advice for one-night hike-in trip with kids

[mikezim]

Hi,

I love Yosemite and am coming up with my 3 kids (11, 8 and 5) in early July. KIds have never been wilderness camping though love our other camping adventures (drive in :>). Can't wait to show them the stars with no other lights around and get them hooked!

Trying to find a relatively short (1or 2 hour?) hike-in spot we can camp for the night, ideally near some water where they could swim and/or fish. I seem to recall some close by lakes accessible up in Tuolumne Meadows/ Tioga Road

We will be staying at Evergreen Lodge near hetch hetchy just before that, but can drive where ever we need to.

Any advice?

thanks.

[hiker97]

As a dad with kids of very similar ages, I can say your idea sounds like a wonderful experience for all. You have two challenges however at this stage of the game, the first being availability. You would need a wilderness permit for an overnight stay:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/wildpermits.htm
The advance reservations are now booked up for the entire summer on the popular trailheads and filling up quickly on many of the rest. (See the full trailheads report on that web site) But the good news might be that a portion of the spots are available starting the day before you enter the wilderness on a first-come, first-serve basis (again more info on the site). How far (distance, elevation gain) would your 5-year-old be able to hike? That may dictate your options. May Lake is just over a mile from the Old Tioga Rd trailhead and although swimming is not allowed, people have told me it is good for fishing. There is also a day hike from there up Mount Hoffman. A longer but easy, flat trail option would be heading up Lyell Canyon from Tuolumne Meadows but you have to go a few miles before you can camp. A less popular destination would be heading to Illilouette Canyon out of the Mono Meadow area but the mileage is also further than you posted about. All of these destinations would be beautiful but be prepared for lots of mosquitos this year at that time!

[balzaccom]

May Lake is the most obvious choice....and yes, it is already booked solid for the summer. But if you go on a weekday you might get a fcfs permit. Cathedral Lake is another option.

But it's easier if you go just north to Emigrant Wilderness. Permits are much more available here. Look at Bear Lake, for examply, or Lost Lake in the Carson Iceberg Wilderness. Both of these are off highway 108, the next road north from Yosemite's Highway 120

There are notes on all of these trips on our website under destinations...

[oakroscoe]

My advice would be to stay for at 2 nights. One day in, and one day just playing around the Lake. Again, like the last thread, I would throw out Lake Eleanor. It has always been my early season spot (usually April, but not this year) and its always been my spot to take beginners.

[AlmostThere]

The first backpacking trip we took when I was a kid was into Emigrant. Man, what a trip. I really had a great time despite the skeeters! We didn't know any better - got all the way out to Emigrant Lake, with a big cross country stretch of the trip - I'm surprised me or my brother could manage that, nearly did poor mum in.... My pool mattress kept deflating at night and I'd wake up with carpenter ants crawling on my head. We took a big blue tarp and made a lean to with it.

What a great trip!

[ANDROID]

You gave me an idea, my girls would always ask me for an out of town trip. This one seems to be a nice and wonderful treat for them!

[Grzldvt]

I have to agree May Lake is the obvious choice, being a High Sierra camp you have the best of everything, pottable water from a pipe, very good bathroom facilities, and very short uphill hike to the campground.
You might take a look at Polly Dome Lakes. You go in via Murphy Creek which has availability for quite a few days. It is a relatively flat hike. It's not killer in mileage about 5-6, and when you get to the lakes area it has some decent scenery from several camp sites. I took my son at age 11 there on his first BP trip and we had a great time. I wasn't as concerned about getting into big scenery as I was making sure he was comfortable with the distance and OK being in a truer wilderness setting than May Lake. It worked, while not an avid backpacker he really enjoyed himself.