Read an Excerpt
Northeast Yosemite
TRAIL 1 Benson Lake and Matterhorn Canyon Loop
- TRAIL USE Backpack, Horse
- LENGTH 50.3 miles (over 4–7 days)
- VERTICAL FEET ±10,550'
- DIFFICULTY 5
- TRAIL TYPE Balloon
- FEATURES
- Canyon
- Lake
- Stream
- Autumn Colors
- Wildflowers
- Great Views
- Camping
- Swimming
- Secluded
- Steep
- Granite Slabs
- Geological Interest
- FACILITIES
- Resort
- Water
- Campgrounds
- Horse Staging
The vast lands of northern Yosemite cannot be reached on a weekend walk, because here the most sought-after destinations are all 15 miles or more from the trailhead. This loop takes you past many highlights of the area, introducing you to granite-ringed lakes; endless meadows; sharp-pointed ridges; and long, linear, U-shaped valleys scoured by glaciers. The well-traveled Pacific Crest Trail shares your route for a third of the distance, and indeed all the trails described receive reasonable traffic during the summer months, but you’ve nonetheless disappeared far into the wilderness.
Permits
Overnight visitors require a wilderness permit for the Robinson Creek Trailhead, issued by Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest. Pick up your permit at the Bridgeport Ranger Station.
Maps
This trail is covered by the Tom Harrison Hoover Wilderness Region map (1:63,360 scale), the National Geographic Trails Illustrated #308 Yosemite NE map (1:40,000 scale), and the USGS 7.5-minute series Buckeye Ridge, Matterhorn Peak, and Piute Mountain maps (1:24,000 scale).
Best Time
Late July–mid-September is the best window for this walk. Northern Yosemite—with its abundant lakes, tarns, and meadows—is a mosquito haven, and the landscape cannot be fully appreciated if you feel unable to sit down and relax in your surroundings—especially on such a long trip. The mosquitoes start to wane in late July, and August is idyllic, with the large lakes warm enough for a swim.
By mid-September, temperatures drop and days are shorter. There are still a number of hikers completing long hikes, but it is wise to watch the weather forecast and ensure an early-fall snowstorm does not take you by surprise.
Finding the Trail
From US 395 near the northwest side of Bridgeport, take paved Twin Lakes Road southwest 13.6 miles to the entrance of Mono Village at the west end of upper Twin Lake.
The trailhead is at road’s end in Mono Village, a private resort and campground. Overnight users must pay to park their cars here—drive about 0.1 mile past the day-use parking area where you first turn into the Mono Village complex to the overnight parking lot, located farther south along the lake’s shore. Then visit the obvious campground entrance kiosk and pay $10 per trip, regardless if it is one night’s parking or many. Water and toilets are present throughout the campground.
Trail Description
You begin in Mono Village, a private resort with cabins and a campground at the head of upper Twin Lake. Distances are measured from the campground’s entrance booth, from which two main roads depart—either works, but the right (more northerly) option is slightly more direct, and after about 0.2 mile you reach the western end of the campground. The trail now skirts a meadow’s edge as your route, a closed road, starts upcanyon. At the 0.5-mile mark the road veers left (south) across Robinson Creek on a bridge, and a sign marks the start of the Robinson Creek Trail; you follow the trail right. After walking west a couple of minutes, you pass low granitic outcrops, and just beyond them is a bulletin board with information on the area. The first part of your hike is open forest, dominated by Jeffrey pines on the dry slopes and aspens on wetter soils, particularly near unseen Robinson Creek. Less common trees include Fremont cottonwood and western juniper, both becoming more abundant upcanyon.
After crossing a stream chortling down from the basin between Victoria and Eagle Peaks, the trail winds gently up through more open terrain with sparse conifers, sagebrush, and bitterbrush, giving you your first unbroken views of the beautifully U-shaped glacial valley—the valley bottom is nearly flat, abruptly truncated to either side by steep valley walls, cascading watercourses, and sharp-tipped peaks. As your path continues on a westward course, the floor supports increasing numbers of mule ears and diminishing numbers of arrowleaf balsamroots, two large sunflowers whose names indicate the difference in their leaf shape. The pleasant amble leads to a welcome patch of shade beneath white fir cover (2.8 miles). This is a good spot to stop for a drink and rest beside tumbling Robinson Creek before launching into the climb ahead.
The trail up the canyon headwall ascends a dozen well-graded but rocky switchbacks that lead north through head-high jungles of shrubs, staying always within earshot of unseen Robinson Creek. Above the switchbacks, the track is often wet, as water from springs dribbles along the trail, sustaining the abundant wildflowers that will distract you in summer. You continue up the gradual incline, often only a few steps from the bubbling creek’s edge, and soon find yourself in a stunningly dense aspen forest. The ever-fluttering yellow and orange leaves will astound your senses in fall as you walk down the golden tunnel. Soon after stepping across a tributary draining Little Lake to the west, you reach the north end of a large flat that extends to the shore of Barney Lake (4.1 miles). The lodgepole forest here is littered with campsites, with an additional selection of sites to the southeast of the creek (crossed on a large logjam just downstream of the lake’s outlet) on a flat behind a granitic mass at the lake’s northeast corner. Barney Lake’s north shore has a sandy beach—growing gradually larger as water levels drop in late summer and into fall—a fine spot for a lunch break and perfect after a swim.
The western shoreline, which your trail follows, is a dry talus slope mixed with glacial debris. After rounding the base of a steep escarpment, a pair of switchbacks elevate the trail some 100 feet above Barney Lake’s inlet. In sections the walking is fast, while elsewhere, protruding rocks break your stride. Once past Barney Lake, your gaze is drawn to the domain of industrious beavers, the marshy meadow upstream of the lake. This was once a lake itself and is slowly filling with sediment. Eventually you descend several short switchbacks; wind through broken rock, past avalanche-twisted aspens, and over two freshets draining Cirque Mountain; and slowly descend back to creek level. Beyond a small campsite to the southwest of the path, the trail crosses Robinson Creek (5.15 miles), a wet ford in early summer or a rock hop by midsummer....
