Mono Pass Trail Reviews

Now one of my all-time favorite hikes. Spectacular scenery, nice workout. Can't wait to do it again.

Excellent hike if you take it easy. Spent the whole day exploring along the trail and at the summit. Highly recommend. The view down bloody canyon to mono lake is really cool.

This is a great hike. Just hiked it in mid-July (2013), which seemed to be a perfect time to allow relatively easy creek crossings, but still very green meadows with plenty of wildflowers. The hike switches from forest to meadow several times with a few scenes being worthy of a Thomas Kinkade painting (if you go early enough for the wildflowers). The recommendation by Russ to continue into the Ansel Adams wilderness for about 1/2 mile past Mono Pass is a must. The contrast to the rest of the hike is stunning, and the views are worthwhile on their own. You almost expect to see a dinosaur pop out from below Bloody Canyon. This is a hike I would do again (maybe combining it with Spillway Lake on the way back - which would add about 3.5 miles to the round trip). NOTE: Starting early (about 7:30 am) almost assures a parking space and you get the trail all to yourself (didn't see anyone until the last 1/2 mile on the way back).

(This hike was done in October 2012)

Actually, I never made it to Mono Pass but diverted off the trail after the Parker Pass trail and made my way to the top of Mount Gibbs (there's no trail, just keep going up, you'll eventually get there). Well worth the effort: Stunning views! And, the Crowd Factor was zero that day.

This hike was unlike most of Yosemite, especially when entering or looking on Inyo/Mono Lake. The color contrasts were great, maybe saw 10 other people that day and the lakes were beautiful. You walk through distinct trails with trees, etc holding the sides of the trail to walk out onto grassy fields where lakes and mountains surround you. Gaylor Lakes has mining/old housing, as does this area, but not as much. Always interesting running into these. It's an easy and enjoyable hike. I'd highly rec, going east onto the trail to see Mono Lake is a must.

I didn't want to rate this because I only did the first three miles - I only had an hour total and was just out for a quick run. I thought I'd add to Russ' notes that this is a really nice run for the first 2.5 miles or so. After that, it gets a bit steep, but still runable at least to my turnaround point. You get to some nice meadows and high alpine terrain quickly, but I need to go back to get to the pass for the "straddles two worlds" aspect that Russ mentions in the main page but this is a really enjoyable outing.