Mount Watkins

Mount Watkins is a granite dome on the north side of Tenaya Canyon, rising to 8,497 feet almost directly across from Half Dome. From the summit, Half Dome is close enough that its granite face fills your view rather than sitting in the distance — a rare angle most visitors never get, since it's invisible from the Valley floor.

Getting There

There's no official, signed NPS trail to the summit. Hikers reach Mount Watkins on a well-established use-trail that starts near a small pullout on Tioga Road, between Porcupine Flat Campground and Tenaya Lake. Expect unsigned junctions and stretches of open granite where the path is easy to lose — carry a map or GPS track rather than relying on cairns alone. Trail guides put the route at roughly 6.3 miles round trip with about 1,079 feet of elevation gain, rated moderate and typically a 3 to 3.5 hour outing. June through October is the usual season, once Tioga Road is open and the high country has cleared of snow.

Good to Know

• There's no water, shade, or facilities anywhere on the route — treat it like a backcountry trip despite the short distance.
• Mount Watkins' South Face is one of Yosemite's major big-wall climbs, linked with The Nose on El Capitan and Half Dome's Regular Northwest Face into the famous climbing challenge known as "The Triple" — first done as a continuous push by Peter Croft and Dean Potter, later completed as a speed record by Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell in under 24 hours. Hikers on the summit may cross paths with climbers partway through that push.
• Some hikers combine Watkins with North Dome for a longer day, or approach from the Valley floor via Snow Creek for a considerably harder version of the hike.