Dusy-Ershim Trail
Sierra National Forest (Courtright Reservoir to Kaiser Pass) · near Shaver Lake / Fresno · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Off-Road
At a glance
- Skill level
- expert
- Size
- ~30 miles · A multi-day high-Sierra granite traverse · Second only to the Rubicon
- Best season
- July–October · Snow-gated the rest of the year (high elevation, 7,000–9,000ft)
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Sierra National Forest — the trail requires a permit/registration in some seasons to manage use; check current status with the High Sierra Ranger District. Green Sticker or street-legal registration required. Pack out everything; this is fragile alpine terrain. No services for the entire route.
What is here
- Terrain
- rock-crawling · mountain-4x4 · overland
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Off-Road detail
- Nickname
- The Rubicon's Harder, Wilder Cousin
- Vehicles
- 4x4-jeep
- Signature routes
- Thompson Hill · Voertman's Lake / the granite slabs · The full traverse
- Intl tip
- The Dusy-Ershim is in the Shaver/Huntington Lake country south of Yosemite — the same region as Mono Hot Springs (swimming guide) and China Peak (skiing guide). Kaiser Pass Road (one-lane, slow) is the eastern access. Confirm trail status and any permit requirements with the High Sierra Ranger District before committing to the expedition.
The guide
The Dusy-Ershim is the Rubicon's harder, wilder, higher cousin — a roughly 30-mile high-Sierra granite traverse from Courtright…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Dusy-Ershim Trail — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.087, -118.966