Permits, camping stipulations, and recs on some routes

[roffy02]

Hi everyone,

I am going to Yosemite this weekend and I have a few questions:

First off, If I have a permit, could I technically hike as long as I want with that one permit even if I end up crossing roads and crossing other trailheads along the way, or would I need a new permit each time I hit a trailhead?

Second, If I start at Mono Meadow and head towards LYV, what are the boundaries on where I am not allowed to camp?

Third, which route to you recommend among these 4:
White Wolf to Tuolumne meadows via the grand canyon
Lukens Lake to Tuolumne meadows via ten lakes
Mono Meadow to Tuolumne meadows via LYV and John Muir Trail
Mono Meadow to Tuolumne Meadows via Bunnelll Point, Merced Lake, Rafferty?

Thanks so much!

[holz]

Hi,

I have done WW --> TM via GCT 2x and earlier this year, based camped @ GA and went down to Waterwheel Falls.

That is a marvelous hike. Keep in mind that day 1 from WW to Pate Valley is punishing downhill. Something like 4k down. As long as your conditioning is good, it isn't so bad, but just make sure you realize that heading in.

I have done bits of some of the other possibilities, but can't comment fully. Someone will shortly. Keep in mind that WW may be easy to get from permit perspective as well if you don't have a reservation.

I believe the rules for the permit only apply to the FIRST NIGHT you spend. You may do whatever you want after the first night, but it sounds to me like technically legal, they sort of frown on exit and reentry as that really is just bypassing the point in the system.

I don't know the previous paragraph absolutely for sure, but just wait, one of the gurus will chime in shortly.

[AlmostThere]

There is a maximum on any wilderness permit of 2 weeks. You are supposed to put your predicted itinerary on to facilitate any search and rescue operation that may occur, ie, it will help them help you to be pretty close to what you actually do, if you get lost, but the fixed points that are nonnegotiable are the starting date and starting trailhead. If either of those changes you need a new permit.

You would have to ask the rangers about the part about crossing roads - that's technically exiting the wilderness. People will try to bend rules by getting a permit heading to May Lake and then wandering on over and down Lyell on the JMT... not really what should be happening. I suspect they will say that you need a separate permit.

There is no camping between Mono and LYV.

You should start where your permit says to start and hike where you planned to go, unless you get another permit walk in. If you go try for a walk in from Happy Isles, Sunrise, Cathedral, or any other major popular trailhead.... you should show up very early in the morning (the closer to a weekend you are, the earlier you go) and plan to sit on the porch until the wilderness office opens. You will be getting a permit for the following day. You need to be at the wilderness office that has control over the area you want to hike in - Happy Isles you will be in the valley at the wilderness center, anything off Tioga Rd you will be in Tuolumne Meadows.

If you have never been in Yosemite, and you can get a walk in for the route, I suggest hitting the high points - get the permit and spend your time waiting for the next day's start in the valley, riding shuttles and walking around. Spend the night in the backpacker camp behind Upper Pines campground. Hike the Mist Trail to LYV or beyond. Go to half dome or clouds rest (clouds has a better view and you won't get heat stroke waiting in line for the cables). Hike up to Sunrise Lakes or Cathedral Lakes. You can spend a couple nights on the trail, wherever you like, once you are beyond LYV which is heavily regulated and patrolled. (Review the rules on the Yose website about staying 100 feet from water, 50 feet off trail, digging six inches down, packing out your used TP... etc.) Spend some time in Tuolumne Meadows hiking around, maybe even spend that last night in the backpacker campground that your permit entitles you to do, have a burger at the grill, then catch the backpacker bus or YARTS back to the valley to your car.

[bill-e-g]

You are supposed to put your predicted itinerary on to facilitate any search and rescue operation that may occur

There is no camping between Mono and LYV.

What?

I seldom get asked what my route is.
I was actually once told by some bozo working in Wawona that the
permit is NOT used for S&R while picking up a permit.
(not an issuing ranger)
(what a thing to say to someone getting a permit)

Get the National Geographic Trails Illus. Map for Yose.
It will show you where you can and can't camp.
But for Mono Meadow you need to camp in the Ill basin the first day.
You cannot go to or thru LYV on day 1 and you can't camp
on the Pan Trail period.

Boatloads o info here:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wildpermits.htm

and a map:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/u ... eadmap.pdf

I guess if I HAD to pick a route from those 4 I'd go with
the one past Merced Lake and then go up and over Vogelsang Pass.
It won't matter though. They're all good.

[AlmostThere]

I seldom get asked what my route is.
I was actually once told by some bozo working in Wawona that the
permit is NOT used for S&R while picking up a permit.
(not an issuing ranger)
(what a thing to say to someone getting a permit)

The route is not the same as entry and exit - SAR would be thorough anyway. They would start at last point seen and establish a radius to search within - if the last point seen was the entry point on the permit, so be it, they'd start there.

Some of the rangers have clearly been at it too long. One wonders if they are succumbing to temptation to just have fun with people, giving different answers every time to the same old questions...[/quote]

[Hitech]

When I pickup up my permit (7/17/2010) they wanted to know my route in detail. Based on the time he spent on the computer after I explained my route I assumed he entered it into the computer.

They are also currently conducting a survey requesting the actual route you took and where you camped.

[bill-e-g]

The bozo that mentioned S&R wasn't a ranger.

Of course Entry and Exit are not a route silly.

And you don't have to exit on the exit TH on the permit either.

Humbolt Univ. is conducting the survey. For some reason
eveyone doesn't get a survey. Go figure. Got 8 permits from Yose
since May and only took one survey. And the guy that
gave me that one knew that we'd be off trail the entire trip.

Last year they were asking where you were possibly gonna camp.
Haven't been asked this year. Pretty sure they aren't writing
your route down. I normally say well... we may go this way...
we may go that way... we'll see. Yose is fine w/ that. National
Forest... those people want more detail. So I make up stuff now
just to make them happy.

Anyway, sorry off topic or whatnot. I'll shutup now.

[AlmostThere]

No, actually, it's pretty interesting - they never ask me about route, NPS or NFS. Last NF permit I picked up was out of the night drop, for example, no questions over the phone either.

NPS looks at the computer and says here's your permit. I usually don't get a long lecture. I think they know who the frequent hikers are and figure we are okay, since we keep coming back in one piece.

[Hitech]

I can't say if he entered the route or not. I was asking a lot of questions and I did tell him that I had never backpacked in Yosemite before. However, that seemed to only trigger him reading all the rules, which I already knew.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how friendly and helpful everyone was. Even the ranger that had to tell me that I was setting up camp five feet outside the boundary in LYV. They even pulled out their map when I was trying to make sure that my previous nights camp site was "legal". I also spoke with three SAR members. They were putting in a HUGE effort to find a hiker that had been lost for an hour (just after dark). It is certainly comforting knowing that is who would rescue me if I needed it!