Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite vally..

[whitefam5]

Hello everyone and thanks for the great info on this forum. I am needing some help and after making a few phone calls and no one really knowing the answers, here I am typing away.
1. Is the 8 am hikers bus the only way to get back to Tuolumne meadows from the valley after making the hike down?
2 Is there any other way to catch a ride for 3 people back to Tuolumne meadows without thumbing it.
3. What is the avg. night temp in mid july at Vogelsang camp?

[atomicmonkey]

Yarts runs a daily shuttle also. http://www.yarts.com/schedules.html
I have only thumbed it or taken the hikers bus.

Two years ago, third week of July at Emeric Lake, just down from Vogelsang, the night was just below freezing. All water bottles froze solid that were left out and ice was on the top of the tents. Nice and cozy inside the tent though!

[balzaccom]

Yeah--average temperature won't help you. It can be freezing, and it can stay above 50. Come prepared for both.

[whitefam5]

Thanks for all the great info and I have called the Yarts and it will work out great for us to catch that bus at 5pm to head back up to Tuolumne, also I am going to pack for all kind of weather while backpacking.

Just one more question for everyone....Does anyone know or has anyone hiked from merced lake over to clouds rest in one day? If so how hard was the hike and how long did it take? Is there anywhere to camp around clouds rest besides Little yosemite valley. I know you can camp anywhere you want as long as you fallow all the rules and regs, but I would like to stay in a campsite that is already been used to cut down on my off trail hiking.
Thanks again everyone for all the help.

[balzaccom]

It's about ten miles from Merced Lake to Cloud's Rest...so certainly easily done in a day. As for campsite---if you mean places where people have camped before, there are certainly those along Sunrise Creek...

[dan]

One of my favorite campgrounds is at the junction of crt and jmt. Creek nearby and shade.

There's a lot of uphill after that to clouds rest and little or no water.

Great views on top.