Ostrander Lake (Yosemite)
Glacier Point Road, Yosemite NP · near Yosemite Valley · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 12.5 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,600 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- June–October (after Glacier Point Rd opens); a backcountry-ski hut destination in winter
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No day-hike permit; a Yosemite wilderness permit is required to camp. The historic Ostrander Ski Hut (winter) books by a separate lottery. Glacier Point Road is closed by snow roughly November–May.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Granite-rimmed subalpine lake · Historic 1940 Ostrander Ski Hut · Horizon Ridge views to the Clark Range · Quiet alternative to Yosemite's crowds
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- A long but non-technical day — start early and carry water; the upper trail is exposed. For winter, the Ostrander Ski Hut is a bucket-list backcountry-ski trip that books by lottery.
The guide
Ostrander Lake sits in a granite bowl beneath Horizon Ridge, a 12.5-mile round trip from Glacier Point Road that trades Yosemit…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Ostrander Lake (Yosemite) — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.6386, -119.5528