Yosemite national Park Special Edition - Backpacking Cathedral Range Backpacking+the+Cathedral+Range+-+Yosemite+Nationa | Page 4

Backpacking O Trail in Yosemite National Parks Cathedral Range
Matthes lake is a stunning setting with a high granite wall seeming to explode from the earth on its Western
shore line and the lush green meadow that drapes the shore lines and continues for the entire length of the
canyon to the north with CockScrum Peak at its far north border. Fishing again was a favorite of those we saw
at the lake, but we choose to swim, nap int he meadow with our feet in the water and have a delightful trail
lunch after a hard climb over the ridge. On our trip we only visited Matthes for a few hours, but in future trips
we will make sure we stay much longer at this special location.
Our destination plan was to stay instead at Echo Lake which was just to the West of the Matthes Crest (The
Backside) below Echo peaks.
Hiking to Echo Lake from Matthes lake gives you two off trail options. first up and over a forested saddle area
near the south of the lake or to exit south and round the mountain edge coming up to the lake from the south
along the creek and meadow. We choose the southern route and found the route strangely complicated yet
fairly easy as we hugged the mountain but had to continually hike down to a valley floor that was not really
highlighted on our maps. We found that staying as high as possible was the best route until the valley floor
rose up to the lake level where we then could follow the creek through meadow/forest area to Echo Lake.
Echo Lake is a simple little lake wrapped with a lush moss meadow full of moisture ( at least this August ) and
draped with Echo Peaks to the North, Matthes Crest to the East and the granite walls on the West that cut us
off from the busy JMT trail. Echo lake was also our first foray below the 9600′ mark which means campfires are
allowed in previous fire pits around the lake and the Forest canopy surrounding the meadow was full of
suitable camp spots especially for us Hammock Campers. Because of the high peaks on Three sides the
sunset here is brief and the Sierra glow is minimal at best off the Peaks to the East. Mosquito’s sent us to our
hammocks early for the night and the lack of light called for an early evening.
Backpacking Off Trail in Yosemite National Parks Cathedral Range