Here's the Cathedral Lakes secret or "back door" access.
If you just have a few hours, I have a favorite route into lower Cathedral Lake. It is an abandoned trail, now used only by people who know it is there. But it is half the distance to the lake compared to the JMT. Maybe 1.5 mile, climbing 800 ft.
To find it, check your odometer and drive 1.9 miles east from the parking lot at the east end of Tenaya Lake. (3.8 miles west from the official Cathedral Lakes/JMT trailhead in Tuolumne Meadows.) Stop at the unmarked gravel parking area on the right (south) of the road (hard to see, has space for half a dozen cars). Google maps
street view.Follow the use trail southeastward (directly away from the road) through trees and meadow, crossing the old Tenaya-to-Tuolumne trail (easy to miss, barely maintained). Here the trail quickly ascends toward Medlicott Dome. If you check the map, you will see there is a bench at the base of the Medlicott face that climbs gently and heads due south. Continue on this bench following the use trail. You can see it was once built as a trail, but in several places trees have fallen across it.
The trail continues south past Medlicott and climbs directly to Lower Cathedral Lake. It is my favorite short trail to take if I don't have much time. (For a brisk hiker, ~ 1 hour up, :45 down)
Here are pictures from a hike using this trail, and continuing up past both lakes
are here.Here's the map.
Parking spot location:
37.860840,-119.434970 <--Interactive Gmap4 map link.
Last summer, my bro-in-law and his 5th-grader daughter hiked this route, x-country to upper Cathedral lake, then to the saddle between Cathedral Pk and Echo Peaks. All in a quality day hike, including round trip driving from Fresno.
