Ideal 8-day Backpacking Trip

[salgraves]

A group of 6 of us have been planning to hike the John Muir Trail from Happy Isles to Devils Postpile in July 2015.
However, I am concerned that we will be able to get permits, just because our odds of success are low (we will try anyway).
Now I am looking for other 8-day hikes in Yosemite that are not as popular, to increase our chances of getting permits. Any ideas?
We will be taking YARTS into the park, so we need to start at a trailhead we can get to by bus.
Thanks for any trip suggestions! Also, any tips for getting permits would be welcome, too.

[AlmostThere]

YARTS or the hiker bus, take your pick. The hiker bus is run by the concessionaire and there is also a tour bus that goes to Glacier Point you can reserve tickets for, unlike the YARTS which does not take reservations. Any of the trailheads along the roads (Glacier Point, Crane Flat, Tioga Road) you can figure out a bus trip to a trailhead.

You should try for Happy Isles, and a second choice of Mono Meadow trailhead off Glacier Point Road. You could also connect (within a day or two) with the JMT from trailheads along Tioga Road - Porcupine Flat, Sunrise, Cathedral, Lyell canyon (this is an easy connection also so very popular, nearly so as the Happy Isles) - look at a map.

You could also get a trailhead along the north side of Tioga Rd and wander the north end of the park. Ten Lakes is fairly easy to get. Lots of less traveled trails that way. Also, a trip from Hetch Hetchy into the western and northern lands would work - a fire burned through that area, so there may be some treeless exposed miles out there, but there are also good fishing lakes and it's also got a backpacker camp near the dam.

[salgraves]

Thanks for the info! That helps!

[balzaccom]

As usual, AT has given you good advice. If you really have to use public transportation, then look at the loop that goes from Mono Meadows over Red Peak Pass, down the Merced Canyon, and then across to Glacier point. It's a nice loop and permits are always easier there.

Is there bus to Hetch-hetchy? Because if there isn't a bus, that whole area won't work for you. But you might head north out of Tuolumne Meadows (Glen Aulin, or even Murphy Creek Trailhead, and the explore that whole area of the PCT to Benson Lake, Matterhorn Canyon, Virginia Canyon, Lovely stuff.

There is a really nice loop out of Twin Lakes on the East side, but I don't know how you get there without your own transport...