First time to Yosemite - opinions/suggestions for 10 days

[amigo]

Hi. It's still early but a friend and I are thinking of heading to Yosemite for about 10 days next year ... probably latter half of August. We'd be flying in to San Francisco. We don't live in a high altitude area. I've been doing a lot of reading up and this is a tentative plan:

- hike Panorama Trail and explore Yosemite Valley (2 nights)

- 2 day trip from Tenaya Lake up to Clouds Rest, up to Half Dome, and into the valley (would initially take shuttle from the Valley to Tenaya Lake trailhead)

- head to Mammoth Lakes, explore, relax

- 2 night Ritter Range/Thousand Island/Garnet/Ediza Lakes loop

- one night Tuolumne Meadows (perhaps day trip to Cathedral Peak/Lakes)

Is this reasonable? Is this long enough to acclimatize to the altitude?
Can one camp atop Clouds Rest?
Can one camp either atop or at the base of Half Dome? We'd like to do this to either climb Half Dome late in the day or very early in the morning before the crowds arrive.

Do we need one wilderness permit each to do the Clouds Rest and Mammoth Lakes hikes?

Any comments, suggestions would be highly appreciated.[/list][/list]

[AlmostThere]

- hike Panorama Trail and explore Yosemite Valley (2 nights)

- 2 day trip from Tenaya Lake up to Clouds Rest, up to Half Dome, and into the valley (would initially take shuttle from the Valley to Tenaya Lake trailhead)

- head to Mammoth Lakes, explore, relax

- 2 night Ritter Range/Thousand Island/Garnet/Ediza Lakes loop

- one night Tuolumne Meadows (perhaps day trip to Cathedral Peak/Lakes)

Is this reasonable? Is this long enough to acclimatize to the altitude?
Can one camp atop Clouds Rest?
Can one camp either atop or at the base of Half Dome? We'd like to do this to either climb Half Dome late in the day or very early in the morning before the crowds arrive.

Do we need one wilderness permit each to do the Clouds Rest and Mammoth Lakes hikes?

Any comments, suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Is this intended to be a backpacking outing in one continuous 10 day outing? You can't camp in the valley outside designated campgrounds. No camping on Half Dome, but you can camp close. No camping on the Panorama, Mist or JMT between Happy Isles and Little Yosemite Valley. You would be able to stay in the backpacker campground in the main campground at Tuolumne Meadows, probably, but you won't be able to camp within four miles of TM otherwise. If you plan a continuous backpacking trip and stay in the backcountry each night you can do this with one permit.

I would start with Yosemite Valley and find a site in the campground, get a tent cabin, or get a room, and walk around dayhiking. Then start the backpacking portion of the trip - with some luck (you will be able to reserve permits five months in advance) you can get wilderness permits starting at Happy Isles, or since you want to do Panorama get them from Glacier Point or Mono Meadow, and hike out to Little Yosemite Valley. Head up to Half Dome and Clouds Rest. Camp at the junction of the JMT and Clouds Rest trail near the creek. Head over to Cathedral Lakes and camp there if you like - there are camping restrictions on which lake you can camp near, but this is on the Yosemite website. Hike to Tuolumne Meadows and head down Lyell fork on the JMT, camp four miles out, hike over Donahue and down to Thousand Island, Garnet, Ediza, etc. and to Mammoth. Catch the shuttles to town from Agnew or Reds Meadow and get a ride on YARTS back to Yosemite.

Spend some time looking at the wilderness regulations and food storage rules at http://nps.gov/yose - there is info on trailheads, where you can camp, how to do Half Dome (permit necessary just for that side trip if you are going on a holiday or weekend), and anything else you need to know including when to start applying for reserved wilderness permits.

[amigo]

No, this wouldn't be one continuous trip. Panorama would be a day hike from Glacier Point, likely. We'd be camping 2 nights in a proper campground in the valley.

Would then take the shuttle one morning to Tenaya Lake and do a 2-day hike to Clouds Rest and Half Dome and into the valley for another night of camping in a campground. So, one night backpack camping somewhere, hopefully close to HD. How close can one camp to HD?

Then, we'd drive to Mammoth Lakes and do a 3 day backpack trip there.

Then, drive to TM and camp a night there and do a day trip or so.

[AlmostThere]

Then you would need a couple of wilderness permits, yes.

The backpack from TM to Mammoth is an awesome segment of the JMT - we did that a year ago. Loved the whole area. Ediza and the other lakes up there are a nice side trip.

There is a campground in Little Yosemite Valley - if you stay in LYV, you must be in the campground. You can go 2 miles up the trail from LYV and camp. Water is the critical component - there is a spring somewhere on the way to HD and there is water at the junction of the Clouds Rest trail and the JMT, all the way north of Clouds. I would stay at the junction and do Clouds in the early morning then continue to HD and out. If you can't do all that mileage, you can camp in LYV in the campground.

[amigo]

Thanks for the info. Do you think that Tenaya Lake up to Clouds then down to the HD/Clouds/JMT junction (about 2 miles north of LYV and south of Clouds) for an overnighter is too long a hike for one day? I believe the Sunrise River flows near there, according to my map, so there'd be drinking water with my filter.

How many nights camping would we need for a TM --> Mammoth Lakes hike? If we left our car at TM, how would we get back there from Mammoth Lakes? Is it more uphill going in one direction? Sounds like a great hike.

Would staying 2 nights in Yosemite Valley doing the Panorama give us sufficient time to acclimatize before hiking in TM or Mammoth Lakes area?

[AlmostThere]

People day hike from Tenaya Lake to the valley floor... it's all in what you can do. I would do it as an overnight, go to Clouds for sunrise, and skip HD entirely, but that's me. We did Clouds as a dayhike from Sunrise - got back around 4:30 pm, started at around 8 am. Conversely, a woman and a couple of teenagers who started before we did had not made it to Clouds as we were heading back down the trail - I don't even know if they made it, we passed them going both ways. We also passed other people struggling. I found it to be a moderate level hike, nothing too strenuous.

We did the distance between TM and Agnew in three nights/four days, but that's leisurely and had planned side trips along the way. It can easily be done by someone (barring altitude issues and/or poor endurance) in a couple of days. The shuttles run you from Reds/Agnew to the ski resort, another shuttle will take you to Mammoth, and there are several YARTS stops in Mammoth - we picked up the bus at the Shiloh Inn after spending the night in one of the campgrounds on that side of town. Info on the shuttles can be found on the Inyo NF website, YARTS is at yarts.com. There are four passes on that section so there is an equal amount of uphill/downhill each direction - Donahue is highest, and they stair step down to about 9,000 feet from there. There is an elevation profile here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/loc_nguyen/2388276396/ - note the section between Donahue and Reds.

[amigo]

Thanks very much. Considering we've never been to Yosemite and live in the east, the plan is to hike up HD (have to do it once), but we'll try to do either early morning or late in the day. I think we'll aim for a 2-day hike, but if it takes 3, so be it.

The Ansel Adams Wilderness area along with TM high sierra region also looks pretty amazing.

[kathy]

Thanks very much. Considering we've never been to Yosemite and live in the east, the plan is to hike up HD (have to do it once),

I live in NH, visited Yosemite this past August. We camped the entire 8 days at TM. I had a tough time acclimating, and I was in excellent shape. My brother drove up from San Diego area (no higher elevation than here in NH), not as prepared physically as me, had no problem w/acclimating. Plan for the unplanned. Our planned hike up Clouds Rest had to be postponed (for me) b/c my head was pounding at the TM campground that morning and it didn't make sense to hike higher that day. I did eventually do the hike, but w/o my brother.

The hiking there is quite different than here. Trails are like sidewalks, with lots of fine dust...seemed at times like we were walking on the moon. No roots to trip you up, no big boulders to step on/over. The hiking itself is much easier, but it was very dry and dusty.

Have fun. We had a blast. I can't wait to go back.

[amigo]

Very interesting, kathy. That's quite useful to know. I know exactly what you mean re the trails compared to the likes of the Whites and ADKs. I hiked in Arizona/Utah last year and same type of trails there (dusty and "sidewalks") - just loved it though - can't beat the scenery.

Anyway, I hope we have better luck with altitude issues in Yosemite than you did. What other hikes did you do in the TM area?

[kathy]

What other hikes did you do in the TM area?

We hiked around the meadow, Lyell Canyon Trail, did Lembert Dome and hiked to the lower Cathedral Lake. All w/no problem. We did the meadow the 1st day, Cathedral Lake the 2nd. Acclimation was not complete, but I'd spent months planning/saving/plotting and I was hiking come hell or high water. We also hiked down to the Tuolumne Grove b/c my friend hadn't seen a redwood tree so that was almost required hiking.

If I were to go again, I'd hike the Panorama Trail, and explore the TM area more...check out one of the HSCs. I have no desire to hike HD. I would definitely stay again in TM, and try to spend at least 1 night in the back country.

A friend there told me that tums helped her w/the altitude. I didn't try them, but thought I'd pass that info along. I found it a bit weird, but she swears by it from past experience in Colorado (above 13,000 ft).

K