Yosemite Wilderness Permit — Smith Peak (Hetch Hetchy)

Smith Peak (Hetch Hetchy): what makes it different

Smith Peak is the short, steep, seldom-used way up the summit that looks down on Hetch Hetchy. NPS counts 6.7 miles one way and 3,500 feet of gain, rates permit demand Low, and sells 9 lottery and 6 week-ahead places a day with no toilet at the start.^1,2,3

Getting to the start

NPS files the trailhead under the Hetch Hetchy Entrance section of its trailhead table, with no toilet. A report titled Smith Peak via Evergreen Road says the climbers met at the Hetch Hetchy gate at 8 am, watched a ranger open it, and drove down to a trailhead the author calls Smith Meadow, with room for two cars.^1,8

That post carries no date, but the author says there was too much snow in the higher country to go anywhere else, so it describes an early season. Hetch Hetchy Road itself is open sunrise to sunset, according to the Wilderness Conditions page updated September 11, 2026.^8,4

The first leg

Recreation.gov calls this a seldom used trail that winds up through brush and meadows. It says the climb is shorter than the trail leaving from Mather but has more elevation gain. The NPS distance sheet agrees: Smith Meadow at 5.2 miles and the peak at 6.7, against 6.8 and 8.3 from Mather.^7,2

The Evergreen Road party hit trouble at the first creek crossing, where fast water pinned a trekking pole under a rock. They then crossed a large burn that had not recovered. The author spotted mountain lion tracks on the trail.⁸

Terrain and difficulty

NPS lists the whole walk at 13.4 miles round trip with 3,500 feet of gain on its Hetch Hetchy trails page, last updated November 13, 2019, and describes a steady climb through forests and meadows to the summit.³

The trail is rough. The Evergreen Road report found the path overgrown in places with a lot of dead fall, lost it near Cottonwood Creek and followed a GPS track instead, and later cut up the shins of the author in brush so thick that the party took to snow slopes instead. A 2011 Backpacking Light poster who came up from Mather said much the same: not a heavily used trail and overgrown in some sections.^8,9

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Smith Peak (Hetch Hetchy), overnight wilderness, lottery share: 9 people a day. NPS trailhead page, updated May 11, 2026, row Smith Peak under Hetch Hetchy Entrance. Window April 24 to October 18, 2026.¹
• 2026 daily quota at Smith Peak (Hetch Hetchy), overnight wilderness, week-ahead share: 6 people a day. The share released seven days ahead on a first come, first served basis. NPS prints it as a separate column.¹

Rules specific to this entry point

Recreation.gov's only camping note for this division is about water: along the Tuolumne watershed all washing and waste must stay 300 feet from water. Half Dome is not available from this trailhead.⁷

Where it leads

The summit looks down on Hetch Hetchy and across the northern backcountry. From the top the Evergreen Road party named Bald Mountain to the southwest, the Tuolumne River to the west, Tower Peak and Piute Mountain to the northeast and the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne to the east, with a sliver of the reservoir visible.^3,8

The 2011 Backpacking Light group spent the night near Smith Meadow after hearing that other groups were already camped on the summit. They put the peak at just under 7,800 feet and found one small patch of snow there on July 2.⁹

What trip reports say

The undated Summit Swagger post by Peter Vidani tells of a snow climb from the Hetch Hetchy side. The party saw no footprints in the snow and reached a snow-free summit, boot-skied down their own tracks and finished by driving down to the reservoir.⁸

On July 2, 2011 a Backpacking Light member did a clockwise overnight loop that started at Mather Ranger Station, passed Lookout Point and camped near Smith Meadow. The poster saw one deer and one mouse and a stream crossing that was knee-deep but barely moving. This starts at a different trailhead than this page, so use it only for the upper trail.⁹

When to go from here

The two reports bracket the season: deep snow on the upper slopes in the Evergreen Road trip, and a nearly bare summit by the start of July 2011. The first creek crossing in the Evergreen Road report was fast water.^8,9

NPS gives two starts for the reservation season: the Wilderness Permits page (December 31, 2025) says late April, the Reservations page (June 22, 2026) says May. The Hetch Hetchy window on the trailhead page begins April 24, which fits the first page.^5,6,1

Compare with nearby entry points

• Mather Ranger Station (Hetch Hetchy): Mather Ranger Station reaches the same summit the long way, 8.3 miles one way against 6.7, with a bigger quota of 15 lottery and 10 week-ahead places.^2,1
• Cottonwood Creek (Hetch Hetchy): Cottonwood Creek has 12 lottery and 8 week-ahead places and no toilet. It is the nearest quota to Smith Peak's 9 and 6.¹
• Miguel Meadow (Hetch Hetchy): Miguel Meadow has the same 9 and 6 quota but a flush toilet, and it runs to Lake Eleanor instead of a summit.^1,2

Sources

1. Trailhead Information, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
2. Trail Descriptions and Distances (One Way), Yosemite National Park, National Park Service (PDF, file modified October 2022). Read 2026-10-15.
3. Hetch Hetchy Area Trails, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Wilderness Conditions Update, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Wilderness Permits, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Wilderness Permit Reservations, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.
7. Yosemite National Park Wilderness Permits (Smith Peak division), Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Summit Swagger: Smith Peak via Evergreen Road, Hetch Hetchy Area of Yosemite, Summit Swagger by Peter Vidani (undated). Read 2026-10-15.
9. Smith Peak - Yosemite (member trip report thread), Backpacking Light forum (posted July 5, 2011). Read 2026-10-15.
10. Wilderness Regulations, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Smith Peak (Hetch Hetchy) permit