Understanding trailhead rules

[Alexbaird]

This is the route I want to follow:

Porcupine Creek - Snow Creek - Half Dome - JMT to Tuolumne Meadows.

If I was to get a Wilderness Permit starting at Porcupine Creek ... could I stop at Yosemite Valley (to buy food and dispose of trash) and then carry on. Or would I need a new Wilderness Permit starting from there?

[balzaccom]

If your question is where to get the permit...you can apply for a permit at any wilderness permit office. I know there is one at Big Oak Flat entrance station, Tuolumne Meadows, and the Yosemite Valley visitors center. Any office will do.

If your question is: can you start your hike at Porcupine Flat, descend Snow Creek, and ascend the JMT above Nevada and Vernal Falls...all on the same wilderness permit, I thnk the answer is yes.

How is anyone going to know if you hike directly from the Snow Creek trailhead in the valley to Happy Isles via the pack trail, or if you get on the shuttle bus to make that same journey? And how is anyone going to know if you get OFF that shuttle bus for an hour to pick up a few things at the Yosemite store en route?

[AlmostThere]

I answered the more detailed version of this on the other forum. No, you can't do what you want to do. Get a permit for one or the other, or two permits. Or plan a route that takes you where you're going entirely on trail - from Porcupine Creek to Olmstead Point to Tenaya Lake to the JMT to Half Dome to Happy Isles.

If you tell the ranger something he wants to hear and get caught on the trail far from where your filed itinerary says you should be, it's a fine and eviction from the park... not worth while to run that risk. And they won't issue you a permit that involves backpacking across the valley floor and lounging in Yosemite Village.

[Alexbaird]

I'm not trying to cheat the system here. I actually want to hike from Porcupine to take in north dome. Then our car would be at Tuolumne so we would want to head there via half dome, little yosemite and then cathedral lakes. On the national park trailhead map it seems to show a path connecting snow creek and mirror lake to the jmt. I am asking this question because I want to make sure it is a legitimate route with our original permit.

I am also asking if it is possible to stop at yosemite valley as, if it is, then it would be a great opportunity to dispose of trash and buy supplies (meaning we wouldn't need to carry so much from the start) before carrying on our route. If that is not possible then thats fine - but it would be good to know if we can do that particular route, without stopping, legitimately.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[AlmostThere]

AS stated, Yosemite valley isn't wilderness. So no, it's not possible to do that on one permit - it is possible if you have two permits.

Not accusing you of anything... just trying to make it clear what I've been told by the Powers That Be. You exit the wilderness, you need a new permit. Those trails in the valley are not for backpacking.

[Alexbaird]

Ok thanks, so I won't be stopping for a refill at yosemite valley. What I am still unclear about is that according to the trailhead map on the yose np website:

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=292137

There is a trail between mirror lake and half dome (just east of trailheads 1 and 2 on the map) that would allow us to complete our route without crossing any trailheads.

[AlmostThere]

None of the trails in the valley are backpacking trails. There is indeed a network of trails in the valley, but you can't camp anywhere on them, nor does your wilderness permit cover travel upon them to another trailhead.

There is no dispersed (backcountry) camping anywhere between the valley floor and the valley rim.

There is no camping anywhere on the Mist Trail or JMT until Little Yosemite Valley.

All of these areas are monitored heavily and the valley floor is not considered wilderness. You can't get from Snow Creek TH to Happy Isles and still be covered under a wilderness permit. Once you are in the valley you have left the wilderness. Not sure how else I can explain it other than to say that the wilderness permit is for wilderness travel, the valley floor is not the wilderness, and the ranger will tell you the same thing.

[balzaccom]

I stand corrected on these trailhead rules...

But I also have another suggestion for you. If you really want to do that hike on a single permit, you could still enter at Porcupine Flat, hike through Olmsted Point to Tenaya Lake, through Sunrise and then down into the Valley via LYV and the falls...

IT wouldn't allow you to re-provision, but you would see much of the same territory that you are trying to see with your original plan.