Need advice for a 7 day trip

[Pilgrim490]

I have wild permits for entering at TM/Rafferty Ck and exiting at Happy Is/LYV - last week in July - 24-30. Group of 6 guys in good shape. Half of us have lots of backpacking experience elsewhere, half none.

My tentative plan is as follows:
Day 1 - TM to Fletcher Lake via Rafferty Creek
Day 2 - Fletcher Lake to Bernice Lake and hang out/explore the area.
Day 3 - Bernice Lake to ??? somewhere along the Triple Peak Fork
Day 4 - ??? to Lower Ottoway Lake
Day 5 - Lower Ottoway Lake to ??? south of LYV
Day 6 - ??? to top of Half Dome, and then camp either somewhere in/near LYV or hike down to the valley and camp in the backpacker's campground.
Day 7 - Wherever I am, make sure I can drive out of park by noon to catch flight home.

I don't know a lot of things, but my top question is weather or not i'm taking a good route to get from point A to B. Or is there a more scenic/isolated/enjoyable path that gets me from point A to point B. Then I'll need to know where best to stay along this general path. I've no clue where to camp at the end of Day 3 or 5. I've looked at the topo maps, and I think the distances are realistic, but I just want to make the most of my experience in this beautiful backcountry. Lyell Canyon sounds really cool, but i think it will add a lot of extra mileage to an already long trip.

[softjeans]

The country is absolutely beautiful. I walked a somewhat similar route (Mono Meadows to Tenaya Lake) last year in seven days, so can offer some possible advice...first, day four, from somewhere along Triple Peak Fork to Lower Ottoway Lake, is going to be pretty tough, because it includes Red Pass. You might think about stopping before the pass at Red Devil Lake, which is a little bit off the trail, but gorgeous, and rarely seen. And Day 5 also looks like a long stretch to me, although I haven't tried to calculate it in miles.

If I were you, I would think about pushing harder on Day Two, perhaps all the way to Washburn Lake (although it's a long steep downhill from Fletcher Lake) and then pushing all the way to Red Devil Lake by night three. Or shortening the trip a bit.

Hope I'm posting this in the right place. I'm new to this forum.

[hiker97]

It also looks to me like making Red Devil Lake on day 3 would be the way to go.

[Pilgrim490]

Thank you both for your input. Red Devil looks fantastic.

Do you think I can make Red Devil from Bernice, or would that be a perfect recipe for a mutany?

If mutany it is, where would be a reasonable starting point for day 3? I'd like to have at least a half day on day 2 for rest and solitude. Perhaps I should push harder on day 1, so that I can get a little farther south on day 2. But Bernice seemed like such a nice place to stay for a bit.

[bill-e-g]

Red Devil from Bernice - You'll have a Mutiny.
Over 18 Miles. Esp. with "none" experience.

With starting at Elevation getting at Bernice may be a stretch on day 1.
It's about 10 miles.

Just go with your route and play it by ear. If it's going slow you
can just go down the Merced to LYV instead of over Red Peak Pass.

btw. This year... gonna be lots o snow still on the West side of Red Pk.
Pass then. That's usually the case.

To give you an idea there is a picture here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,24788

The arrow to the left is the direction of Red Devil.
Just a heads up. You can hike right up it. Not a big deal. But it
may be a lot slower than you plan for.

Have fun

[hiker97]

Now I see how you were planning for day 2 being more restful. With that in mind, I'd suggest either sticking with your original plan or making day #3 the easier one. If I wanted to stay at Bernice for day #2, then I'd have to hike all the way from Bernice to Ottoway in 2 days, around 12 miles per day. In that case, your original plan of staying in the Triple Peak Fork area is a good one. Day #4 would be challenging in that the 11,000' pass is at the end of a long day...start early! The idea of staying at Red Devil Lake would be more to my personal liking of having the 4th day be easier and having more leisurely time at Red Devil, a very remote destination/stay. Then I'd have 2 days between the Vogelsang camp and Red Devil. I might be around Washburn for my 2nd night under that scenario. So I guess either way it's a long challenging trip and you would just want to choose between Bernice and Red Devil as a place to spend more time.

[bill-e-g]

I think the big challenge is the "none" experience.
It's "only" 60 miles in 7 days including going up Half Dome.

That's why I mention going "down" the Merced.
High Trail south... then all the way down the Merced.

It's all beautiful.

Go with some sorta stretch goal tho otherwise you're "none" experience
will squawk "we only have to be here, I'm stopping".
And then you have to harp left and right to get their butts moving
to make it up.

Have fun

[Pilgrim490]

That's a fantastic picture! Thanks again to all for the input. This is exactly the kind of insight I'm looking for!

Here's the revised plan:
TM-->Vogelsang L-->Washburn-->Red Devil-->L Ottoway-->S of LYV-->Half Dome & LYV-->YV We'll do the 1/2day of rest at either Red Devil or L Ottoway.

Plan B would be a much shorter Merced River-->LYV trail, and i'll have to do some research on how to extract the most out of that.

Here's a follow up question which will further enhance my Newb-ness: Would it save time to xcountry from Washburn to Red Devil following the Merced River? It seems like it bypasses a lot of up and down as well as mileage.

[bill-e-g]

Plan B that I alluded to isn't that much shorter. It's still about 54 miles.
It's just a lot less elevation.

I'm not sure you are allowed to camp at Vogelsang Lake. I don't think so.

No way you wanna go up the Red Peak Fork to "cut off" miles to RD Lake.
Ok, at least I wouldn't recommend it for newbie.
You will almost asuredly make much faster time
staying on the trail unless you are experienced in xcountry.
It definitely looks do-able (and you have me intrigued to go that way someday)
but since you haven't been on the trails yet even I really recommend
you do that first.
You would also have to cross the Merced w/o a bridge there.

[softjeans]

I ran into a wilderness ranger a couple of years ago who mentioned that he did like to go cross-country from Washburn Lake to Red Devil Lake, but unless that kind of Muirian scrambling is second nature to you, I would not recommend it. Besides, probably your less-experienced cohorts would mutiny before getting through the thickets to the first ledge. The trail is not bad, but still fairly steep -- off trail is going to be a lot steeper, and a lot tougher.

Still, looks like a great trip to me. Enjoy yourselves.

[Pilgrim490]

Ok. Thanks for the straight answers.

And I hope we will!

[tm]

Bernice Lake – Camp at the south east end. There is a waterfall at the north end that you can climb that will take you up to two more beautiful lakes.

A couple of pictures:
http://www2.snapfish.com/comcast2/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=4670460013/a=110046619_110046619/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=comcast2/

[orion]

looks like you have a lot of miles to cover there for consecutive days. it's always good to have a backup plan.

the trip over Red Peak Pass after two days of long hike is certainly the bottleneck that might break the first-timers. from my experience, first-timers puke on that pass.

instead of dropping down to Washburn, you could take the high trail to Harriet Lake continue on to Red Devil Lake, and then x-country down the Red Peak Fork to Washburn Lake, continuing on to Half Dome and the Valley from there.

the xcountry from Red Devil is fun for beginners going down, maybe not so much going up.

another alternative would be to end at Mono Meadows trailhead and take the shuttle down to the Valley, but that would skip the Half Dome portion.

whatever you decide, definately have some back up plans ready. i always plan for more than i expect to be able to do, with a host of contingency plans once i get there.

generally speaking, it's better not to spend the whole time with a heavy pack on you back, instead spend a day or two day hiking, giving those who want the option to just stay put and watch the breeze ripple a lake.

the wilderness is much more enjoyable and profound when it isn't considered a contest or obstacle course.

[hotrod4x5]

I have to agree with Orion. Your trip is more like a cross country move, vs. a cross country sight seeing trip, IMO. Of course it is up to you, but I prefer to hike somewhere, camp a day then either hike a very short distance, or camp another night, so I can just sit and soak up the scenery. You are hiking every day, and there doesn't seem to be much room for error if someone is very slow. I guess you could skip going up HD at the end and just hurry down to the valley.

BTW, are you parking a car in the valley to use to retrieve your car in TM?

[Pilgrim490]

I'm starting to see just how big this route is, given our time frame. I do think one of the group's goals is to be able to take some time-out, and one mere half-day probably won't cut it. Skipping Half Dome was originally not an option, but i suppose it's either that or forego everything south of Washburn L. We'd have to take the Merced R trail over to LYV.
We're getting dropped off and picked up by some local friends who aren't staying in the park - so we have great flexibility regarding our exit location. Our entry is pretty much dictated by our wild permit.