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[Yosemite]

Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Hiking, backpacking, running, biking, climbing, rafting, and other human-powered activities in Yosemite National Park

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Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby TiMa » Sat Nov 22, 2014 3:18 pm

Hello everyone,

Me and my wife are planning a Yosemite Backpacking trip for next July but we are not sure which permits we need and if the distances are doable. Especially Day 2.
I hope you guys can help us! :-)

Day 1: Happy Isle to campsite close to Half Dome and Clouds Rest. Probably one of the sides at the JMT and Clouds Rest Junction
Day 2: Hike to Half Dome in the early morning and Clouds Rest in the afternoon. Camping on Clouds Rest.
Day 3: Clouds Rest to Cathedral Lakes or Tenaya Lake
Day 4: Cathedral Lake or Tenaya Lake to Tolumne Meadows
Day 5: Tolumne Meadows to Lyell Canyon
Day 6: Lyell Canyon to Thousand Island Lakes
Day 7: Thousand Island Lakes to Reds Meadow
Day 8: Via Shuttle back to Happy Isle/Yosemite Valley

Many thanks in advance,
Tim and Marion
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby Grzldvt » Sat Nov 22, 2014 11:58 pm

Just curious as to why Happy Isles and a 3K climb to start with. Unless you are in incredibly exceptional physical shape you may make it to Little Yosemite Valley, going to the intersection is pretty tough. I have done it, but that was being in marathon shape and a very long day with serious long distance hiking and an understanding of how to pace myself and my hiking partners.
Day 2, again same issue, and no clue what kind of physical shape you are in, but it has been done, and by people who think running 50 milers are no big deal. Doing Half Dome and Clouds Rest are pretty physical.
Give us an idea of what kind of shape you are in.. ie, this trip wreaks of someone who thinks running Big Sur Marathon/Pike's Peak/Ironman Triathlon is an easy event DO NOT EXAGGERATE many on this Forum have extensive BP experience and understand the physical aspect of hiking in the park.
Have you done altitude before, and how high, and far?
Steve
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby TiMa » Sun Nov 23, 2014 1:41 pm

Thanks for your answer. We are in good shape but not in incredibly great shape. Also, this will be our longest trip so far. I know , iit´s really hard to say if something is doable if you don`t know the person. The hike is probably not a big deal for some people but impossible for others. We moved to Charlotte, NC last year from Germany. Since then we did several hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains but this is not Yosemite of course. We have been to Yosemite for 2 days in 2011 but without serious hikes. We only hiked to Upper Yosemite Falls.
I thought the hike from Happy Isle to JMT/Clouds Rest Trail Junction is not that tough.
I guess we should change our plans! :-)

What about:
Option 1
Day 1: Happy Isle to Little Yosemite Valley
Day 2: Half Dome
Day 3:Little Yosemite Valley to Clouds Rest
Day 4: Clouds Rest to Cathedral Lakes or Tenaya Lake
Day 5: Cathedral Lake or Tenaya Lake to Tolumne Meadows
Day 6: Tolumne Meadows to Lyell Canyon
Day 7: Lyell Canyon to Thousand Island Lakes
Day 8: Thousand Island Lakes to Reds Meadow
Day 9: Via Shuttle back to Happy Isle/Yosemite Valley

Option 2
Day 1: Happy Isle to Little Yosemite Valley
Day 2: Half Dome
Day 3:Little Yosemite Valley to Cathedral Lake
Day 4: Cathedral Lake to Tolumne Meadows
Day 6: Tolumne Meadows to Tenaya Lake
Day 7: Tenaya Lake to Clouds Rest
Day 8: Clouds Rest to Happy Isle

Thanks again,
Tim and Marion :-)
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby balzaccom » Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:07 pm

I have a third option for you.

1~happy isles to LYV.
2~LYV to Half Dome, camp on Sunrise Creek.
3~Sunrise to Clouds Rest, then on to Cathderal Lake
4~Cathedral Lake to Vogelsang
5~Vogelsang to Mercrd Lake
6~Merced Lake to Happy Isles...

None of those days are to brutal (longest is day 4) and it would show you a lot more of the park. You could add a day and camp at Tuolumne Meadows at the end of day 4.

Adding Tenaya Lake into these routes doesn't make a lot of sense~ and you can't camp there without getting a new permit...
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby AlmostThere » Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:48 pm

TiMa wrote:
What about:
Option 1
Day 1: Happy Isle to Little Yosemite Valley
Day 2: Half Dome
Day 3:Little Yosemite Valley to Clouds Rest
Day 4: Clouds Rest to Cathedral Lakes or Tenaya Lake
Day 5: Cathedral Lake or Tenaya Lake to Tolumne Meadows
Day 6: Tolumne Meadows to Lyell Canyon
Day 7: Lyell Canyon to Thousand Island Lakes
Day 8: Thousand Island Lakes to Reds Meadow
Day 9: Via Shuttle back to Happy Isle/Yosemite Valley


If you are in not great shape, this is easy to reverse. There is no free shuttle but you can take YARTS if you go while they are running. Leave the car at the Agnew Meadow trailhead parking and take the Reds Meadow bus to the resort, the resort bus to town, and get a campsite in Mammoth Lakes at the east end of town. Walk to the YARTS stop at the Days Inn and ride the bus back to Yosemite valley trailhead. Do your hike back to the car. (I wish someone had told me this prior to my trip ending in Reds Meadow.)

You will not camp in Tuolumne meadows or at Tenaya Lake - neither is in the wilderness. You might be able to stay in the backpacker camp in the campground in Tuolumne meadows for five dollars per person as they will let thru hikers do that, but it is illegal to camp within four miles from a trailhead, and within a mile of the road anywhere. Tenaya Lake is right on the road.

Camping on Clouds Rest - wow. Many people can't even bring themselves to walk over it. It's 50 feet wide with a lot of exposure - long, cliff face drop on the front, nearly as steep and cliffy on the back.

My suggestion:
Day 1: Happy Isle to Little Yosemite Valley
Day 2: Half Dome (if you get a permit, if not, move on from LYV and see below)
Day 3:Little Yosemite Valley to Sunrise Creek - day hike to Clouds Rest
Day 4: Sunrise Creek to Merced Lake - there is a High Sierra Camp here, but backpackers have designated sites they can use
Day 5: Merced Lake to Fletcher Lake - this is where Vogelsang High Sierra Camp is - you can go down the trail to Boothe to wilderness camp if you don't want another stay in backpacker sites at the resort
Day 6: go back uphill and take the trail past Evelyn Lake, descending to Lyell Canyon, and head as far up Lyell as you can to be positioned as close to the pass as possible. There are flat spots at the headwaters of the river.
Day 7: Over Donahue Pass, up Island Pass, turn right off the trail at Thousand Island and head south to the legal end of the lake to camp.
Day 8: If you did not spend a day doing Half Dome, continue onward and camp around Trinity Lake or in Johnston Meadow. If you did Half Dome, take a right in the Shadow drainage and head to Ediza Lake for the night.
Day 9: If you camped at Trinity or Johnston, walk to Devil's Postpile and catch the shuttle up the hill to Agnew Meadows to get your car. If you camped at Ediza, go down the Shadow/Ediza drainage and exit Agnew Meadows to your car.

REMEMBER that you will need to fit all your food into bear canisters for the whole trip - I highly recommend going to trailcooking.com and get ideas for food that will survive in a bear canister, and then to Wild Ideas' website where you can rent the biggest and lightest canisters possible. You will each need the largest Bearikade to comfortably fit all your food, trash and hygiene items into the canister every night - The first night you will have a bear locker to accommodate overflow food. The second night you are not, unless you go from LYV to Merced Lake and totally skip Clouds Rest.

Option 2
Day 1: Happy Isle to Little Yosemite Valley
Day 2: Half Dome
Day 3:Little Yosemite Valley to Cathedral Lake
Day 4: Cathedral Lake to Tolumne Meadows
Day 6: Tolumne Meadows to Tenaya Lake
Day 7: Tenaya Lake to Clouds Rest
Day 8: Clouds Rest to Happy Isle

Thanks again,
Tim and Marion :-)


See above - no wilderness camping at Tuolumne meadows or tenaya lake. You must be in the wilderness. Four miles from a trailhead, one mile from any road.
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby TiMa » Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:01 pm

Thank you all for your tips and recommendations.
I really like Option 3.:-)

1~happy isles to LYV.
2~LYV to Half Dome, camp on Sunrise Creek.
3~Sunrise to Clouds Rest, then on to Cathderal Lake
4~Cathedral Lake to Vogelsang
5~Vogelsang to Mercrd Lake
6~Merced Lake to Happy Isles..

Does anyone know how far it is from Merced Lake to Happy Isle?
I don´t mind to ask google for the required permits but if anyone knows the answer right away, that would make my life even more simple! :lol: :wink:
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby AlmostThere » Wed Nov 26, 2014 7:45 am

You'll need to apply for the permits per the wilderness permit page on Yosemite's website - for a Happy Isles start you should start trying to reserve on the first moment of the first day you can possibly apply, five months prior to the intended start date of your trip.

Merced Lake to Happy Isles, better have wings on your feet. For a not very fit person that is a long haul of about 14 miles.
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby balzaccom » Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:26 am

The good news is that it is 14 miles all downhill!
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby TiMa » Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:36 pm

Still working on our trip and it will probably be the last option. We don´t like the idea staying at Merced Lake that much since it seems to be very crowded because of the High Sierra Camp and not much other campsite opportunities. What about Washburn Lake instead? Could this may be a better choice? It's a little bit further away from Happy Isle but seems to be less crowded. Is camping allowed around the lake?
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby balzaccom » Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:46 pm

Washburn is lovely, as is most of the Merced Canyon above it.
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby TiMa » Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:58 pm

Are there campsites at the Lake or close by? I am a little bit concern about the hike from there to Happy Isle. It's about 15 miles but all downhill. We have the entire day and it's the last hike on our trip. This will probably push us all the way down! :-)
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby balzaccom » Sun Jan 04, 2015 10:35 pm

As I recall, there are campsites near the lake (you are supposed to camp more than 200 feet from water at any rate)

I did that hike in a single day back in the 1970's...but I wouldn't do it now. My knees would hurt too much. You are correct. It is all downhill. The last few miles are very steep downhill. I guess the good news is that your packs will be pretty empty by then!
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
balzaccom
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby TiMa » Tue Jan 06, 2015 5:50 pm

Thanks a lot!
I am still a little bit confused about the permits. Do we need just one permit for the entire trip or do we need multiple permits depending on our route?
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby balzaccom » Tue Jan 06, 2015 8:18 pm

As long as you don't leave the backcountry, you need only one permit. If you hike out, and then go back in, you need a second permit.

With your route, you only need one permit
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
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Re: Required permits for our trip (July 2015)

Postby TiMa » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:02 pm

Thank you for all your help!
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