Granite Chief Wilderness
Tahoe National Forest, near Squaw/Palisades · near Tahoe City / Truckee · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 18 miles
- Elevation gain
- 3,000 ft
- Time needed
- overnight · multi-day
- Best season
- July–September
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit or quota required for the Granite Chief Wilderness — self-register at trailheads. Free California Campfire Permit for stoves. A quieter, permit-free alternative to nearby Desolation Wilderness.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Permit-free Tahoe-area backpacking · Five Lakes & Whiskey Creek · PCT/TRT access · Wildflower meadows
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Nights
- 1–3
- Resupply
- None needed. Bear canister recommended.
- Intl tip
- The Five Lakes trail is the popular quick access, but it's a busy day-hike destination — push deeper into the wilderness toward Whiskey Creek or the PCT for camps and solitude. Because it needs no permit, it's the perfect Tahoe backup when Desolation is fully booked, which it usually is on summer weekends.
The guide
Granite Chief is the quiet answer to Desolation Wilderness's crowds and permit lottery — a rugged, lake-dotted wilderness just …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Granite Chief Wilderness — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.197, -120.27