by Phil » Wed Feb 10, 2016 5:41 pm
9-10 miles per day is a good pace, just remember the altitude.
I'm going to take you from Rafferty/Vogelsang out at Sunrise for camping and water, but you can reverse and go in your original direction and get about the same results in that itinerary.
Head out from Raffery. If you want to visit Vogelsang, camp there, but it's going to be crowded. You'll go to about 10k. From the trail junction at Tuolumne Pass you'll need to decide if you want the lower trail down Fletcher Creek or upper trail past Bernice Lake. If you're going to stay the first night at Vogelsang, you can either head down a little south of the HSC to pick up the lower trail if you decide that's the way you want to go, or stay up higher and go the other route along Lewis Creek. If you have the energy and the altitude isn't bothering you too much, bypass Vogelsang and head to Bernice for the night, or on the lower trail, head to Emeric Lake, or better yet, IMO, Babcock. Pushing that last bit to either overnight spot is also going to shorten day 2. Depending on the snow and rain this season, you should have no problems finding water when you need it, and I've never seen either Fletcher or Lewis dry out to where I couldn't pump whatever I needed.
Balzaccom is absolutely right about Washburn Lake being better than Merced for beauty and less people. As with Vogelsang, Merced Lake is a backpacker's camp, and it's going to be crowded. Going to Washburn takes you out of the High Sierra Camp loop and considerably fewer people with it. Staying at Washburn on night 2 also keeps you from having to backtrack from Merced to get back on route. You'll only be at about 7600 feet, so you should get a chance to enjoy a little easier breathing until you do a fairly strenuous 3rd day. From Washburn up to the trail junction up to Isberg Pass is about 7-ish miles of varying pitch. Not too bad, but if that distance is all you can pull off, you'll find some good sites and plenty of water near the trail junction up to Isberg at Triple Fork. If you go past there and want to call it a day, you'll also come to a decent sized tarn right along the trail on the way up to Red Peak Pass that has a few good spots. From here, you can also drop down to Red Devil Lake off to your right about half a mile away, which you can see from where you are. Not much after that, but if you absolutely hit the wall and can't make that last push to the pass and beyond, there are some small, exposed lakes beyond that and that side of Red Peak, but camping is limited and you'll be on rock in most places, but at least you'll have water at hand for dinner and breakfast. Skip the hassle and either hang back or push through, depending on how you're feeling. If you're alright altitude-wise and feeling ambitious, and have the time, seriously consider a push up and over Red Peak Pass to Lower Ottoway Lake that day. It is gorgeous, and it's much better camping than Upper Ottoway, which really has no good sites at all worth even looking for. Good fishing though at both lakes. If that original push up from Wasburn is your limit, go ahead and hang back at that trail junction at Triple Fork or the tarn that 3rd night to be sure. No rush, right? Another word about Lower Ottoway: even though the distance is going to be shorter than what you might be capable of the next day, by hanging back at Triple Fork or the tarn and only hiking to the lake that day, it's worth the schedule tweak for the beauty and the experience, and it'll give you some time to explore the area without your pack on.
Now you get to do some downhill. Oh boy! You can pretty much call it for sites and water all along there at Illilouette Creek, but distance-wise you might want to go ahead and head down trail to the area around the Clark Fork for great campsites and better position to head down Panorama and up to LYV-ish the next day. If you want to see the falls and the Panorama Trail proper (above the cliffs), you can also split of below that and take the Mono Meadow trail to your left. You'll find some spots near the junction of the trail to Glacier Point along Illilouette Creek, but you'll also find more competition and quickly come into restricted camping areas not too far below that. Speaking of LYV...skip that hole and head up to the area by the trail junction of the JMT and Cloud's Rest trails at Sunrise Creek for the next night's camp. Remember too, if you want Half Dome, you need to get a permit. I get the whole iconic landmark/sense of accomplishment thing for first time visitors to the park and all, but Cloud's Rest is nicer, less crowded, and you've already spent 5 days seeing better.
Now Cloud's Rest- you get to climb some more. A lot! Sort of an insult to injury thing. You might find the trail-side spring active for extra water on the way up, but better to carry that extra easy liter from camp that morning to be safe, especially since your food weight is going to theoretically be next to nothing by this point. You also have to remember that camping at/near the summit of Cloud's Rest is going to be dry camping unless you're hauling what you need for the trail, dinner, and next morning- the next invariably reliable source is a creek about 2 or so miles beyond there along the Forsyth Trail headed toward Sunrise, so unless you really need to overnight it on Cloud's Rest, just hang out, look at the view, take some pictures, move on.
Depending on your schedule and what you have left, for one last night of camping I would go ahead and go past the trail junction down to the Sunrise trailhead a little further and check out Sunrise Lakes. Lower is nice, but probably crowded. Middle and Upper are better, IMO. On the last day, head down the Sunrise trail back to Tioga Rd, wait a few minutes at the parking lot, catch the shuttle to Tuolumne Meadows and be back at your car within the hour. Bam! Congratulations, you just accomplished one hell of an amazing trip!!
Like I said, if you want to go the opposite way, just reverse the order and adjust as necessary for mileage and how you're feeling. Remember your food storage regulations and that there are lots of bears all along your entire route.
Did I miss anything guys?