Help with fallback plan?

[holz]

Hi all,
I spoke w/ the Yosemite Wilderness office today and they seemed to think that Tioga Road may not be open by 6/18 when I have a group of 8 heading in to Glen Aulin. The lady actually sounded pretty negative about it.

Can any of you suggest some alternates should the road be closed? Here are some important points should some of you be willing to help me.
1. There are first timers in the group
2. The trip need not necessarily be in Yosemite, but it would be nice.
3. We really had planned an overall leisurely pace and given that we have a first timer, it would be nice to keep it that way.
4. We have 4 days/3 nights.

HELP!!!!!

Thank you all in advance!

[bill-e-g]

Tioga Rd. is suppose to open this Saturday.

Is this the case where they just won't give you a permit
for an overnight trip off of Tioga yet? Is that what the
person was referring to?
I know that in the past even though the road opened early
they wouldn't give you a wilderness permit b/c they
didn't want anyone parking overnight.

Last year, rd. opened on May 5th. You could not park overnight on
the weekends until May 23rd.

[hotrod4x5]

Even though the road is open, won't the trail to Glen Aulin still have lots of snow?

[holz]

I see the road is now open. I'd imagine if TM is reasonably clear, it should be fine @ GA. Anyone know current conditions there?

If we can't go there, anyone have a decent fallback plan?

[hotrod4x5]

I see the road is now open. I'd imagine if TM is reasonably clear, it should be fine @ GA. Anyone know current conditions there?

If we can't go there, anyone have a decent fallback plan?

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tioga.htm Not till Saturday.

[balzaccom]

There were seven feet of snow at Sonora Pass yesterday. Tioga Pass is higher.

[Grzldvt]

We are going to try an get to Glen Aulin this Sunday/Monday/Tuesday. I will call tomorrow to see of we can get a permit. if we can, I suspect we will have to park at the permit station and hoof down the road

[holz]

Let me know how it works out please! My plan is to leave next Friday. Still hoping it will be ok by then. It well could be for me personally, but I have 2 teenagers and a first timer coming with me so "reasonable" conditions are a must.

Good luck!

[hotrod4x5]

Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Overnight parking on the Tioga road is allowed some time AFTER the road actually opens, correct? Does this mean on the roadside, or does it include parking lots as well?

[Grzldvt]

Spoke with a ranger today and parking is allowed on Tioga Road right now. He was pretty clear that you need to be fully off the road, or park at the wilderness permit station, or they may let you park overnight at the Lembert Dome lot..
Out Glen Aulin trip is a bit iffy as he said the Twin bridge area is completely flooded. We head in the back door, so a couple of spots will be dicy, but we are going for it.

[bill-e-g]

Thanks Steve,
I tried calling myself and no one answered or I called the wrong number.
We plan on going thru Glen Aulin this Friday.
I'll post something Tuesday on what occurs. I plan on bringing
some garbage bag gaiters.

Have fun. Maybe I'll see you out there.

[dogboy]

Do you have reservations at the Glen Aulin High Sierra campground, or are you just camping there? It could be that the campground will still be closed.

If you have several newbies Lyell Canyon from Tuolumne Meadows is a nice trip. Very beautiful and practical flat. Of course you need to get permits for 8 which may be tricky.

Another great trip is Little Yosemite Valley. It's at a lower elevation so snow wont be a problem. Unbelievably beautiful.

[Grzldvt]

Thanks Steve,
I tried calling myself and no one answered or I called the wrong number.
We plan on going thru Glen Aulin this Friday.
I'll post something Tuesday on what occurs. I plan on bringing
some garbage bag gaiters.

Have fun. Maybe I'll see you out there.

We generally stay down at the Riveria(Glen Aulin proper), but suspect it is flooded. If so we have a few other options. We are coming in the camp workers route. Our biggest concern is the actual bridge going into Glen Aulin at Return Creek. We have seen it get so high anyone in the High Sierra/Official camp area would have been stranded
For our trip to LeConte, we bought wading sox to get through the swamp, although it may be high enough there will be no choice but to go up in the rocks.
I suspect there won't be too many people down there, We are going in Sunday, setup, do LeConte on Monday, out on Tuesday.

[holz]

Hey Bill, did you make it to GA? How were the bridges? When I talked to the ranger on Monday, they said they were "flooded", but wouldn't (or didn't know) any more detail. If flooded means an inch or water or even a foot of water, no biggie, but if it means something like waist high water, that changes things quite a bit.

As I'm planning a trip for 6 (and taking someone else's kid) your report is a big part of my decision whether to do this trail or something else. If it is something else, that will involve a very early morning trip to the wilderness office porch to wait patiently for a first come, first served permit

Hope you had a great time!

[bill-e-g]

It was incredible. Spectacular. Stupendous. Amazing.
(in other words... Yosemite)

I posted some stuff on the yosemitenews.info forum here:

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26056

(and we saw Steve on the way out by Little Devils Postpile)

Should you go? Garsh... I dunno... since I didn't see firsthand
Dingley and Delany although I was told they weren't too much
of an issue. Those people were very experienced though
and we both commented something like "just give me the
permit... I'll see for myself thanks" when talking about getting
a permit.