottery 24 weeks in advance of the date you would like to go. You can also get walk-up permits at a wilderness center in the park beginning one day before you’d like to start your trip.
Permits for Rafferty Creek and Lyell Canyon (the entry trailhead for the clockwise direction) are super popular, so be aware!
The High Sierra Camp
Vogelsang has a High Sierra Camp, which is run by the Yosemite concessionaire, Aramark. This is a luxurious backcountry canvas tent retreat for paying guests, complete with pit toilets, wood burning fireplaces in the tent cabins, and a dining hall. Mules regularly carry supplies to the camp, and horses are common. In recent years, the camp has been closed. Flooding, high snow years, fires, and COVID have made the opening of these camps complicated, but when it is open, you could make a reservation to eat food here. You could also just pay to stay at the cabins too. To read about the camp and how to secure a reservation, which is separate from a wilderness permit, click here.
As a backpacker, you are not allowed to camp in the High Sierra Camp area. There is a backpacker’s campground near Fletcher Lake, which is the closest you can camp to the area.
Seasonality
Vogelsang is most accessible in the summer months, when Tioga Road is open. By all means, if you are an experienced winter backcountry traveller, I’m sure this would be a fantastic spot! I would definitely love to ski tour in this area in the winter. But for the average user, June - October is the ideal time period. In a high snow year, expect snow in the area well into July. In an average or below average year, the trail will most likely be melted out by the end of June. Vogelsang is at 10,000 feet, so high enough to keep snow lingering around longer than Tuolumne Meadows, where you begin. July will be the best time for wildflowers and lush meadows, and the worst for mosquitoes. August should still have some greenery, but everything will start to brown by the end of the month. By September, Rafferty Creek could dry up, limiting your water sources, and meadows will be brown. Tioga Road closes to overnight parking on October 15th each year, effectively ending quick high country backpacking trips.
Highlights
The Vogelsang area is truly spectacular. It is filled with tons of hidden gems and is just classic Sierra Nevada high country. Because there is so much to see here, it’s honestly a disservice to only stay for one night! If I were to come back to this area (and I will), I would set up a basecamp for a few nights and do some exploring. Or possibly move camp some nights, too. Some places you’ll definitely want to explore:
Evelyn Lake (this trip report)
Fletcher Lake
Vogelsang Lake
Vogelsang Pass
Emeric Lake
Boothe Lake
Ireland Lake
We chatted with a few different groups who were on their way down while we were hiking up and got different recommendations from all of them! Some people love Boothe Lake, one group loved Vogelsang Lake for camping, but one gentleman told us Evelyn was his favorite and he goes there frequently. So, we decided to camp at Evelyn Lake!
Trip Report
We woke up bright and early at the Tuolumne Meadows backpackers campground, feeling pretty tired since there were groups that arrived very late at night and were kinda loud. But, we soldiered on, eating breakfast and packing our things up. To reduce the length of the hike a bit, we drove over to the wilderness center near the lodge and parked on the street over there. We immediately started on the John Muir Trail and walked through the woods, crossing the Dana Fork Bridge, then the Lyell Fork Bridge, and then the trail junction back to the campground. The Lyell Fork water level was so low, I had never seen the creek so empty!
After a little over a mile of easy hiking, we reached the junction for Rafferty Creek, and began our initial ascent. The trail climbed nicely graded switchbacks for a little bit until it eventually leveled out after about a half mile. Here is where we had some more views of the peaks in northern Yosemite and some smaller rock formations next to us. The trail closely follows Rafferty Creek here, but it was completely dry by early September. We wouldn’t be able to get water until Fletcher Lake. The trail continues very gradually climbing for the next few miles. We took in the views of Fletcher Peak as we approached Tuolumne Pass, which is barely a noticeable pass. It was a beautiful area, and I look forward to seeing it lush, instead of dry and dead, next time.
We passed the junction to detour to Boothe Lake, and decided to bypass the area, wanting to go to the high sierra camp area to eat lunch. That last mile seemed to drag on forever, as we were very hungry and so looking forward to sitting down and eating. We found a nice rock on the outskirts of camp and plopped down. A few other groups came up from behind us, and we chatted about our itineraries. After eating, we continued on towards Fletcher Lake, and walked over to the shores to take in the view of Fletcher Peak. It was super pretty, and I wish we ate our lunch over here instead! After taking some photos, we continued on, hiking through very gentle, but slightly uphill terrain towards Evelyn Lake. The views of the northern mountains were super gorgeous as we made our way over.
Once Evelyn Lake was in view, we searched the western area of the lake for a campsite, but didn’t see anything very nice or protected, so we walked back to the trail and continued to the east side. We were much more successful here, with plentiful camping in the stunted trees, with nice views of the peaks behind the lake. Evelyn Lake had such an inviting, sandy shore on this side, and we spent time hanging out and filtering water while another large group hiked up and claimed their spot. After socializing, admiring the sunset, and eating dinner, it was time to turn in for the night.
The next morning, we packed our things up and continued hiking toward Lyell Canyon. There was a tiny bit of climbing at the beginning of the day, but then we steeply descended through the woods down to the Lyell Fork and the JMT. On our descent, we saw a mother deer and her two sweet, spotted fawns, which were so dang cute! Once we got down to the canyon, it was basically a flat hike out along the creek back to the car.
