Parking
A small roadside pullout is on Tioga Road between Porcupine Flat Campground and Tenaya Lake, west of Olmsted Point. This is not the large Olmsted Point parking area used for the longer Snow Creek approach.
Overview
About Mount Watkins Trail
Why go
- Uncommon, close view across Tenaya Canyon toward Half Dome and Clouds Rest.
- A quiet high-country summit walk away from the park’s busiest trails.
Heads up
- Informal tread can be faint and needs confident route-finding.
- High elevation and seasonal Tioga Road access limit when it is practical.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Yosemite map
Full mapElevation8,232–8,625 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
4 active Yosemite alerts
- ClosureDome Fire closes Glacier Point Road and trailsGlacier Point Road is temporarily closed because Dome Fire smoke reduces visibility and to allow firefighting operations; some trails south of the road are also closed.Official details
- CautionMist Trail access limited during October repairsThe Mist Trail between its John Muir Trail junction above the Vernal Fall footbridge and the top of Vernal Fall has limited access through October for repair work.Official details
“Up ahead is the small Tioga Road turnout for Mount Watkins, an informal summit hike with views across Tenaya Canyon toward Half Dome and Clouds Rest.”
Yosemite Tour Guide
Yosemite, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yosemite National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Yosemite audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Mount Watkins Trailhead0:00 / 0:25
“Up ahead is the small Tioga Road turnout for Mount Watkins, an informal summit hike with views across Tenaya Canyon toward Half Dome and Clouds Rest.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Yosemite Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Trees Shaped by the Weather
- The Beak That Opens Cones
- Olmsted Point
- May Lake and Mount Hoffmann
- 125 audio storiesacross Yosemite’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, Peregrine Falcon, Mule Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 141 trails, 99 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“We just drove through Yosemite and it made our trip listening to this app as we drove through. Like having a tour guide in the car with you.”
Trail guide
Hiking Mount Watkins Trail
The routeThe Mount Watkins Trail is an informal out-and-back from a small Tioga Road turnout to the…
The Mount Watkins Trail is an informal out-and-back from a small Tioga Road turnout to the summit and back. This summit-focused route covers about 4.7 miles round trip and typically takes around 3 hours. It starts in forest, drops before climbing back to the granite summit; as the trees open, the view reaches across Tenaya Canyon toward Half Dome and Clouds Rest. The hike stays above roughly 8,000 feet.
Choosing your turnaroundThe mapped line ends at Mount Watkins’ 8,498-foot summit.
The mapped line ends at Mount Watkins’ 8,498-foot summit. Some accounts continue south beyond the summit to a closer, exposed overlook and report a 6.3–6.4-mile round trip; that extension is not included here because its route could not be verified reliably. The approach from Olmsted Point is a separate, longer hike via the Snow Creek corridor, not this turnout start.
Safety and rulesThe high elevation and repeated climbing make this more demanding than the distance alone…
The high elevation and repeated climbing make this more demanding than the distance alone suggests, especially before acclimatization. Pets are not allowed on Yosemite trails. Continuing beyond the summit reaches an exposed south-side drop; that continuation is outside the mapped route.
The photographer’s namesakeMount Watkins is named for Carleton E.
Mount Watkins is named for Carleton E. Watkins, whose 1861 Yosemite expedition used mammoth-plate and stereoscopic cameras to record the region. The summit links a high-country walk to a photographer whose images helped bring Yosemite’s granite landscapes to a wider audience.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Yosemite
732 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
1,747 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
332 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
11 sightingsPeregrine FalconMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
276 sightingsPikaMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
677 sightingsYellow-bellied MarmotMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yosemite. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
