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critique my 7-day loop planned for next week

PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:15 pm
by r.moore
This is based off of trail maps and descriptions. I have not run it by anyone. Please let me know if you see any problems for this backpacking trip scheduled for next week (like having river crossings that won't be possible due to snow-melt)...

start Yosemite Valley, Happy Isles Trailhead
Mist Trail (past Nevada Falls)
John Muir Trail through Little Yosemite Valley
Half-dome side trip
Cloud's Rest trail to Tenaya Lake (end of 3rd day)
Hike around east side of lake to north end where trail heads due north
hike north to Glen Aulin (end of 4th day)
Hike down Grand Canyon of the Tuolomne
Turn south to Lukens Lake (before reaching Harden Lake)
(or continue to Hetch Hetchy and hitchhike back to valley)
Hike past Yosemite Falls into valley (end of 7th day)

too ambitious??

another option

PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2007 8:27 pm
by r.moore
another option would be for me to hitch-hike to Hetch Hetchy, and go 1-way up the grand canyon of the Tuolomne, down to Lake Tenaya, south along Cloud's rest, to half dome, down Mist trail to Valley.

Re: critique my 7-day loop planned for next week

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 2:47 pm
by dan
It sounds fine until the end--although you have long days. You're doing a lot of down down the Tuolumne. Then to reach Hetch Hetchy, you climb up and over Rancheria Mountain.

Or maybe you're thinking of hiking out of the Tuolumne River canyon. That's more reasonable--there's a lot of uphill from Pate Valley to the Tioga Road. After that it's down to the Valley (although going down the Yosemite Falls trail with a backpack is not fun on the knees).

You can hitchhike to Hetch Hetchy, but that's iffy considering that not many people go that way. You can take the YARTS bus out of Yosemite Valley and get off anywhere along the Tioga Road (say at White Wolf) and do the trip backwards from your description.

more details

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 8:50 pm
by r.moore
thanks for the helpful info!

after talking to the rangers, half-dome cables aren't up, so I'm cutting that side-trip. Also, since I'm going next week, Tioga Rd. won't be open when I start, so starting at White Wolf won't work. What I'm considering is hiking up to Tenaya Lake, and if the road is closed, heading south via North Dome and Yosemite Falls. If the road is open, I'll hike the Tuolumne to White Wolf and have someone pick me up.

Are both these routes doable in 6 days? Would you recommend any other routes or detours along these routes? Here's an illustration of the proposed routes (copy and paste):

http://orgt.gatech.edu/pictures/Ryan/route3s.jpg

Re: more details

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 11:24 pm
by dan
The yellow route would be a 3 day trip for me (Yosemite to Tenaya Lake and back down via Snow Creek). The yellow/green route (heading to Waterwheel Falls and ending up at White Wolf would be 5 days.

It's easy to wave off the long uphill grinds looking at the map. Moderate amount of uphill heading up to Little Yosemite Valley (LYV), but it's very pretty with the falls.

From LYV to Clouds Rest seems to take forever, with a billion switchbacks in the forest. Beautiful close-up view of Half Dome once you're there.

A long uphill grind from Pate Valley to White Wolf.

The Snow Creek Trail ending up at Mirror Lake is a lot of down with several switch backs. Half Dome is really close-up in your face though.