Snow/trail conditions from Tolumne to Happy Isles

[roxane@vidafresh.com]

We are planning to backpack from Tolumne to Happy Isles starting July 18. The rangers have two week old information about snow coverage on the trail. They report there can be up to 3 feet of snow and difficulty finding the trail. Has anyone been on recently? Has the snow melted enough to follow the trail easily?

[AlmostThere]

There's still significant snow above 8500 feet elevation - so potentially you could be walking in snow at least part of the way. Recent pics I've seen of Sunrise Lakes shows snow and ice.

If you can't navigate well by compass/map it's probably safer to get up to date info when you go in to get the permit, and get a new permit for a safer route if it's still snowy up there. The other consideration for any backpacking trip over the next few weeks should be water crossings, there have been a lot of water accidents this past month.