After deciding not to hike Snow Creek due to the bear issue and the steep incline, my wife and I have decided to do Glacier Point to Little Yosemite Valley in mid or late October. My initial plan looks something like this - I would greatly appreciate any helpful comments.
-park at Yosemite Valley and take a shuttle to Glacier Point area.
-hike from Glacier Point to LYV, camping in LYV for the night.
-the next morning, hike from LYV to Merced Lake.
-hike from Merced Lake to LYV via the Jon Muir, camp in the LYV area again.
-the next morning hike back to our car at Yosemite Valley via the Mist Trail and John Muir Trail.
Questions:
--It's my understanding that there is dispersed camping near LYV. Based on the trail head map, it looks like dispersed camping is allowed on the Merced River Trail once you get near Bunnell Point, and on the JMT as well. Is that correct?
--I'm assuming a permit from Glacier Point to LYV allows us to hike to Merced Lake. Would I be correct in assuming that?
--From LYV, it looks like there are two ways to get to Merced Lake - the John Muir, and the trail that runs along Merced River just south of the JMT. We could hike the Merced River Trail to Merced Lake, and take the JMT on the way back to LYV. Any thoughts here?
--In the event we decide to camp at Merced Lake, it's my understanding that camping near Merced lake must be done at the 'official' campground. If so, I assume we could just hike back along the JMT until we were out of sight of Merced Lake and setup camp somewhere along the JMT.
--I would assume we can expect temperatures to dip into the 20's at night during October in this area. Of course we will be prepared for cold weather, but should we be expecting anything below 20 degrees at night?
Thank you again for your insight.