Wednesday 9-7 to Monday 9-12 Backpacking

[trading4waves]

Can anyone recommend a nice 5-day backpacking trip?

from wednesday 9-7-11 to Monday 9-12-11

We are experienced, fit, and ambitious

[AlmostThere]

I have learned the hard way that "experienced, fit and ambitious" means different things to different people, so I'm not sure what to tell you... If I were you, I'd pick an area of the park and go to the wilderness office having priority over that area, and discuss what's available, then pick a trip. You may find that any trip you pre plan will depend on whether or not permits are available - if you don't get there the morning BEFORE the day you want to start, you might not get to go where you intended.

Trips out of Tuolumne Meadows/Tioga Road will be higher elevation and very scenic; Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne will take you lower and lower until you climb steeply back out again. Trips out of Hetch Hetchy will be lower, climbing slowly higher, and just as scenic. Going from trailheads in the valley will involve lots of climbing from low (hot) elevation to mid-range elevation, and eventually - if you hike farther - higher elevation. Going from Glacier Point Road trailheads out into the southeastern area of the park leaves you mostly in forested mid-elevation.

A fairly good option might be White Wolf to Ten Lakes to Polly Dome/Lakes to Glen Aulin and out at Tuolumne Meadows - leave the car at the meadows trailhead parking, take the hiker bus or the YARTS to White Wolf, stay in the backpacker campground the night before your permit starts. You'll need to be at the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness office to get the permit at 11 am at the latest. That's when they start handing out walk in permits for the following day.

If it were my choice, I'd go to Sequoia and start high, and go higher. It's going to be warm at lower elevations. Permitting is less of a hassle in Sequoia, crowds are fewer, and there are more loop possibilities for a five day outing. Twin Lakes/Silliman/Deadman Canyon is a really good one.

[balzaccom]

We've got a ton of hikes on our website that you can peruse....

But we just got back from a nice one---five days, 38 miles. We left Granite Creek trailhead in the Ansel Adams Wilderness above Bass Lake, and hiked up over Isberg Pass into Yosemite...then back over Post Peak Pass and down the Fernandez trail through Rutherford, Lillian, Stanford, and Vandeburg Lakes. Luvely stuff.

We'll get that trip report out in the next couple of days...