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YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 9:46 am
by damu21
i think im a fairly intelligent human being, but i cannot decipher the YARTS Schedule. The site just has random times on the chart and i cant find pickup times. For instance it just says Visitor Center-- 4:05pm and 5pm. i am starting my trip at ten lakes TH and leaving my rental car in the valley, so i need a shuttle up there in the morning to start my trip. can anyone help me out?

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:23 am
by damu21
i think the YARTS is just limited and it looks like the earliest bus leaving the visitor center isnt until 4pm. guess ill be hitchhiking

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:06 pm
by WanderingJim
There's a Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne Meadows Hikers Bus that leaves 8am from the valley:

https://www.travelyosemite.com/things-t ... bus-tours/

Schedule and cost:
https://www.travelyosemite.com/media/69 ... hedule.pdf

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:34 pm
by AlmostThere
At each stop the YARTS picks up AND drops off people. That's how it is. That's how it always has been.

That there are two columns with stop times less than an hour apart suggests there are two buses. REQ means only drop offs, no pickups at that location.

There are morning and evening stops for the various routes. Click on the route, then click on the bar that applies to you - Fresno to Yosemite OR Yosemite to Fresno, for example. The schedule unfolds. You choose a time and be at the location, there's the bus.

For Ten Lakes, you would catch the bus in the valley at 10:50 am and ride toward Tuolumne Meadows - ask the driver before you sit down, as you get on the bus, to be dropped at the Ten Lakes trailhead. Driver can tell you before you leave the parking lot whether that is do-able. If they won't do it you would catch the free shuttle at TM and ride it back to Olmstead and walk to the trailhead, or hitchhike.

"YARTS drivers will stop at all designated stops. They may stop at additional locations that they determine to be safe and accessible for unloading only. Roads in this area are narrow, and YARTS does not provide pick up anywhere other than designated stops." per their page - Ten Lakes has a parking area that is not suitable but there is a parking lot across the road, on the right side for eastbound traffic, that if not packed to the limit with cars would be sufficient for a bus to temporarily stop in.

Or take the hiker bus. It drops people at trailheads along TIoga Rd. same as YARTS, with the same provision that there is a safe place to pull off.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 4:32 pm
by Phil
The trailhead you want to tell the driver that you need is Yosemite Creek. It's a nice looped parking area, and I've seen it packed with cars, but never with so many that a full sized YARTS coach couldn't navigate.

But, for Ten Lakes, I've always just left the car at the trailhead, then easily hitched a ride back from anywhere I've exited, be that from Tuolumne Meadows to May Lake, and all points in between. Unless you're actually planning to end up in the Valley eventually, why leave the car so far away? If nothing else, you get an earlier start and save yourself the cost of a shuttle ride. And if it's open by the time you take your trip, the backpacker's campground at White Wolf is much nicer and closer to your trailhead than the Valley, assuming you don't just want to see if there's a drive-in site available.

For the Ten Lakes trailhead, you cross the road, turn immediately left at the line of bear lockers once in the dirt parking lot, head up the hill.

And once you're in Ten Lakes basin itself, hang left and walk over the rise to Lake #1 for the best sites. You'll see the layout from the top of Ten Lakes Pass. FYI, the lakes are numbered left to right beginning from the northwest, with the first one you come to being #2.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 4:44 am
by damu21
thanks folks

yea i called about that hikers shuttle and the woman said it starts in august, and my trip is the beginning of july. i am exiting in the valley so i wanted to leave my car there for when im done. i wanted to get an earlier start than taking that 1050am shuttle but looks like that is my only option other than hitching.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 6:21 am
by AlmostThere
You could go on the evening before, stay the night in TM backpacker camp, the YART back to the trailhead from there... bus leaves TM at 9:10, prolly drops off at th by 9:30 - 9:40.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:42 am
by Phil
Still, with schedules being what they are, I would park at the TH and worry about transport back to it on the exit. You can catch a 5pm YARTS back up from the valley, have them drop you at Yosemite Creek, drive to Tuolumne, use your last night at the backpacker's camp there. That's one option.

You want as early a start as you can get. The first part up to the White Wolf junction is easy, the second part isn't too bad either, but once you go beyond Half Moon Meadow, you have a good set of exposed switchbacks up to Ten Lakes Pass that's so much easier when it's not blazing hot in the middle of the day. If you can get on the trail by 7 or 8-ish, you should have no problem coming into the basin by noon-ish, even if you're dogging. It's uphill, but it's only about 6 miles.

And just so you know, I just checked, and the backpacker's camp at White Wolf is scheduled to open for the season on the 15th of June. This is the second option...the better one, IMO. Really, I would suggest this as the place to stay, both going in and going out: nicer, closer to the trailhead, you get a night to acclimate to the altitude, designated shuttle stop. Heck, you could even rearrange your permit (easy to get), park the car there, and just go ahead and walk the trail toward Ten Lakes from there. You'll add a few miles to your distance the first day, but you're contained...park the car, do your thing till morning, go. Look at your map, you'll see it. I didn't steer you wrong on your last trip, and this year is no different. That's how I would do it, fwiw.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:55 am
by Phil
And also, since it sounds like you're doing Ten Lakes and then going on to the Valley, probably via May Lake/Sunrise/CR, I would go ahead and drop the rest of my food for the second leg in a locker down at Sunrise before you get on the trail at all. Why haul all that extra food when you're going to be crossing the road and can get to it easily? You'll cut your food weight roughly in half, and there's no sense in carrying it when you don't need it.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 7:36 am
by damu21
thanks for the ideas!

im trying to be greedy with my week here, so i want to hike the four mile trail up and panorama down the day before my trip, so if i am done in time i will shuttle to white wolf that evening at 5, then start from there the next morning.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:40 am
by Phil
That's great, if you're up for it. Don't fry yourself or forget the adjustment to altitude or heat, though. Up the Four Mile, the descent from GP, the Panorama, and back down to Happy Isles is about 13 miles. Just the Four Mile is over 3000 ft of elevation gain. Think that over really well. We did an overnight in-and-out from White Wolf to Pate Valley once on a whim with plans for Ten Lakes the next day. We thought we were feeling pretty good...until we got on the switchbacks I was talking about, but it's one of a handful of times I've hit the wall from sheer exhaustion, dropped back down to Half Moon Meadow, whipped out the sleeping pad and napped for two hours to try to shake it off, and still turned around. We were destroyed because of being greedy. The Valley has a lot of nice hikes. They might not be epic, but it might keep you intact for the bigger prize.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:45 am
by AlmostThere
The switchbacks from Pate to WW nearly killed me. I'm completely serious - I ran out of water, and my friend had to go ahead to Morrison because the little seasonal creeks weren't flowing. I sat in the shade until he got back. Started to have symptoms of heat exhaustion. If I ever do that stretch again, it's going to be at dawn, not early afternoon.

That Four Mile - GP - Panorama - Happy Isles hike is nice, but lots of exposed bits and at that low elevation, nothing at all to mess with. I'd be avoiding that if the temps in the Valley are over 85F - it gets to 100+ in summer in the valley.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:57 am
by Phil
AlmostThere wrote:The switchbacks from Pate to WW nearly killed me. I'm completely serious


I've done that last really steep part up to the top of Morrison Creek virtually on my knees more than once. You should have heard the dialogue that led to that in-and-out. I think the word "fun" was used too many times and we somehow convinced ourselves that it actually would be. Apparently learning from trial and error isn't my family's strong suit.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:00 am
by AlmostThere
I'm not generally one of those who spends a ton of time in the water... but when the temps hit 90+ in Yosemite, going on one of those floats down the Merced totally appeals. Or just finding a shallow eddy and laying in the water, drinking a cold one.

Re: YARTS Schedule???

PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:09 am
by Phil
Yeah, when it's hot in the valley, I start planning hikes based on 2-3 degree temperature differentials per 1000 ft. "Hey, let's go up to Red Peak, it'll be cooler there."