Solo Backpacking mid August '14

[supraman]

Hey everyone, looking for some insight.

Im flying into SF on the 16th on August of this year, departing a week later on the 23rd. I am just going to go try and get a FCFS permit for 4-5 days of backpacking. I would like to get one for some of the more popular trailheads by El Captain and Yosemite valley, but ill take anything really. I just want to get out in the wilderness.

Wondering what your thought are on how I can/should go about this.

Have any of you taken a backpacking trip like this on the fly as far as permit? I know they save 40% of the permits for FCFS. I figured ill have nothing else to do, so ill be at the trailheads real early in the morning to get a good position in line.....?

thanks

[AlmostThere]

There are trailheads near El Capitan? The only ones I'm aware of are Upper Yosemite Falls (ugh, yeah, that will be available no problem - it'll kill you in summer) and Rockslides (class 2-3 boulder hopping for a while on the way up the long gradual and pointless climb - easier to hitchhike and start from the OBOFR trailhead).

The only trailhead worse that UYF for backpacking UP would be the Snow Creek trail.

I would take the YARTS or get a reservation for the hiker bus, and head up to Tuolumne Meadows - showing up by bus gets you a spot in the backpacker camp - and try for a next day walk in when I got there. Then I would camp out in the backpacker camp for five bucks and try again in the morning if I had no luck with that, after 11 am, when they release the reserved permits that people don't claim. Odds are fairly high that someone will skip out on their permit (no refunds, after all) and a single person can get one. I did this one summer - went backpacking, returned to Tuolumne Meadows, walked in for a permit for the next day, went backpacking, took a bus back, walked in for a permit for the next day, went backpacking... Left resupply food in a bear box in the huge bank of boxes on the way to Glen Aulin.

The free shuttle should still be running in the Tuolumne Meadows area between the Tioga gate and Olmsted Point - so if you get Sunrise trailhead, or Mono/Parker pass trailhead, or Cathedral trailhead - just hop on and get off where you need to go.

[supraman]

Sry, I plan on taking the YARTS.

I guess there aren't trail head right by El Captain, but I meant the ones near there. I want to go deep in the woods for days and camp out there. I was planning on staying at the group campgrounds for the first night to try n get the permit and what not.

Ill talk to people that work there about what would be best for me, but I pretty much just want toget out into the wild.

Im not to worried about the terrain, im confident in my ability. Im 23 years old, and do a good amount of outdoor activities here in WI. I do want to find good spots for water, being that California is in a drought right now.

thanks!

[AlmostThere]

Then you don't want any trailheads out of the Valley - none of those will get you "deep in the woods." You'll be within a mile or two of the road going up the trailheads from that side of the Valley floor, in an area frequented by hundreds of day hikers.

Get on the YARTS that goes over Tioga Pass (there's more than one bus, this one takes you further into the wilderness away from tourists), pick a trailhead that goes north, and hike as long as you want. Pick any trail and within two days you will be lucky to see more than a handful of people. The wilderness office is over toward Tuolumne Lodge, open most of the day. Walk on in and get your permit.

Or go from the Ostrander/Lost Bear trailhead on Glacier Point Road after riding the tour bus up there - hike the southeastern corner of the park, or the loop over Red Peak Pass. You won't see people until you're coming down past Merced Lake.

[supraman]

also, how does the 40% permits reserved work? is that 40% daily? or 40% of the whole allotted permits for the trailheads?

like do we have to wait for a person to leave the park for that permit to be up for grabs?

[supraman]

Thank you Almostthere! that's what im looking for, don't want to see many people.

thanks!

[AlmostThere]

Each trailhead has a strictly enforced daily quota and 40% of it is kept aside (not reservable) for people who come in the day BEFORE they want to start. You need to be there the day BEFORE you intend to start the trip. Not the day OF.

Sometimes there are permits available the same day, especially on midweek days. Sometimes not. A single person has a better chance.

[supraman]

ok, I will be arriving in SF on Saturday the 16th Aug. Ill probably take the bus up Sunday morning then and go to the Wilderness office towards Toullumne lodge like you suggested and get a permit. So there most likely gunna be a permit for me when I show up there?

Hiking north from there sounds good to me. Just looked at google maps, looks like Ill hike up to young lakes or something and see how that is for the first night, then probably just make my way north across/around the mountains right there. IDK, ill see how I feel when I get there, but that looks promising. Id like to hit a couple of those lakes.

thanks a lot!

[AlmostThere]

You'll have to be careful of boundaries - if you go out of the park there are several no camping zones to deal with to the east of the park boundary.

There may not be a permit, but there is a backpacker campground behind a loop in the car campground. You can try again the next day for an abandoned permit, and then for a walk in for the day after that - you have three opportunities per day. A walk in for the same day; if those are gone, you might get an abandoned reserved permit after 11 am. Then they start handing out walk in permits for the following day in the afternoon. Because people arriving on foot, by bus, or on a bike get to stay in the backpacker camp in spite of not having a permit, you can hang out a couple of nights until you get a permit.

[supraman]

awesome! well I am more confident in getting out in the wild now. I was kinda worrying it was going to be a big hassle. Ill also talk to the rangers out there to and see what they say.

thanks.

[Dave_Ayers]

All the Yosemite trails are visible in Google Earth. Go to Layers, More, Parks and Recreation Areas, US National Parks and click on the box next to Trails to make them appear. Once you make them visible, mileages between nodes are shown too if you zoom in some, though I think many of them are ~10-15% understated.

Yosemite trailhead locations, quotas, trail mileages, etc., are all available on this page or by clicking on the links on the page: http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/trailheads.htm . The quotas will give you an idea how busy each trailhead is -- busy trailhead generally have higher quotas with a few exceptions.

There is also a permit office at the Big Oak Flat entrance station (the one you'll be entering at if you drive from SF via highway 120). If you drive into the park, you can stop there and get a walk up permit for that day (or the for the next day if it's after 11 a.m.). There is a backpacker camp at White Wolf as well that may be convenient.

[AlmostThere]

That isn't how the wilderness offices work. You have a much better chance of a walk in if you are in the office that has priority in a specific area - go to the Tuolumne office for trailheads off Tioga Pass.

[Dave_Ayers]

Sure, if you are competing for a walk-in slot on a busy TH like HI or Lyell Canyon, go to the nearby office early and get in line before they open, etc. If you are checking on a less busy TH (say Ten Lakes or WW) and/or can save drive time, the BOF office may work fine -- it has worked well for me several times.

[AlmostThere]

So you are advocating to people who fly in from all over to just go in and wait forever at the wrong office and diminish their chances at the trailhead they've been dreaming about since they read that guidebook. Ten Lakes is really popular, actually.

Nope - go to the office you need to be at and be there early - 8 am or so. Get in line. At 11 am you might get something close to what you wanted instead of waiting until they've handed out all the walk ins for trailheads you recognize, and then for trailheads that you might manage to get where you want to go with a little cross country....

Better yet, if you are flying into the state, renting a car or arriving by bus, you've probably planned months in advance. So get your permit app faxed in five months prior to the day you want to start hiking. Put first, second, third choices on it. If you get third choice, you can always show up to get the permit and then ask about the first choice - see if there are spots available on a walk in basis. You have a reserved permit in hand if the walk in doesn't work. And then you have done your research, studied the map, and know what you're getting into before you show up at the park - avoiding the clueless "how the heck do I get to X trailhead when I've never heard of it before" issues. Too late for the OP - he understands it's get what you get - but it'll be easier than the stress of not knowing where you'll end up.

[Grzldvt]

I have dealt with both, but when the season is really, really busy, like this year, you have to be at the office closest to the trailhead. I have not done this in 2 years, so the park may have improved the system(Ya right with the tremendous amount of money they have I am sure it has been fixed ) But if you go into Big Oak Flat and try to get a permit for Ten Lakes, they call the Toulumne Meadows office to procure the spot. If the office doesn't answer, you may be out of luck.
However, I am really surprised at some of the trailheads that aren't full.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nps.gov%2Fyose%2Fplanyourvisit%2Fupload%2Ffulltrailheads.pdf&ei=iPDJU4XGH8qKyATP2YCYCw&usg=AFQjCNG2x8UxDzST2hv9sImvZn4aVrBYiA&bvm=bv.71198958,d.aWw
This a PDF that you download.

My advice is to get to the closest office to the trailhead you want to take.
August 17th will be a bit easier to get something as most of the weekenders are heading home.
Ten Lakes is amazingly empty in August. I have never seen that before. I have had a heck of a time getting in there on a weekend, in previous years.
So to answer the OP's question, study the above link for trailheads. You might find one open for a reservation. Check out the open one for your date to start, and ten come back and ask us what we know about it. Chances are very high we have all been down the trail and can make recommendations.