shorter trip trail advise

[ZACinTN]

I'm shooting for late June. Does anyone have any suggestions on trails to take or gear and apparel? Me and my wife went last year in August. Now I'm returning with friends and hoping to see a lot more. Anything will help especially with trails.

[balzaccom]

It would ehlp a lot if you specified what kind of trip you would like...and what you would like to see. Are you bothered by lots of people? Or do you want to go to the most popular parts of the park.

if you check out my website, there is a whole list of trips in Yosemite, none of them more than five days, I think.

check out that page here; http://sites.google.com/site/backpackth ... tioga-pass

[ZACinTN]

thanks for that link. That answered my questions on where i wanted to go. I wanted a place that was not packed and could do some fishing while seeing some fantastic views. I think that my first choice will be in Lyell Canyon then Rancheria Falls then Ten Lakes. My next problem is the first night's camp location. Ive been looking around and having trouble with it. I see lodges but not camp sites. How do I find the camp sites on those trails?
thanks

[balzaccom]

Lyell Canyon, your campsites are limited until you get about five miles in. Then there are plenty of places. But you could also do this as a day hike, if you just wanted to see the canyon

Rancheria Falls is really the only place to camp there, but there are lots of places...and this is also possible as a day hike, but it would be 13 miles. Waterfalls in June should be terrific.

And Ten Lakes might actually be the one where you would struggle to get a permit. It fills in quicker than the rest. There are a lot of campsites, but also a lot of people who like to go here.

[AlmostThere]

every time I go to Rancheria, the campground gets about half full. Ten Lakes was a decent overnight, there were a lot of people but you can camp at any of the lakes and the upper ones without fish get less traffic.

Lyell will be full of JMT hikers, day hikers, fly fisherman... but a buddy caught an eleven inch brown in there. The further up you go the river, the smaller and hungrier the fish - could not catch a brook trout big enough to eat.

[ZACinTN]

so are all the campsites going to have other campers? Does everyone share a fire or are their multiple? Here in TN (relatively speaking) fires are not a problem so that issue is new to me.

[AlmostThere]

There will be as many campers as there will be. No way of knowing. Everyone has their own fire ring and rangers will encourage you to use established ones rather than making your own.

And, you will not be able to have a campfire in Yosemite above 9600 feet, so at Ten Lakes the lower two lakes will have most of the campers, since they are below that line - the upper lakes in the basin are too high for fires.

In Little Yosemite Valley campground you are restricted to one of the two community fire rings.

[ZACinTN]

so there aren't fire rings located throughout the park at random places to serve as camp sites?

[AlmostThere]

The fire rings are ones that people have built while practicing dispersed camping, which is what backpackers do - find a site they like and set up camp. The rangers will encourage you to use the well used sites that everyone else has used before to diminish the wear and tear on the rest of the wilderness, in some of the most well used areas of the park - like Rancheria Falls, or Little Yosemite Valley, or the areas along the JMT. In the areas hit hardest, they will restrict camping to areas the park rangers designate.

You can camp anywhere you like outside the restrictions described on the Yosemite website (distance from roads/trailheads, distance from the water/trail, etc.). I frequently do - but I have a hammock and rarely build a fire. People with tents tend to favor those flat spots every other tent user has camped on, and they also tend not to go far from the trail.

[bill-e-g]

The beauty of Yosemite is that there are literally 1000's of "campsites".
You can pretty much camp wherever you want as long as you
follow the few rules. (I say just pick up the National Geo Yose Map
which has the "no camping here" and abide by that and you'll be fine).
The problem is that of these 1000+ places Joe Schmo says
"I need a fire ring, let's do everyone a favor and build one"..
So we end up with just as many fire rings. Everywhere.
It's pretty bad. I go a lot... and visit the same places... and
every time... theres 4 fire rings in a place where none are allowed,
or where there were none before.
It doesn't feel like wilderness and it gets all screwed up from soot
when this occurs, the rocks get scared... etc... definitely not Leave no Trace.
This is why when you get your permit they will tell you to NOT build new fire rings.
In some places they flat out have to not allow fires b/c people cut
live trees, make a big mess, etc.

Anyway... Yosemite is simply awesome due to the freedom to
camp nearly anywhere you want and so many places to choose from....

Treat her well...
Have fun