We're longtime car-campers (glampers?) and day-hikers, but we've been talking about doing an overnight backpacking trip for years. Unfortunately we still haven't actually done it -- one thing or another kept getting in the way. But I'm determined that this year will be the year!
In the interest of starting out a bit easy, my (probably overly ambitious) beloved had the idea of hiking from Toulume Meadows to the Valley, by way of a night's stay at Sunrise HSC, camping in TM before our trip, and camping in whatever is the current walk-in camping area in the Valley (Camp 4?). Aside from the obvious consideration of getting a permit (our schedule it quite flexible right now), that still feels like a pretty aggressive trip for two days. I mean, I *can* hike 11 miles in a day, but I'm not sure I want to. I know it's mostly downhill after Cloud's Rest, but I'm not sure if that will make enough of a difference in the difficulty level.
What I'm looking for are some suggestions for beginner-level backpacking trips in or around TM or the Valley with 1 overnight, extending out to Hetch Hetchy if necessary. If it's not an out-and-back, then we need to factor in transportation back to our car, as well as camping on either end of our trip. I've got a couple of hiking guides I'm looking through for ideas as well, but I could still use a little guidance from more experienced Yosemite backpackers.