Parking
Use the trailhead lot across from White Wolf Lodge on Tioga Road. A trail guide estimates about a dozen spaces. Vehicle access is seasonal with Tioga Road, and White Wolf has very limited services.
Overview
About White Wolf to Lukens Lake Trail
Why go
- A forested approach ends at a small lake and a summer wildflower meadow.
Heads up
- Two forks can be hard to read, and the trail stays wet and muddy into early August.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Yosemite map
Full mapElevation7,894–8,281 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
“You're nearing White Wolf, a high-country base with seasonal cabins and a wooded campground. The lodge's canvas cabins have beds and wood stoves but no electricity; the wood cabins have private bathrooms.”
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
White Wolf0:00 / 0:34
“You're nearing White Wolf, a high-country base with seasonal cabins and a wooded campground. The lodge's canvas cabins have beds and wood stoves but no electricity; the wood cabins have private bathrooms.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Yosemite Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Sky Ansel Adams Chose
- Siesta Lake
- Lukens Lake
- A Rainbow by Moonlight
- 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 White Wolf to Lukens Lake Trail
The White Wolf approachWhite Wolf to Lukens Lake is a 4.
White Wolf to Lukens Lake is a 4.6-mile out-and-back from the trailhead across from White Wolf Lodge, with about 400 feet of climbing. Allow 2–3 hours. The trail crosses the Middle Fork Tuolumne, then follows a forest path to a small mountain lake and its surrounding meadow. Choose this side when you want the longer walk; the separate Tioga Road trailhead reaches the same lake in a 1.6-mile round trip.
Watch the forksAt two junctions, stay to the right both times.
At two junctions, stay to the right both times. The left branches head toward Harden Lake and the Ten Lakes area. These forks can be unmarked, so have a map ready. The White Wolf route returns along the same path.
Lukens Lake and its meadowThe White Wolf path reaches the lake from the west, where the meadow shows as a band across the…
The White Wolf path reaches the lake from the west, where the meadow shows as a band across the far shore. Summer brings shooting stars and dozens of other wildflower species. When the water is still, the trees and meadow can reflect across the lake, a good reason to pause at the shore.
The name and the iceThe lake was named in 1894 for Theodore Parker Lukens, a Pasadena forester and conservationist…
The lake was named in 1894 for Theodore Parker Lukens, a Pasadena forester and conservationist known as the “Father of Forestry.” The basin sits in a pass used as a major diversion route by the ancient Hoffmann Glacier as it flowed toward Yosemite Creek.
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.
