Yosemite national Park Special Edition - Backpacking Cathedral Range Backpacking+the+Cathedral+Range+-+Yosemite+Nationa | Page 2

Backpacking O Trail in Yosemite National Parks Cathedral Range
G oing off trail on any adventure can be exciting for many explorers. But going off trail in Yosemite National
Park brings an euphoria of emotions. Ok so I don’t want to over do it on emotions for this last adventure I took
with my son in Yosemite. It was my first official off trail backpacking experience in the Park, but going off trail on
adventures is a common practice for myself and as I learned on this adventure there are many who consider
this a annual ritual of sorts.
When I was looking for a backpacking location this year in Yosemite I was trying to remember my favorite parts
of last years hike into Youngs Lake Basin plus add just a little more seclusion to the factor without going
completely off the grid in the Northern Sections of the Park. I knew that I still wanted to start from Tuolumne
area if possible and I loved the idea of seeing multiple lakes. I got a recommendation from a reader which is on
a mission to photograph every lake in Yosemite @lakesofyosemite about Nelson Lake and after reviewing
several YouTube reviews I settled in on Nelson Lake in the Cathedral Range as my destination to start my
adventure planning.
Nelson Lake – Yosemite National Park
Nelson Lake is a typical Yosemite Lake half tree lined and the other half dressed with a huge mountain of
granite and a feeder meadow of moss, grass and other wildflowers. The feature mountain at Nelson Lake is
commonly refereed to as Choo-Choo mountain (not its official geological name) is a huge chunk of granite that
dominate the landscape and is close enough to the lake that it makes it hard to get a full reflection of the
mountain in the lake.
Fishing was plentiful at Nelson Lake on all shore lines as fly fisherman and Bald Eagles enjoyed an evening of
fishing on our visit each with great success. Because Nelson Lake sits above 9600′ no fires are allowed at
Nelson lake and the evenings can bit a bit cooler as most of the camping is within 200 ft of the lake unless you
go up the meadow towards the Reyman Lake region.
Backpacking Off Trail in Yosemite National Parks Cathedral Range