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[Yosemite]

Detailed maps??

Hiking, backpacking, running, biking, climbing, rafting, and other human-powered activities in Yosemite National Park

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Detailed maps??

Postby Coushlash » Fri Aug 09, 2019 7:37 pm

Hello, i will be doing the following route from 4 September:
Tuolumne Meadows to Polly Dome Lakes. Camp overnight.
Polly Dome Lakes to Sunrise Lakes.
Camp overnight.
Head south-east on Sunrise Lakes trail to where it meets the John Muir Trail.
Camp overnight.
Head north on the Sunrise Lakes trail, hike south over Clouds Rest back to the John Muir Trail intersection.
Camp overnight.
Hike Half Dome and back.
Camp overnight.
Hike back to Yosemite Village via Mist trail.

Will i need a detailed map or are these trails very well marked? I have downloaded and printed off google maps and directions will that suffice? if not, which map do i need to get and where can i get it?
Thank you
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby balzaccom » Sat Aug 10, 2019 6:13 pm

The trails in Yosemite are well marked. But I would never suggest that anyone take a trip like that without a map. A good one is the Yosemite High Country, which includes all of your trails on a single map, quite detailed.
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Phil » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:03 am

Yes, agree, never go out without a map of the area. Those trails are very well marked...but. The map that Balzaccom refers to of "Yosemite High Country" is a Tom Harrison, at a scale of 1:63,360. Great map, covers your entire route, accurate, perfect scale for finding most topo features, readily available online or at somewhere like an REI.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Coushlash » Sun Aug 11, 2019 1:34 pm

Thank you!
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby AlmostThere » Sun Aug 11, 2019 7:04 pm

Instead of google, try caltopo.com and use topographic maps. All the Harrison maps are topographic maps.

https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/out ... c-map2.htm

Being able to understand a topographic map can be a handy skill -- it can keep you on the right track.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Coushlash » Sun Aug 11, 2019 7:11 pm

Hi thank you, I know how to read a topographical map I just wasn't sure if I needed one for this particular trip. I will check that website out and see if I can print maps off. Not sure what cell phone signal will be like there. Am travelling from Australia, will probably only be at Yosemite once so didn't really want to buy the map for one single use if it could be avoided.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby gdbartz » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:31 pm

There is no cell service in Tuolomne or anywhere else in the High Country. Take pictures of maps or bring them better yet.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Phil » Mon Aug 12, 2019 4:15 am

Coushlash wrote: Not sure what cell phone signal will be like there. Am travelling from Australia, will probably only be at Yosemite once so didn't really want to buy the map for one single use if it could be avoided.


Verizon is the one that works up at TM. Beyond that, signals are spotty and unreliable. Certainly in terms of navigation.

If you can print it out or download it, sure, use it. Really? That map is only about $12, and you're already coming all the way from Australia to walk what some of us consider not wilderness, but unpleasantly crowded, bush league generic, so I guess it's a matter of perspective. Think of it as a souvenir, and you'll probably spend more on some stupid t-shirt. I suppose you could try to get by without one and be just fine, or use the basic map they give you at the entrance station to the park or wilderness office, though (but the rangers are going to tell you that you're foolish for going out without something as basic as a map, too). There are going to be lots of people, so it's doubtful you'll have any problems, but if you don't have a map in-hand, in good conscience, I can't tell you how to rejigger your route and save yourself a whole lot of extremely painful climbing on your way to both summits, because I'm not going to send you off-trail to make that happen. Believe me, that alone is worth well over a few measly bucks, and if your description above is any indication, and I'm reading it right, you're already doing enough of it the hard way for lack of nothing but a good map. Oh well. Enjoy the trip, mate.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby AlmostThere » Mon Aug 12, 2019 6:33 am

To be completely honest - people who rely on electronics in the mountains are rescued often with fully functional electronics. Sometimes with glitchy or dead electronics, or broken ones. Maps are not optional. They don't have batteries that die when it is below freezing.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Coushlash » Mon Aug 12, 2019 9:48 pm

Thanks Phil, your reply is a little condescending. I like hard work. I like climbing hills/mountains. I planned my route that way because that's what I want to do/see/hike. HYOH. It's not about the $12.00. I don't collect souvenirs or buy "stupid t-shirts". I was just asking advice - I don't need a lecture on my route or whether or not you think it is acceptable. I am happy to take a map. I am not familiar with the area so was just asking what other people have done. I am an experienced hiker, I know the value of a good map. I also know overkill and I have taken a map to many a place that said YOU MUST HAVE A MAP when I couldn't have gotten lost if I tried!

Thank you everyone else for your helpful input.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Phil » Mon Aug 12, 2019 11:55 pm

That's fine. You're welcome, but your original, perfectly relevant post took a dive as the thead progressed, and the premise you indicated behind questioning the need for "buying" a map was amateurish for an experienced hiker, as well as irresponsible in potentially establishing any sort of precedent for others that might be influenced by the notion that something as basic and essential as a map is something they can neglect for the sake of not dropping a few extra bucks. It deserved condescension. And no, it wasn't "a little condescending", it was totally condescending.

We've made hundreds, if not thousands of people's trips better and safer for years on this site. We have no idea who you are or what capabilities and experience you possess. I can appreciate the benefits of hard work, but if you can also do/see/hike exactly the same things without thousands of feet of unnecessary descent and re-climbing due to what I consider poor route selection (which is not at all outside the norm in many cases for that area), well, maybe that's just me. But yes, HYOH.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Coushlash » Tue Aug 13, 2019 12:16 am

All you needed to say was, "I wouldn't recommend hiking this without a map".

Keep the rest of your condescending, ill informed, judgemental opinions to yourself. You are making assumptions that are way off base. What you consider unnecessary ascending/descending - I call training. Not buying the map was never about the $$$$$ - that again was you making an incorrect assumption. If you opened your tiny mind you might be able to come up with a few other reasons as to why I might not want to buy it.

I won't be responding to any more of your rude posts.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Phil » Tue Aug 13, 2019 12:31 am

I do apologize, but I felt that you very clearly/primarily were concerned with "buying" a map. In fact, inquiring about a detailed map is the thread title you chose.

Coushlash wrote:Head south-east on Sunrise Lakes trail to where it meets the John Muir Trail.
Camp overnight.
Head north on the Sunrise Lakes trail, hike south over Clouds Rest back to the John Muir Trail intersection.
Camp overnight.


This where you completely lost me. If you're already at altitude on the Sunrise Creek Trail, there is no direct intersection that meets the JMT until the CRXJMT junction at Sunrise Creek (past CR), or if you drop down to the JMT via the Forsyth Trail. You've made a big series of loops all over up there when you should logically be using that altitude and north approach to CR that you're already on and taken the summit already, THEN go down and make camp for your climb to HD the next day, and THEN exit out. My preference, for what it's worth to you (I'll also risk assuming...nothing at all), would be to skirt the edge of Tenaya Canyon and use my altitude to traverse over to the sub-dome of HD, but you'll be cross country for that, and I can't/won't send you there without you having that "detailed map". Even as a standard route, without my suggested diversion/shortcut, what you propose still makes no sense. Call it "training" if you like, but it lacks efficiency of movement and use of energy. And as much as you might be totally capable of it, I think you're seriously underestimating the rather notorious difficulty of those climbs to do it your way. But fine.

Basically, what you're doing is a classic HSC loop from TM and Glen Aulin up through May Lake and Sunrise, but then skipping out to do CR/HD. So yes, it is rather 'generic'. It aint no big shake, but on the basis of where you'll be and when you'll be there, CR is first on your route leg. What I'm reading is that you're backtracking to take out a summit where you essentially already were the day before...and, you're then again reversing direction after that and headed down to Happy Isles. Sorry, but while it is your hike, it doesn't make sense to someone that knows that area extremely well.

And also, as much as you might think that I'm somehow trying to undermine you for the sake of whatever, you might want to rethink using the Mist Trail as your exit while wearing a multi-day pack. In this, I doubt you'll get any differing opinions from those you think of as far more helpful than you think I'm being.

"Ill-informed"...nope. Not in the least. If not the "$$$$$", why else not "buy" and carry a map? Does it weigh too much?
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby AlmostThere » Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:01 am

Can we just apologize and shake it off, guys?

I'm a staunch advocate of maps because I was a SAR volunteer, and people get lost in places they've been before all the time. Been on body recoveries in Yosemite. It isn't one of the 10 essentials for no reason.

It is a little confusing to me that anyone who actually knows how to use a map would believe they are optional, but, all sizes, all shapes.
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Re: Detailed maps??

Postby Phil » Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:40 am

AlmostThere wrote:It isn't one of the 10 essentials for no reason.


Yep
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