McGee Pass Trail (Day Hike)
Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Northern California → Eastern Sierras → Mammoth Lakes Area → McGee Pass Trail (Day Hike)
Location: Mammoth Lakes Area, Eastern Sierras, California
Time Required: 3-5 hours
Distance: 6-8+ miles (depending on where you turn around)
Elevation Gain: 1200+ feet
Red Tape/Notes: Permits not required for day hikes (they are, however, required for overnights). Bring your fishing rod and fishing license if you’re into that sort of thing; we’ve found fishing to be better at the lakes farther up the trail, but there are trout in McGee Creek. The trail is easy to follow from the parking area; this post from Modern Hiker is good for additional information on the day hike (I’d recommend going elsewhere for beta on longer routes).
What’s Nearby?: Upper Owens River, Crowley Lake Columns, Convict Lake
In our opinion, this is one of the nicest trails in the area, and it sees much less traffic than the North Fork of Big Pine Creek and the Bishop Pass Trail. Like both of those trails, the McGee Pass Trail (which is often called McGee Creek or the McGee Creek Trail) heads up into the mountains and provides access to some beautiful alpine lakes which are great spots for camping and fishing, but if you’ve only got a few hours, the lower section of the trail provides a nice option. The trail is a hot spot for fall color, so it sees a lot more traffic, particularly in October; it’s also a nice spot for wildflowers in the summer (although the mosquitoes can be voracious). There’s usually a nice beaver pond below a section of rockfall, at 3 to 3.5 miles, but the dam was broken in 2018, leaving only a muddy flatland with a creek running through it. I’m hoping the beavers will rebuild the dam, because it was a scenic feature. Just above the “pond”, at 3.5 miles, the trail heads across the creek and continues upward, but if you take the access trail on the left and follow the creek back into the canyon, you come across a lovely waterfall that’s rarely visited.
Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Northern California → Eastern Sierras → Mammoth Lakes Area → McGee Pass Trail (Day Hike)