Merced Pass Trail

Merced Pass Trail is a backcountry route through Yosemite's high country south of Glacier Point, threading through lodgepole and red fir forest to Lower and Upper Merced Pass Lakes before continuing on toward Ottoway Lakes and Red Peak Pass. This isn't a trail you reach from the Valley floor in an afternoon — it's deep wilderness, typically visited as one leg of a multi-day backpacking trip.

Getting There

The most common approach is from the Mono Meadow trailhead off Glacier Point Road, following the Buena Vista Trail south before dropping to the Merced Pass Junction. Some parties instead approach from the south via Chiquito Pass and the Quartz Mountain trailhead in Sierra National Forest — a longer drive but a shorter walk in. The Merced Pass segment itself covers about 2.6 miles, gaining roughly 390 feet and dropping about 548 feet between elevations of 8,779 and 9,317 feet, rated a moderate, blue-level trail.

Permits and Planning

• Overnight stays require a Yosemite wilderness permit. Sixty percent of each trailhead's daily quota is reservable through a Recreation.gov lottery up to 24 weeks ahead, and the remaining 40% releases online first-come, first-served 7 days before your start date. Actual walk-up permits — for whatever's left unclaimed — are issued in person at a wilderness center, starting the day before or on the morning of your trip.
• A bear canister is mandatory for food storage in this backcountry zone.
• Snow can linger at this elevation well into summer, and creek crossings shift with snowmelt — check current conditions before setting out.

Expect solitude here — this is one of the quieter corridors in Yosemite's southern wilderness, favored by hikers headed for Red Peak Pass or the Merced Pass and Ottoway Lakes basins rather than day visitors.