Yosemite Forum

Postby Justin-T » Wed Jan 03, 2018 2:51 am
OK, I'm a confirmed addict, planning a trip for the fourth consecutive summer, probably mid-July.

Looking for a loop, 4 nights, but with 1 of those staying put, but that day left open to do some exploring off the loop. I've done the HSC area now so looking for something in a different area. We're aiming for hiking days of no more than 10 miles, with a total in the loop therefore less than 30 (ideally 20-25). The Yosemite Creek to May Lake stretch isn't a loop but as long as we could get a bus from one to the other at the end (or from the car to the other trailhead at the beginning) it seems like that would work, maybe low 20's miles. Then the 1-day pause in the middle could be somewhere in the Ten Lakes area. One night could be Raisin Lake, another night somewhere else along the way.

Any thoughts from the vets about this quickly-hatched idea, or good alternatives that would put us in different, less well-beaten trails than the usual HSC loop?


Postby WanderingJim » Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:23 am
I did Luken's Lake to Murphy Creek in 3 days/2 nights, although I didn't spend more than a few hours in the ten lakes basin (I generally like grand vistas over close up lakes).

If you added May Lake, Tuolumne Peak, and Mt Hoffman at the end, 5 days 4 nights would be a good trip.

Had to hitch back to my car at the Luken's Lake trail head (waited for a little over an hour of someone to give me a lift). Shuttle buses don't go beyond May Lake, so the single hiker's bus or maybe the YART buses would be the only other options.

Although if you haven't done it yet, the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River is a fantastic hike. By itself, it's a good 3 day hike and you could try to do a loop with it and Ten Lakes, although it might be more of a 6 day/7 night hike (depends on your speed).

Postby Justin-T » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:31 pm

WanderingJim wrote:
Although if you haven't done it yet, the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River is a fantastic hike. By itself, it's a good 3 day hike and you could try to do a loop with it and Ten Lakes, although it might be more of a 6 day/7 night hike (depends on your speed).

Thanks Jim, food for thought. I had imagine doing the GCT route might be too much and not a loop, but it seems we're probably in for needing a hitch or a bus anyway, so the more I think about it the more I like the sound of that. We did the TM to Glen Aulin stretch as part of an HSC loop a couple years ago and regretted not going beyond GA to all the waterfalls. Looks like its 30 miles though, so it would definitely be more than 3 days for us, but I think I can persuade my better half to make it even 6 days if necessary, so we can stop and enjoy the scenery and have a side-trip day somewhere.

From reading some pretty good blogs of this trip
(http://www.fuel4play.com/2017/02/yosemi ... grand.html and
http://thoughtfullyawesome.com/hiking/b ... -tuolumne/)
it seems there are some areas along the way that are tough to find viable campsites in. Any thoughts about good spots at roughly 6-8 miles intervals?


Postby balzaccom » Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:15 pm
I think that most people do this hike in 3-4 days. The first day takes them down into Pate Valley, where there are plenty of campsites. Depending on how far you hike after the long downhill, you can choose to go beyond Pate Valley.

Day two would take you up to just below Muir Gorge if you are going to do this in four days. In three days, you'd want to camp the first night at the far end of Pate, and then make it up over Muir Gorge before the second night. The last night is usually either Glen Aulin (for a four day trip) or maybe by Waterwheel or Leconte Falls if it's a three day trip.

Six days isn't too long though, particularly if you like to fish and explore. There's lots to see on this route.


Postby robow8 » Fri Jan 12, 2018 3:23 pm

Justin-T wrote:
Plan would be to park in the Valley and get the glacier point tour bus up to GP. I think it typically leaves at 8:30, then we’d get the free Badger Pass shuttle back to Mono Meadow. But if I’m mistaken it would be good to know that now...


Reserve you tour tickets early; it does sell out. Also, sometimes the tour driver will let you out at Mono Meadow if you ask nicely. But you won't see that on any official park page.



Postby Justin-T » Fri Jan 12, 2018 3:46 pm

robow8 wrote:
Reserve you tour tickets early; it does sell out. Also, sometimes the tour driver will let you out at Mono Meadow if you ask nicely. But you won't see that on any official park page.


OK, thanks, good to know. By "early" do you mean months, weeks, days? Are they also OK with backpackers loading their huge packs onto the bus?



Postby robow8 » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:21 am

Justin-T wrote:

robow8 wrote:
Reserve you tour tickets early; it does sell out. Also, sometimes the tour driver will let you out at Mono Meadow if you ask nicely. But you won't see that on any official park page.

OK, thanks, good to know. By "early" do you mean months, weeks, days? Are they also OK with backpackers loading their huge packs onto the bus?

I would get reservations after you have reserved a permit.
They have big luggage storage bins on the busses, so backpacks are no problem.

It would be much more convenient for us if we can pick up our reserved tickets from the Lodge for the GP tour bus a few days beforehand, rather than have to get there by 7:45am or so the morning of the trip. Does anybody know if you can do that?

Wow, this thread lost all context.

You guys ended up deciding on Mono Meadow to Red Peak, right?

To (not) answer your question, though. I have no idea, but they do say "at least" half hour early, so it seems like everything from the moment you make your reservation forward is fair game. I wonder if they could just email your tickets or send them to your phone? That's the way to go. I do that with boarding passes all the time. Call 'em and ask.

Yeah, it morphed into a very different trip. I’ll try going old-school and call, just seems crazy in 2018 that they can’t even send you an email confirmation and just ask for ID on the day. Monopoly power means they can do the bare minimum...

Justin-T wrote:It would be much more convenient for us if we can pick up our reserved tickets from the Lodge for the GP tour bus a few days beforehand, rather than have to get there by 7:45am or so the morning of the trip. Does anybody know if you can do that?

I picked my tickets up the day before at the Half Dome Village tour kiosk, which is right by the office for Half Dome Village. It is a good idea to get there early though, as a line forms and you may not get your pick of seats. My wife and I had to sit seperately, with my wife sandwiched in on the last row of the bus!

robow8 wrote:I picked my tickets up the day before at the Half Dome Village tour kiosk, which is right by the office for Half Dome Village. It is a good idea to get there early though, as a line forms and you may not get your pick of seats. My wife and I had to sit seperately, with my wife sandwiched in on the last row of the bus!

Thanks, do you know if it could be a couple days early? We could stop in on our way in, before we head up to TM for a few days of acclimation day hiking.

Justin-T wrote:

robow8 wrote:I picked my tickets up the day before at the Half Dome Village tour kiosk, which is right by the office for Half Dome Village. It is a good idea to get there early though, as a line forms and you may not get your pick of seats. My wife and I had to sit seperately, with my wife sandwiched in on the last row of the bus!

Thanks, do you know if it could be a couple days early? We could stop in on our way in, before we head up to TM for a few days of acclimation day hiking.

I got the feeling that if you had reservations, they could print them out whenever.

robow8 wrote:I got the feeling that if you had reservations, they could print them out whenever.

Thanks. One less thing to be worried about that first morning.