Vogelsang>Echo Valley>CR>HD snow?

[eeberleeber]

Planning a 4 day trip from June 6-9. Intended route is Tuolumne Meadows trailhead to Vogelsang>Echo Valley>CR>HD>Yosemite Valley. Our route tops out over 10k at Tuolumne Pass and gets near 10k again on CR.

The NPS conditions site dated May 30 states "Out of Tuolumne Meadows, hikers should expect 80-100% snow coverage on trails exceeding 9,000 feet in elevation." Anyone know if this is true? Previous forum posts seem to indicate low snow.

[AlmostThere]

It's not going to be deep snow, necessarily. Coverage at 9500 feet a couple weeks ago in Kaiser wilderness was patchy, shallow and sun cupped - not anything to write home about. It may be more coverage remains on the north facing slopes, particularly in the trees.

[wburrich]

I'd suggest calling the wilderness ranger station for an updated trail report. They keep an up to date record if they have had a ranger on the trail. We are headed to Vogelsang this coming week. I called last week for an update and was told that as of two weeks ago parts of the trail was 70-90% snow covered. With the 60 degree days and 30-40 degree nights I am sure some of that will be melting. The trail will be quite muddy at spots so be prepared for wet feet.

[eeberleeber]

Just leaving the park from our bc haul. Was able to get our permits no problem, including HD, from the Tuolumne Meadows station. Only snow we saw on trail was on the connector trail (0.8 mile) between Tuolumne Pass and Vogelsang Camp. It was partially covering the trail, never had to walk through it. Lowest temps we saw were low 40's overnight at Vogelsang.

Trails were not muddy at all. We had no rain the entire 4 day trip. Thunderheads threatened 3 out of 4 days, but never amounted to a downpour. Creeks were all flowing well, but the trail was hot and dry.

It was an amazing trip! Highly recommend the route.

[AlmostThere]

Just got back from a destination much farther south and at high elevation - we nearly bounced off the swarm of mosquitos up at 10,000 feet.

Think it is a good thing I have a high elevation trip two weeks from now... bloodsuckers were going in our ears, eyes and mouths if we dared try to eat or drink anything, and coated the tents.

The meadows are horribly dry - they are supposed to be green and muddy this time of year. I did not build a fire despite being well within my right to do so, as I suspect this will be one of those years where we'll see a lot of them.

[eeberleeber]

The bugs were definitely out of control. Emeric Meadow was one of the worst spots for them. I think we would have had a rough trip without head nets, pants and long sleeve shirts.

I agree about fire this year. I'm new to this part of the country, but it seemed like a ton of dead and downed timber all over our route and we were kicking up dust most of the way.