Hello:
We have a permit for entry at the Porcupine Creek trailhead mid-July, are in decent shape, enjoy hiking and backpacking, from Colorado (acclimatized to altitude), and looking forward to seeing the highlights of Yosemite away from the crowds.. We have three groups of questions:
A. What are the mosquitos like at this time of the year? Will a head-net and full-sleeve/light pants be sufficient or do we have to go all out with Deet?
B. What is the water situation like at this time? Are the creeks still flowing along happily?
C. Actual hike planning.
We had planned the following:
1. Day 1 set up camp somewhere before North Dome and hike to N. Dome with day packs -- we would welcome suggestions for nice spots along the way for camping, preferably NOT on an exposed ridge and some information on the last area to get water.
2. Day 2 we had thought to getting to Yosemite Falls -- the only issues are that the Falls are supposed to be "knee-killing," we do not know if they are still running, and we are not sure where we could camp either before or after the falls.
3. Day 3 undecided
4. Day 4 get to a backpacker's camp.
With this plan we do have time to do things slowly, but are just not sure what additional hikes we can add in.
Plan B would be to start with:
1. Day 1 set up camp somewhere before North Dome and hike to N. Dome with day packs -- we would welcome suggestions for nice spots along the way for camping, preferably NOT on an exposed ridge and some information on the last area to get water.
2. Day 2 would be to hike towards Eagle Peak for views of El Capitan -- depending on distance, we could split this over Day 2 and 3.
The idea for this hike came from a recommendation on Yosemite Forum. We have just not been able to find a way to get from North Dome to Eagle Peak and would really welcome suggestions.
Also, if we went the Eagle Peak route, what is the backpacking like, how would our itinerary look, and where would we come out at the end?
We know this is a lot of questions and we really appreciate the ideas/suggestions. Thanks,
Cee