This is the first in a series of posts that I am putting together about Snow Backpacking out to Dewey Point Yosemite. For anyone that wants to get started with Snow Backpacking this is a nice easy hike to an absolutely beautiful location.

The hike itself takes about two and a half hours if you walk at a brisk pace, likely three hours or more if you decide to take it easy. My friend and I did the hike in late-February and I learned quite a bit through the experience so look forward to sharing what I learned over this series.

First things first – where better to start than getting to Dewey Point. Rather than trying to put the Dewey Point trailhead into your GPS, one great thing to know is that you’ll be parking in the Badger Pass Parking Lot, so put that in your GPS to make life a lot easier. The roads up to Badger Pass can be closed with very little notice so check at least 24-hours before your trip to make sure you can get there before heading up. Here’s a video of the drive up to the parking lot:

We happened to be going to Dewey Point after a week of pretty serious snow in Yosemite as you can tell by the massive snow banks on either side of the car.

One thing to note is that you will need a wilderness pass in order to go backpacking anywhere in Yosemite. You will also need to register with a ranger (usually at a ranger station but you might find one walking around) to get a parking pass. While you will be parking at the Badger Pass parking lot, if you don’t have a parking pass, you’ll come back from your adventure to find that you no longer have a car so make sure you get your pass before starting out on your adventure.

Here’s a video I took after we parked and started to assemble our gear at Badger Pass.

After you have your wilderness pass and have registered your car with the rangers, it’s time to hit the trail. The trailhead is towards the back of the Badger Pass parking lot but don’t worry too much about where you park, if you can find a spot, take it because the lot does fill up quickly.

The first 20 – 30 minutes of the trail out to Dewey Point is wide, very easy, and likely to be crowded. It could be easy to be a bit disappointed that you’re not deeper into the woods or really challenging yourself but don’t worry, soon you’ll have the choice to take a harder trail. Below is a video of what it looks like when you first start out on the trail out to Dewey Point.

Stay-tuned for the next post where I’ll cover switching over to the more difficult path and share some videos of the adventure out to the point.