by Phil » Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:03 pm
You've got some good advice going already, but I'll add couple things.
Yes, you can spend a second night at Glen Aulin, but you might also want to head downriver and find a more secluded spot nearer to the falls complex on the Tuolumne if you stay a second night. Doing that your first night would obviously be another option.
MadDiver is also right about GA- Sunrise Lakes being a tough day. I wouldn't try to hold yourselves to an itinerary like that. Do visit Polly Dome Lakes. No fishing to speak of, but it's not too far a diversion from the May Lakes Trail. Speaking of which, and going back to the mileage between GA- Sunrise/CR, the trail you'll be on to get to Polly Dome is the Murphy Creek Trail. It exits on Tioga Rd at Tenaya Lake, but, it's not a legal option to get to the base of the Sunrise trailhead because it requires you to walk the road...a big no-no! It would require a second permit for that. Instead, what you are going to be required to do is go up to May Lake, then down to Sunrise, where you'll simply cross the road. This alone is what makes the GA- Sunrise/CR plan so tough. Stopping to camp at Polly Dome will cut your daily mileage, but maybe not quite enough. A visit to May Lake would cut it even more, and would be worth it, but if you do push through and get past either, you better hope you don't run out of steam, because you won't have the option to stop and make camp until you get up to Sunrise Lakes. Just to get it said, from where you start to where you end up at Happy Isles, 3 nights is not going to be enough. Add at least a couple days and have a much, much better trip.
The crossing at Tenaya Creek will be probably anywhere from thigh to waist deep. I haven't been up there this year, but that's pretty typical for mid-late June. Wide is the norm, but it's not moving fast. It's doable once you wrap your mind around it or if that sort of thing doesn't bother you. We should have at least a couple trip reports in before your departure date, so keep an eye out.
At the top, Middle Sunrise Lake is gorgeous. Upper is nice, too, and if fishing is what you want, this is the absolutely best place to do it on your entire route. Big trout, biting like crazy this early in the season! Bring a pan! (leave it at one of the bear lockers at the base of Sunrise and grab it on the way up) Another point I might also go ahead and make is about bears- it's a very active area up there, and they're very adept at what they do.
If your knees are an issue, listen to MadDiver's advice and take that lower trail on the north side of CR. Going up and over the summit, either via the lower or the upper trails down are long, and generally steep enough to be hard on knees and toes. Instead of LYV, find a site at the JMT/CR trail junction at Sunrise Creek. If you do end up taking that upper trail that both MD and I mentioned to the north of the ascent up to CR (called the Forsyth Trail), as soon as you hit the JMT, go left and along Sunrise Creek for the best sites in the area.
Also, if you haven't picked this up from other threads, you'll want to carry plenty of mosquito repellent and head nets.
***Oh, and don't bother with bringing spikes, you won't need them, even for CR. And yes, if you want or need to exit via Cathedral Lakes, it should be fine. As long as you have a valid wilderness permit, nobody is going to bother you.