Hite Cove Trail
El Portal / Mariposa (South Fork Merced) · near El Portal / Mariposa · Gold Country & Central Valley
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 9 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,500 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Wildflowers mid-Feb–Apr, peak in March · By mid-May grass browns and it gets brutally hot
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit; the first 0.75 mile crosses private property (stay on trail). Heavy poison oak, ticks, and full sun exposure.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- One of California's finest wildflower hikes · South Fork Merced riverside · Poppies, lupine, redbud, monkeyflower · Gold Rush ghost-town ruins at the cove
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Come the second half of March and go early — parking is a narrow Hwy 140 pullout that fills fast, and there is zero shade. Carry more water than you think.
The guide
Widely called one of California's finest wildflower hikes, Hite Cove threads a warm, low canyon where dozens of species carpet …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Hite Cove Trail — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.6668, -119.7999