trail and bug report - Illiloutte

[mikecain3]

Just returned from Lower Merced Pass Lake via Mono Meadow. We made this an easy (it is never easy) trip with a planned 6 miles per day. I had read that once you cross the Clark fork there were some campsites. We stayed there on 06/25 and the bugs were not bad. This means that some of us had deet but no headnets. Elevation was 7,011. The next day we went to Lower Merced Pass Lake. This was hard to find. Even looking at the map, you need to walk around off trial and hunt a bit. Great looking views all around. The lake has a few good sites but the shore line makes it hard to swim. The bugs were present mid afternoon until after dark. Not horrible but headnets, long sleeves and pants were a plus.

The third night we hiked down the trail along the Illiloutte creek. We wanted to swim and cool off in the creek as it was very hot. There was a campsite on the opposite site of creek that was easily accessed by either walking on a few stones or across a big tree. We stopped there at 1pm and had lunch and cooled off. We decided to stay there even though it was early in the day. We didn't know the campsite available down the trail and this was a large area that we had to ourselves with plenty of good tent sites. (there are 4 of us). The established (and well used) fire ring was about 80' from creek. There wasn't a lot of room behind the site as everything went vertical. It is now Saturday afternoon and since Thursday morning we have seen 11 other people. Around 4pm a ranger is coming by on the trail. Did I mention that the creek area is narrow and the trail is about 40' from the creek? He stops and talks with one us and then asked to see the permit. I produce the permit and I asked him a few questions. Then he ask me if I know how to judge the distance of 100 feet and 40 feet. He continues, nicely to tell me that our camp is ruining the wilderness experience for everyone on the trail and that we need to move to a legal spot. I point out that the fire ring was established as was this camp and that many places in Yosemite have campsites that break those distance rules. How do we know which ones are legal and which ones aren't? He wasn't going to debate anything with me. Instead he asked me if he could assist in helping us relocate to somewhere up on the hill and I said no and promised to vacate. We moved on to our first night campsite. It was available. This site is about 30' from the creek. Why is this one legal? On the way out to Mono Meadow we passed by a group of two couples who camped on a site right on the creek. Probably 15' from water and 30' from trail. I don't know if Ranger Aaron would have kicked us out of the clark fork site, or if he would have made the two couples vacate the sandy beach site. Seems like they allow some places and not others.