Going Off-Trail in Tuolumne Meadows: Nelson Lake to Cathedral Lakes
I’d never hiked in the Tuolumne area of Yosemite and had no plans to until I stumbled upon an article on Sierra Rec Magazine’s website. The article was a trip report on a 3 day backpacking trip to Nelson, Matthes, Echo and Cathedral Lakes. Cathedral Lakes had been on my bucket list for a long time, but I’ve never heard of the other lakes. Nelson, Matthes, and Echo Lakes looked amazing, and the fact that they could only be reached by cross-country travel made this trip sound even more exciting. Furthermore, permits for Nelson Lake XC were much easier to get than permits for the Cathedral Lakes trailhead. This trip was a perfect introduction to cross-country travel, and a great way to experience the remote Yosemite backcountry and Cathedral Lakes.
Trip at a Glance
| Distance | 16 miles |
| Elevation Gain | 3,500 feet |
| Elevation Range | 8,583 - 10,460 feet |
| Length | 3 days |
| Permit | Nelson Lake XC |
| Highlights | Elizabeth Lake, Nelson Lake, Matthes Lake, Echo Lake, Upper and Lower Cathedral Lake |
| Type | Loop |
| Date of Report | June 18 - 20, 2021 |
The Route
| Day | Destination | Miles | Gain | Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tuolumne Meadows to Nelson Lake | 6 | 2000' | 800' |
| 2 | Nelson Lake to Upper Cathedral Lake | 6 | 1200' | 1200' |
| 3 | Upper Cathedral Lake to Tuolumne Meadows | 4 | 300' | 1500' |
Nelson Lake and Cathedral Lakes XC loop map (view in AllTrails)
Trip Overview
This trip looks leisurely at only 16 miles of distance total, but the mostly off-trail route, high altitude, and armies of mosquitoes we had to walk through begged to differ.
The trailhead is located at Tuolumne Meadows at 8,600 feet altitude. After Elizabeth Lake around 2.5 miles in, the official trail ends. A use trail leads up to the highest point of the trip, a saddle in the ridge that divides Tuolumne from the Echo Creek and Nelson Lake drainages.
From there, there are 2 ways to Nelson Lake. One route follows Echo Creek down into the valley. It seems like the more traveled route as it is labelled on AllTrails. We also found beta online for a more interesting alternate route (approximated in red above) that traversed the ridge rather than heading down into the valley. With one short scramble, we were able to stay high along the flanks of the mountain and were rewarded with views of Nelson Lake on our way down.
Day 2 was cross-country travel from Nelson Lake to right before Upper Cathedral Lake, where we joined up with the JMT. It was pretty easy cross-country travel as it wasn’t overly brushy or steep. The steepest part of the day was scrambling over the ridge dividing Nelson Lake and Matthes Lake.
After spending the night at Upper Cathedral Lake, we made a short detour on the last morning to check out Lower Cathedral Lake. The rest of the day was a downhill hike on the JMT back to Tuolumne Meadows.
Day 1: Tuolumne Meadows to Nelson Lake
The trail to Elizabeth Lake was short and steep. The starting elevation was 8.6k, and we climbed 600 feet in the first mile. A bit before the lake the trees grew sparser and we reached a meadow. An outlet creek flowed through it and the grassy ground felt soft and marshy from the recent snow melt. It was prime mosquito conditions. Somehow in the past 2 years of backpacking, we had managed to avoid mosquitoes for sustained sections of a trail. This time we were not so lucky. We tried to stop for a few photos but the mosquitoes immediately descended upon us, so we sped towards Elizabeth Lake. The mosquitoes at the lake were even worse. Two of us had the foresight to bring head nets, which we gratefully donned over our hats. We did a quick loop around the lake and then met up with the use trail on the east side of the lake. From this point until the John Muir Trail near Cathedral Lake, this backpacking trip would be cross-country travel.
The meadow right before Elizabeth Lake
Standing on the shore of Elizabeth Lake
Use trails aren't maintained but this one was well-trodden and easy to follow. The weather changed pretty dramatically during this section and we got some pretty heavy rain for about 10 minutes, which we waited out in the trees. As we crested the pass, we could see the valley that Echo Creek flows through and several peaks on the opposite side. The top of the ridge sits at around 10.2k elevation.
A brief rainstorm passed over us and you can still see the clouds in the distance
Views once we were out of the trees and at the top of the ridge
Crossing a boulder field as we traversed from one saddle to the other saddle
The "official" use trail descends from here. We figured the views would be better from higher, so instead of descending into the valley, we traversed south along the west flank of the mountain, staying at about the same elevation. (This is also the route for people who want to traverse to Reymann Lake.) We were aiming for a pass on the ridge overlooking Nelson Lake at around 10.3k elevation. When we got there, we could see Nelson Lake surrounded by a grassy meadow and granite peaks.
The view of Nelson Lake waiting for us on the other side of the ridge
The way down was steep but mostly easy walking over soft forest ground. Since we knew our general direction, we simply went whichever way looked like the easiest.
The Nelson Lake basin has a huge meadow interspersed with patches of gravel that provided ample spots for our tents.
Finally on the flat valley floor
Nelson Lake
Setting up camp on a patch of gravel
Getting water was a bit hard because the edges of the lake were so marshy
Nelson Lake was a stunning place to set up camp, but the mosquitoes were still a problem. The biggest challenge was keeping them out of our tent when we entered and exited. Even when we managed to keep them all out, dozens hovered on the outside of our tent walls and aggressively poked their blood-sucking needles through the mesh as far as they could. We resorted to cooking and eating dinner from inside our tents. I had a light headache from the altitude and there was nothing to do while the mosquitoes raged outside, so we called it a night by 9 PM.
I woke up in the "middle of the night" but it was only 11:50 PM. The Milky Way was out (along with the moon) so I snapped some photos!
Day 2: Nelson Lake to Upper Cathedral Lake
The terrain for the second day was pretty mild and we got to enjoy 3 lakes: Matthes Lake, Echo Lake, and Cathedral Lake to end the day. It was a scenic and not strenuous day. We scaled one ridge and then looped around the southern end of the Matthes Crest, traveling north through the Echo Lake basin until we met up with the JMT.
Nelson Lake was a mirror the next morning
Pointing to the low point in the ridge dividing Matthes Lake and Nelson Lake that we would be hiking over
It looks steep but it’s nontechnical. The granite is clean and grippy
At the top of the ridge with views of the spectacular Matthes Crest, known for the Matthes Crest Traverse. It’s a popular climbing traverse across 1 mile of knife-edge ridgeline. When I was researching this cross-country trip I couldn't help but get sucked into watching hair-raising videos of this traverse on YouTube.
Matthes Lake
To get to Echo Lake, we tried to stay high rather than descending with the Matthes Lake outlet creek to save us a little bit of climbing.
Echo Lake, Echo Peaks in the background
Crossing the meadow right before JMT with the worst mosquitoes of the day. The iconic Cathedral Peak can be seen poking up through the trees.
Even though the cross-country travel on this trip was straightforward, being on a trail again still made a world of difference. I underestimated how great trails are. We no longer had to check our GPS constantly or carefully watch our foot placement.
By the time we got to Upper Cathedral Lake, we had been so tormented by the mosquitoes that we seriously considered cutting our trip one night short and hiking the 3.5 remaining miles out that afternoon. We stood by the lake pondering this while Bruce climbed up the tiered granite slopes surrounding the lake to scout for a good camp spot/see if the mosquito situation improved farther from the lake. He found a large flat spot with a great view so we ended up setting up camp. The mosquitoes were still bad though.
Golden rays setting on Cathedral Peak
Our campsite with Tressider Peak in the background
Cathedral Peak earlier in the evening, lit by moonlight. We could see flashes of headlights of Cathedral Peak climbers making their way down in the dark.
I checked the Photo Pills app for Milky Way positioning before sleeping and I set an alarm for 2 AM. The moon had set by then and the Milky Way was vertical above Tressider Peak.
Day 3: Upper Cathedral Lake to Tuolumne Meadows
Day 3 was an uneventful hike back to the trailhead on the JMT. We originally had planned to scramble from Upper Cathedral to Budd Lake and hike out from there, but we were all ready to end our trip as soon as possible. We made a quick detour to Lower Cathedral and then zipped downhill back to the trailhead. Our car was parked a mile down the road near Tuolumne Meadows campground so 2 people in our group dropped their packs and went to fetch the car. This loop was stunning but the mosquitoes on this trip were an itchy lesson learned. Next time, we would steer very, very clear of mosquito season in Tuolumne.
