Young Lakes

Young Lakes is the kind of Yosemite hike that separates the committed from the casual. Starting from the Dog Lake trailhead near Tuolumne Meadows, you'll climb steadily through lodgepole pine forest before the trail opens into broad subalpine meadows carpeted with wildflowers in midsummer. The nearly fourteen miles round trip with a steady but manageable climb won't destroy your legs, but the distance will test your endurance. The payoff is a chain of three pristine alpine lakes sitting in granite bowls beneath Ragged Peak, each one more photogenic than the last. The lowest lake is the easiest to reach and the warmest for a dip; the upper lakes require more scrambling but deliver serious solitude. This is a hike for people who want to earn their wilderness — day-hikers with stamina, or backpackers looking for a spectacular first night in the backcountry.