Hoover Wilderness, Yosemite: Benson Lake Loop via Twin Lakes (2026)

Dates: Sept 5-8, 2026

I first heard about Benson Lake after another backpacker mentioned it earlier this summer at the Tuolumne Meadows wilderness center. I looked into routes for getting to the lake and its famed beach, and this ~50 mile loop out of Robinson Creek in the Hoover Wilderness looked like the most interesting route. This loop is relatively popular; the majority of the people I ran into on the trail also were hiking this route. I hiked it clockwise over 4 days, the direction recommended by others online, and I agree with them as most of the elevation gain is at the beginning of the day. Water felt quite accessible most of the time even at this time of the year and you could probably just carry 1L the whole trip (I carried 2).

Day 1: Robinson Creek Trailhead to Crown Lake (8.5 miles)

It was a little breezy on the way out, and I saw a decent number of people up to Barney Lake. I ran into a wilderness ranger who just did the same loop and gave me some info about the water situation; I mainly remember him saying that Kerrick Meadow was dry. (This was not a problem for the last day as there was plenty of water earlier/further south along the canyon.) Past Barney lake most people seemed like they were headed to Peeler Lake. I got to Crown Lake pretty early in the afternoon; there was only one other group set up there already. The winds never got too strong, but it kept up all evening and through the night and the occasional gust would really shake my tent.

Day 2: Crown Lake to Matterhorn Canyon PCT Junction (13 miles)

I slept surprisingly well with earplugs to block the sound of the wind; it got decently cold when standing out in the open with all the wind. The day started off with the wind still blowing, and it would keep going until later this evening. Despite the winds, it was still very enjoyable as this was probably the most scenic day on the loop. Mule and Burro Pass both had fantastic views of the Sawtooth Ridge and Matterhorn canyon respectively. From Mule you could see the huge mountain ridge that you would approach on the way to Burro, and then looking any direction from Burro was quite epic. The ridge is right next to you now, and the upper part of Matterhorn canyon is rather wide and you can see really far down. After Burro it was easy hiking down the windy Matterhorn canyon, following the creek all the way to the PCT junction where I camped for the night. Just one other couple was camped at this spot with me. Thankfully the wind from earlier in the day died down, and it would remain relatively calm to the end of my hike.

Day 3: Matterhorn Canyon to Benson Lake (11.5 miles)

I woke up to frozen condensation inside my tent, which made it easy to shake most of it off. I didn’t have a lot of ground to cover, so I had a slow start to the day. I passed a few SOBO PCT hikers on this section, and then I saw no one from Smedberg Lake all the way to Benson Lake. When I was on the way down from Benson Pass, one PCT hiker said there was apparently service at Benson Pass. My phone was always in airplane mode, and I missed my opportunity to test his claim; perhaps for the better. At the junction for Benson Lake I saw one adult bear and one younger one pretty close to the trail, but they minded their own business and walked away from me. Benson Lake really did live up to the hype; it was rather surreal to suddenly walk into a huge beach after going through the half mile of forest from the lake turn off. I never really looked at pictures of the beach before I went so this was all a surprise to me. It was a warm afternoon, perfect for a swim and then just relaxing on the sand. 

By evening there were two couples and one PCT hiker camped there with me but there was plenty of space. It was another windless night, and I had a decent night of sleep after running out to the beach for one more quick astrophotography session.

Day 4: Benson Lake to Trailhead (19 miles)

After enjoying the sunrise light over the calm waters of Benson Lake, I got started a bit earlier since I had a longer day today and still needed to drive home after. Most itineraries I read about stop at Peeler Lake but with my limited time off, it being all downhill from there, and most of the trail after the lake was the lollipop stem part of the loop that I already hiked on the way in, I just headed all the way back to the trailhead. After climbing out of the valley of Benson Lake and over Seavey Pass, there was a long stretch of relatively flat hiking through open meadows and through Kerrick Meadow before getting to Peeler Lake. Again not a lot of people on this section, only saw two other groups headed toward Benson for the day. There’s a small official diversion around Kerrick Meadow to restore it right before Peeler Lake. From there it was pretty much all downhill back to the trailhead. Overall a fantastic loop with a good amount of solitude and would highly recommend it.

Yosemite: Chain Lakes + Gale Peak (2026)

Dates: July 3-4, 2026

This trip is, in a way, a continuation of the last trip I had at Cathedral Lakes. When picking up the permits at the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center, the ranger had asked other backpackers where they had been before in Yosemite, and one mentioned Chain Lakes. I noted this down to look up later when I got back home. Turns out these lakes were tucked away in the southeast most corner of the park, a part of the park I never looked at in detail before. In fact, I’ve never really been in any part of the southern half of Yosemite. I always drove in through 120 or 140 into the valley or Tuolumne Meadows. 

The out and back trail from the Chiquito Trailhead to Chain Lakes was perfect to run on the long July 4th weekend: the permits were freely available from the Sierra National Forest outside of the park, avoiding all the main traffic through the valley. I didn’t need the long weekend and could have easily done this any other weekend, but decided I just wanted a one nighter and Sunday to relax. I invited Arthur to join me on this trip, and we headed out Friday morning at 6AM. We stopped in Oakhurst to get some food and pick up the permit, and got to the trailhead around 11:30 AM. We took a little longer than expected because the Google Maps location for the Oakhurst Sierra NF office was wrong; you actually need to go to the welcome center that has the National Forest sign on it. For others looking to get to this trailhead: the last two miles along the gravel road were easy to drive in my sedan, and when the ranger called me before about the permits they said the road to Quartz Mountain is unmaintained and requires a high clearance 4x4 vehicle. They were also able to move my permit from the North Fork office to the Oakhurst office so I didn’t need to detour out of the way.

Day 1: Chiquito Trailhead to Upper Chain Lake and Gale Peak (8.5 miles, +2.3k ft; +2 miles, +1k ft for Gale Peak)

The weather was perfect for the weekend; just a little hot at the start of the trail but we knew it would only get cooler from here on out as we climbed. The first few miles were rather uneventful, just hiking in a forest without any major viewpoints but with a decent number of trees fallen over the trail. Afterwards the trail is easy to follow and clear. After we got to the Upper Chain Lake, we set up camp and then started on our off-trail climb up Gale Peak. Going around the lake was relatively easy, and then there was a pretty clear chute up to the ridge. We had incredible views of Chain Lakes and Breeze Lake as we ascended. After going up ~90% of the way up, we decided to turn around due to the approaching sunset and increasing Class 2-3 scrambling that I was not confident in. We should have started earlier, and we will return to get to the top another day.

Mosquitoes were strong near the backside of Lower Chain Lakes, at sunset in our campsite at Upper Chain Lakes and along the gully to Gale Peak.

Breeze Lake from the ascent up Gale Peak

Panorama of Chain and Breeze Lakes from near the summit

Descending in sunset

Sunset

Stargazing

As for the busyness of the trail, we saw one other person at trailhead, a family of four returning on the way out, a couple at Middle chain lakes, and one person leaving Upper Chain Lakes as we got there. Not busy at all, especially for a holiday weekend. As we passed the couple at Middle Chain Lakes, they offered us two canned beers that we gladly accepted to take. I don’t usually drink but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of having a cold one at camp. I think we were alone at night at Upper Chain Lakes.

Day 2: Upper Chain Lake to Chiquito Trailhead (8.5 miles)

The next morning we had a slow start to the day, taking a dip into the lake before booking it back to the trailhead. We had lunch and then decided to visit the Mariposa grove for the first time (as far as I can remember) and did a quick trail run to look at all the trees before driving home. I’d like to come back to this area and do some longer routes; maybe a one-way from Chain Lakes out to Wawona past Buena Vista Lake if I could make the car situation work.

The sunrise warming up the day

Perfect turquoise water

Cracking a cold one

Running though the grove