Overnight Hike to Graveyard Lakes

Dale Matson

A friend and I got together for an overnight hike to Graveyard Lakes. The Trailhead is about three hours from Fresno taking Highway 168 to the Kaiser Pass Road turnoff. From Kaiser Pass it is about another hour to go the final 14 miles. You don't need four-wheel drive but a high ground clearance vehicle is preferred. There is an intersection with seven miles remaining. To the left is Edison Lake and to the right is Florence Lake. It is not necessary to take the water taxi to the east end of Edison Lake since the trailhead for the hike begins just out of the parking area at the Vermilion Resort.

The hike is in the John Muir Wilderness and is about 18 miles round trip with the trail ending just after the first lake. There is a trail junction in upper graveyard meadow where the trail goes northwest to Graveyard Lakes and northeast to Goodale Pass. At this junction there is still about 1,000’ of climb before reaching Graveyard Lakes.

Climbing and scrambling above the lakes gave us quite a view of the surrounding area. There is about 3,000’ of elevation gain to the highest lake outbound. In the two days we were out, we did not see any other hikers.    Graveyard Lakes Video