Re: Most under rated/least popular spots in the park?

I guess you could say that I am curious about the hidden gems that are a trek to get to. Doesn't have to be a huge expansive view but more a very interesting one that is remote and doesn't get to many people a year. I asking for pictures is short of cheating but would be nice to see?

Agassiz Column:

On trail or off trail?


I've always enjoyed the short off trail detour up to Gaylor Peak. You park at the Tioga Pass entrance gate and take the Gaylor Lakes trail. At the high point/pass you follow the ridge line to the north to the peak. I don't imagine too many people make it up there.



Gigapan: Looking out across Tioga Pass, Dana Meadows, Gaylor Lakes, Tuolumne Meadows and the High Sierra peaks from atop Gaylor Peak



I've always thought the view from Eagle Peak is under-rated. I think it's one of the best in the park, but I rarely see people mentioning it.



View from Eagle Peak of Yosemite Valley



And then you've got the entire west shoulder / knife's edge / Diving Board area of Half Dome past the base of the Snake Dike climb. Not too many people get up there. Quite a special area.



Diving Board and Area
(Which reminds me, I've got a bunch of newer photos from up there I need to get online!)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 02:17PM by qumqats.

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qumqats


I've always thought the view from Eagle Peak is under-rated. I think it's one of the best in the park, but I rarely see people mentioning it.



View from Eagle Peak of Yosemite Valley

I don't know if the view from Eagle Peak is underrated, but it's definitely under-appreciated. It's one of the best views of Yosemite Vally, IMHO. I love that view, but I hate traveling up Upper Yosemite Falls Trail to get there.

Other great views of the valley from the rim that are almost alway very uncrowded are Dewey, Stanford, and Crocker Points off the Pohono Trail on the south rim.

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plawrence

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qumqats


I've always thought the view from Eagle Peak is under-rated. I think it's one of the best in the park, but I rarely see people mentioning it.



View from Eagle Peak of Yosemite Valley

I don't know if the view from Eagle Peak is underrated, but it's definitely under-appreciated. It's one of the best views of Yosemite Vally, IMHO. I love that view, but I hate traveling up Upper Yosemite Falls Trail to get there.

Other great views of the valley from the rim that are almost alway very uncrowded are Dewey, Stanford, and Crocker Points off the Pohono Trail on the south rim.

I agree with you on EP, under-appreciated. It does take quite a bit of effort via UYF trail, but one can choose to start from YCCG.

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qumqats


And then you've got the entire west shoulder / knife's edge / Diving Board area of Half Dome past the base of the Snake Dike climb. Not too many people get up there. Quite a special area.



Diving Board and Area
(Which reminds me, I've got a bunch of newer photos from up there I need to get online!)

WOW, that gives me vertigo just sitting in a chair! Please post the others.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Mt Watkins offers some tremendous views of Tenaya Cyn & quite a bit of solitude. Spots w/o an official trail can yield some underrated views, but not always of course.

OTOH, North Dome has become one of the more popular destinations. Basket is the neglected one w/o a trail, which is why that's at the top of my list.

Least popular? Uh.. That would be North Mtn. Lookout.
I would bet my left wing that narly a soul on this forum (sans The Old Dude) has been to the tower.
It can be a very pleasant hike in the springtime.

But to your question... tell me where you are thinking and I can probably show you a picture.
My alter ego (bill-e-g) and I have put put 100s of off the beaten track stuff to check out over
the last few years. Usually not much is said or only 1 or 2 peeps have been there.
Many peaks only a few people go up a year. There is so much out there to explore...
and then you go and pick up a map of the rest of the Sierra and ... argh! not enough time!

Have fun out there (and get up Clark)

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szalkowski

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chick-on
Have fun out there (and get up Clark)

NOW!!!

Unfortunately most will not understand how hilarious this comment is.

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Its funny that you mention it because it has been in the back of my mind ever since I tried/didn't make it the first time.

I went up last Saturday with my dad to May Lake/Hoffman for my last trip of the summer. My goal was 7 trips to Yosemite and I made 10 so I am happy about that. I'm heading down to LA this weekend for my last year of school and I am researching where to hike down there. Malibu mountains are nice with an awesome view. I've been researching Bob b's list (which is amazing that not only has done all of those peaks but has very detailed accounts of them) and there are a couple near LA that I'll try out. Clark will happen.


Malibu


Way up to Baldy


One of the answers to my favorite places in Yosemite

There are a fair number of places that are well known and highly rated by many that are knowledgeable of the park's features but are infrequently visited simply because they require some distance or effort to reach or are drowned out by nearby features that are easier to reach. An example would be the mentioned Eagle Peak because most who climb up that steep trail to the brink of YF stop there and are satisfied. It is praised in some guide books so is not under rated in that sense. Continuing on to Eagle Peak is enough effort that most would require staying overnight.

Diving Board was mentioned and that is very highly rated but because it is simply a difficult scramble requiring careful route finding up from LYV to reach, it is not often visited except by those in the climbing community. The mentioned trailess to reach Mount Watkins on the other hand is simply overwhelmed by the more popular trail delivered similar views from North Dome. Actually it is an easy cross country day hike to reach with few signs of visitation.

There are also special features right in Yosemite valley that minor numbers of knowledgeable hikers are aware of but few in the public visit. An example is the Rockslides area along the trail/old road to Rainbow View. Terrific spring time large flow afternoon rainbow views of Bridalveil Fall though even some weekend days that unmaintained trail is virtually empty.

There are also relatively known features in remote areas that ought to be more highly rated. One easily reached such feature is Kibbie Lake about 4 miles in from a trailhead outside the park:
Is one of the lowest elevation natural rockbound lakes in the Sierra at 6.5k.
By late August given the low elevation, the water temperature isn't all that chilly like other lakes.
It has more cliffs of all heights one might jump into deep water from than any other lake I know of in the Sierra.
Rainbow trout were planted in that lake in 1878 and 1880 and developed a self sustaining strain from those plants that exists to this day.

Kibbie Lake is very highly rated and very popular.

Pretty much any lake which has camping restrictions... you can mark that in your books as popular.

So much of the park has very few people in it.
Just take a look at that map of the fire rings:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,28730,39905#msg-39905

Go to where there are few fire rings... then you'll have solitude... and there is so many great areas to explore.
Just go baby

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I echo chick-on, Kibbie Lake is very highly rated and is extremely trafficked as soon as the gate is open after Cherry Lake. Before that logging road was established to the Shingle Springs trailhead, it would take quite the effort to get to Kibbie, now you can be there in 2 hours on the trail. Kibbie is a pretty lake though. It was nice to get up there and see ice on it, even if it was mid June this year.

I agree about Kibbie--only because I was once unable to get a permit because it was already booked. That's not "least popular."

What about trailheads that will let you get into the backcountry, but are usually available all summer long? Mono Meadows, Nelson lake, and Budd Lake come to my mind...

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

Agree Kibbie Lake is moderately visited by backpackers and on holidays is difficult to obtan a permit. That is mainly due to the fact it is one of the easiest backcountry lakes to hike to and one can do so in late spring before most other high country lakes are snow free. Have backpacked there double digit times going back to when it was an 8 mile hike in. Might be more popular than a couple of decades ago when I frequented it more often and others had yet to notice how the new trailhead was a lot closer. So agreed maybe not a decent example but I am thinking more from the perspective of that it is not as highly rated asI think it ought to.

Here is an example of the kind of bland ordinary review as at trails.com:

"Were it not for the long drive to the trailhead, Kibbie Lake would be a popular dayhike. At 4 miles distance and only about 700 feet between its trail’s high and low points, Kibbie Lake is a good choice for beginning backpackers. Being the lowest natural lake reached by trail in and around the Yosemite National Park environs, it is one of the warmest, and is great for swimming from about mid-June through August. Not only is this the lowest natural lake, it is one of the largest in the park, measuring barely under 1 mile in length. Therefore, while it can be popular with weekend summer backpackers, there is plenty of shoreline on which to establish secluded camps."

I poked around a bit on the web today and haven't seen anything that really said anything more than it is a short hiking distance, low elevation, and water warms by late summer. Or maybe I haven't been looking at the right places.

Well, I don't know anyone that has gone to it and not loved it.

Been there a zillion times. Only once were we the only ones there... (it was February).
Old Dude... he's been going there for decades... and compared to me.. been there a zillion^zillion times.

A number of years ago they instigated "no campfires w/i 1/4 mile of lake" (or something v.close to that effect)
Why? Well... because it is SO popular.

Of course timing has a lot to do with how "popular" a place is. But.. Kibbie is muy pop-u-lar.
If you want to get away from crowds... it aint the place to go. Similar to Bear Lake in the Emigrant.

Anyway, not sure why wasting my time ... original poster isn't even going anywhere til nxt year I presume.

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OK. You've all finally goaded me into putting my two cents worth.

Any list of most underrated places near the Valley has to take into account what you think is a good hike.

If it's short and easy that you want, try these:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,34462,34462#msg-34462
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,39010,39010#msg-39010

If its an easy side trip off a busy trail, try Quarter Domes or Liberty Cap. Even when Half Dome looks like an ant hill, there is almost nobody there:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,29842,29844#msg-29844
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26491,39409#msg-39409

If strenuous:
Upper Cathedral Rock or the lip of Bridalveil http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,29312,29407#msg-29407
The Diving Board (see above posts)

But you may see another person on any of these. For stuff where I have never seen another soul, try these:

The Eagle Castle. Especially good if you can get someone to hold your ankle while you lay out on the big flat overhanging rock.
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26491,29203#msg-29203
But if you do that one, be extra, extra careful about not dropping anything on the trail below!

The El Cap Ridge. http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26797,26797

Indian Canyon Trail http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,25265,26112#msg-26112
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,29137,29137#msg-29137

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Of all of these, my favorite has to be the Diving Board, even though you will often see some people over at the start of the Snake Dike climb. The Diving Board itself gets little traffic. http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26491,29203#msg-29203

The photo earlier in this thread shows just how sharp and overhung its edge is. The photo doesn't do it justice, since it is much thinner in the foreground than it is at the far end. A really neat thing to do is to lay your body against the rock, hang on with your fingers, and peer over the edge. It is very, very airy because of the undercut. In one place there is a hole at about chest level, which lets you see just how thin this thing is. Your logical brain is telling you that your weight is insignificant compared to the ice that winter storms put on it. Your animal brain is just jibbering...

Also, there is a famous photo than Ansel Adams took here, and so every visitor tries to do the same.


1 is the Diving Board, as seen from near Glacier Point. 2 is the nearer Quarter Dome. 3 is the climbers ledge below the face.
On the right, my version of the famous photo, but my wide angle lens wasn't wide enough.

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DavidSenesac

...Diving Board was mentioned and that is very highly rated but because it is simply a difficult scramble requiring careful route finding up from LYV to reach, it is not often visited except by those in the climbing community. ...

Perhaps we can prevail upon the chicken-goat-man to rejuvenate his picasa trip pictures from couple years ago to the Diving Board for detailed route information.

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

Here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,9251

and here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,24825,24834#msg-24834

And there is wherever's route from Emerald Pool.

Favorite way up is thru the Gap b/t Lib and Brod. and then up climbers route to Snake Dike area.

As for the original question... ok, I'll say something else...
What I keep hearing is that Yosemite is so busy and so crowded.
Honestly I can't tell you how many times we have gone and seen only a couple of people.
So much of the off trail travel really isn't that difficult. And it's just a big place!

Get off the trail and walk on ridges and you'll see nary a soul. Head to that unnamed lake.
etc. etc.
For me, for most of the year Yosemite is not Yosemite Valley.
There is so much more than YV and TM in Yosemite.
Ask a ranger what they're favorite place is... prolly they will the The Northern area.

Have fun

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chick-on
Favorite way up is thru the Gap b/t Lib and Brod. and then up climbers route to Snake Dike area.

Works for me. But when I take photographer friends up there, I always go up a ways to the left of the climbers route. There is an easier route over there. Not everyone likes easy but exposed climbing on gritty rock.

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chick-on
...Get off the trail and walk on ridges and you'll see nary a soul. Head to that unnamed lake.
etc. etc.
...Have fun

For decades I've been wandering and rambling about places no one else seems to go. Places not on routes climbers and peak baggers use, places away from hiker, backpacker, and fisherman use routes, They are all over the place if one really starts analyzing topos. Don't go just anywhere but places that may have special photographic viewpoints.

And having read some of chick-on's adventures, I know that bird also has an orientation to those place. Except for him its easy as he just flies over the rought terrain and lands. (;

Here is an example of a place I went to many years ago that to this day few have propably ever bothered to climb (could be wrong) even though it sticks out like a sore thumb on the topo and has a superb view of the Tuolumne River cascades above Glen Aulin and the whole upper Tuolumne basin:

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.91729,-119.42345&z=15&t=T

Point 8886 northwest of very very popular Glen Aulin. Have camped atop there in light late May snow.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2011 10:43PM by DavidSenesac.

Been up there twice.... last time was last year:

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26056,26063#msg-26063

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chick-on


Been up there twice.... last time was last year:

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26056,26063#msg-26063

Yup, and not surprised !