Sierra National Forest · California

Quartz Mountain

0.7 mi of trail, end to end · native material surface · trail No. 23E08 · trail class 3 · typical grade 10-12% · tread 24-36 inches wide · hiking, horse, bike

Trailhead Quartz Mountain Trailhead Drive there

Quartz Mountain Trailhead the Forest Service's write-up

There are two routes to get to the Quartz Trailhead: All overnight stays in the wilderness require a wilderness permit .

1. Take Sky Ranch Road for about two hours, almost to the end of the road, make a left turn on to 6S10LA (Quartz Mountain Spur) to find the trailhead. Keep your eyes open for this, there is not a big sign on the road. If you happen to miss this road you will reach the end of Sky Ranch Rd, turn around and it will be the first right turn after you turn around.

2. you can also take Beasore road and make a left turn on road 6S10X (Beasore Loop), this will connect you to the Sky Ranch Road in which you take all the way up to the 6S10LA (Quartz Mountain Spur) road.

Both of these routes take the same amount of time (two hours) if you are starting from Oakhurst.

The most common destinations from Quartz Trailhead is Chain lakes (inside Yosemite National Park) 5.7 miles, and Ottoway Lakes 15.4 miles from the trail head.

This trailhead on fs.usda.gov

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About this trail's facts

The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.