by Phil » Tue Jun 06, 2017 5:23 pm
Harden Lake will be bone dry by then. It's a shallow lake in low spot between two glacial moraines that drains off fast. Not many views, except for Smith Peak, which has a trail to the summit, but a steep, brushy, dry, hot one. All in all, the trip down to Hetch Hetchy/Mather is pretty unfulfilling, and if you plan to climb back up to WW, it's about 1800 feet of hot and exposed ascent on the lower portion for not much reward in return. If you want a great view aside from a dayhike (sans pack) up to Smith Peak, take a side trip for an overnight at the ledges at the top of Morrison Creek, then backtrack to Harden and do a loop over to Cottonwood Creek towards Aspen Valley, then return to WW along the Middle Fork of the Tuolumne River. Generally forested and shady, good water for a good part of the route, not a very crowded part of the park due to not many views. Although it is interesting and worth checking out.
The parking up at the camp tends to be crowded, but if so, the rangers are pretty good about letting you park along the road next to the campground if you ask them and need to.
Oh, and Smith Meadow is 8.3 miles to the junction from White Wolf, and Smith Peak is another 1.5 miles up from there, FYI. Water is at Cottonwood Creek that time of year. If you want to use the Tom Harrison 1:63,360 maps, you'll need a combination of the Yosemite High Country and Hetch Hetchy area maps in that series. If 1:125,000 is good enough, it's all shown on their Yosemite National Park version.