trail conditions ten lakes & May lake

[major]

I am planning a trip with a crew of experienced scouts for June 12-14. We have wilderness permit for May lake trailhead and are planning a ~20mile loop through ten lakes back to Tioga Rd.

Anyone have any information on trail conditions? I expect some snow, but are the trails passable? Are stream crossings feasible?

Thanks for any advice!

[bill-e-g]

Boy... I dunno about that one...
You are gonna hit ALOT of snow and the crossing on the
South Fork of the Cathedral may be too much right now.

I would still go that way... but just don't HAVE to do the loop
to Ten Lakes... if it gets too much turn around and loop back down
... go check out Glen Aulin... and then come back up Murphy...
or just go back right to May...

Be safe and have fun

[QITNL]

I'm planning to head up to May Lake the night of June 14.

I believe I read somewhere that the road to May Lake parking lot (Snow Flat) is now open.

Can anyone confirm?

Thanks!

[bill-e-g]

This is from the Yosemite Website: nps.gov/yose:

The May Lake road is open. The trail is passable, but with significant snow patches up to May Lake. The lake is still currently frozen with 90% snow coverage around the lake.

The Porcupine Creek and Yosemite Creek trails are mostly clear with minor snow patches. The Ten Lakes Basin and Ten Lakes Pass still have 100% snow coverage at this time.

[QITNL]

Thanks Bill - That's right, that's where I read it. Just wondered if anyone saw it with their own eyes.

For anyone concerned - the snow report listed there is fairly out-of-date. There's a lot less white stuff up there now. The trail to Clouds Rest is listed as 100% snow covered; last weekend I found it pretty much 100% snow free.

The creeks are raging, they got that right, for sure.

Thanks again.

[bill-e-g]

They err on the side of cautious on the website. Some of the reports
are probably from hikers and more than likely they will give gross
exagerations also. I probably have mentioned some here before.

Anyway, May Lake road was indeed open.
Saw it with my own eyeballs yesterday.

(and Hoffman looked like it was full blown winter)

[bill-e-g]

Also by the trail to Clouds Rest... are you talking from Little Yosemite Valley?
Or from Sunrise Trailhead....

For sure from LYV it is snow free (has been for a month or so now).

Just double checking...

If you came from Sunrise how was the Tenaya crossing?
(drove by but was too lazy to go check it out)

[QITNL]

Yes, I went up via LYV, but I could see no snow at all at trail elevation to the north. I could possibly be mistaken upon closer observation.

I'd guess the Tenaya crossing at the lake may be fairly burly, judging from amount of water rushing down the canyon. The ranger reported 3-4 feet, that I would believe.

Thanks for sharing your eyeballs. And yeah, Hoffmann looked quite white, and that's what I'm hoping; I need to test out some crampons. I've wandered up that sucker a bunch of times but always too late for the snow.

Thanks again.

[major]

I am headed to May Lake trail tomorrow, hoping to go to Ten Lakes. I suspect that even if the snow is passable, the ford may not be. I'll update posting when I return on Sunday.

thanks for the feedback.

[rotolins]

Hi there,

What was it like around May Lake and the Ten Lakes Basin this weekend?

I have a permit reservation for the Ten Lakes trailhead June 23 - 27 (first-time Yosemite visitor). Based on the trail reports available on the park's website, I'm thinking we may need to change our reservation in favor of a less snowy route. I'd love to know what you've seen or heard about Ten Lakes in recent days!

Many thanks

[major]

We didn't end up going to ten lakes. We arrived to find that contrary to the NPS website, the backpackers camping was NOT open and ended up in the Tioga pass campground outside the east entrance. The manager of the campground told us that others had said that ten lakes was 100% snow covered, so we changed our route, leaving from Murphy Creek and heading over toward Glen Aulin. We had significant snow on the trail on the way down to McGee lake, so I expect that Ten lakes is probably snow bound. The NPS website says that May Lake is still iced in, but I have a hard time believing that. Warmer weather (and rain) may help accelerate decay of snow on ten lakes.

[rotolins]

Thanks so much for the report. We'll start planning an alternate trip.

[QITNL]

I posted some photos from June 14-15 at my website - QITNL - but still need one more post before I can give you the link.

[QITNL]

http://www.qitnl.com/v/061409/
yeah, there you go.