merced lake to tuolumne pass

finalizing a loop for mid-june 5-day trip. needing feedback regarding the route from merced lake to toulumne pass. seems i have a choice of a shorter option going via emeric lake or slightly longer via vogelsang pass. anyone care to share pros/cons for each route? thanks all! mtc

Vogelsang Pass. Views too amazing to miss!

The Other One. Views too amazing to miss!

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Both! Views too amazing to miss!

Ok, seriously... it doesn't matter. Pick one and do it... and then come back and do the other one.
Vogelsang Pass / Lewis Creek is more "alpinish" and you will climb more to go up to Vogelsang Pass.
Emerick and Fletcher Creek (I think I got it right) is more "yosemite-ish" with granite domes.
Regardless which way you go you should definitely go up to Vogelsang Pass and see the view from
there towards Bernice and Gallison.

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I agree. Vogelsang Pass. Last year we did Vogelsang to Merced (via Lewis Creek trail), the year before we did Merced to Vogelsang (via Fletcher Creek trail.) You have a hell of climb ahead of you. Take the Pass route via Lewis Creek. It is spectacular. You can see my trip review from last year here:

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,44826,44826#msg-44826

Decided to get to Merced Lake via Vogelsang Pass and the Lewis Creek Trail. This was a spectacular hike and I strongly recommend it (as did others to me here on the Message Boards before I left.) Had to hike around some snow up in the Pass, but nothing too difficult to figure out. We also took the two mile up and back detour to Bernice Lake. Again, still lots of bugs all the way from Vogel through the Pass, down to the Valley and up to Bernice. Had lunch at Bernice while trying to navigate eating a sandwich through mosquito headgear... There is a huge waterfall along this route (Florence Creek I believe) that was simply stunning, and we had to jump and traverse across some portions of that waterway and along Lewis a few times. Boots were getting wet here due to the high water. We finally lost the massive swarms of mosquitoes about half-way to ML HSC along this route.

Again, having taken both ways, I strongly suggest the Lewis Creek Trail route.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2012 09:17PM by Paris92.

If you go via Vogelsang Pass you'll have to go up Vogelsang Peak (prob. class 2, easy). Its the law.

Seriously...mid-June may be a tad early (arguing for the lower route), but its a low snow year so just see how the snowmelt's going then decide.

Quote
ttilley
If you go via Vogelsang Pass you'll have to go up Vogelsang Peak (prob. class 2, easy). Its the law.

Seriously...mid-June may be a tad early (arguing for the lower route), but its a low snow year so just see how the snowmelt's going then decide.

I've broken the law many times... I keep saying... next time.

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Three pictures from Vogelsang Peak, 1992:

Westward view:



Eastward View:



View back towards Vogelsang Lake:



And, the previous afternoon, it was a bit stormy just north of Vogelsang Lake, but perfectly fine at the lake:

Nice. Thanks

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thanks for the comments. chick -- appreciate the objective "yosemite-ish" vs. "alpine-ish" comparison -- even i can grasp those descriptions! if the snow isn't too bad, it may come down to a coin-flip.

Here's a different view of Emeric:


Bernice is, perhaps, my wife's favorite lake in the park. (but she has not been to one's such as Edith, Penn, Big Island... Virginia... )
(i.e. her sample size is large ... but not all encompassing... is what I'm saying)

Flip a coin. You can't go wrong really. But I would agree... if I could only do one... it would be Lewis with visit to Bernice.

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nice pic. pardon my ignorance, but where you facing north/northwest when snapping that photo? is that the trail running along the east (right) side of the creek?

thanks,
mtc

Quote
mtc
nice pic. pardon my ignorance, but where you facing north/northwest when snapping that photo? is that the trail running along the east (right) side of the creek?

thanks,
mtc

I "where's" facing NorthEast. You were right about east (right) and the trail there. Tuolumne Pass is in the middle of the picture with
Fletcher Peak w/ Vogelsang just to the left of it... along with Vogelsang Peak... all those on the right of the pass.

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We had Bernice Lake all to ourselves for a few hours last year... well, except for the millions (billions?) of mosquitoes...

thankyou sir, may i have another!!! more pics of that area please!!!

If you have not seen this set... it contains more of Emeric and Bernice... and a few near of Vogelsang Pass...

https://picasaweb.google.com/yosemite.chick.on/Bernice

There is a trip report of basil around here somewhere that probably contains more of "Babock Dome" and
"Emeric Dome"... but I can find those .. next week.. perhaps.

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By "I can find those" I meant I would look for Babcock and Emeric Dome pix I have taken...
But I'm fairly certain that I haven't anything as nice as basilbop's photos of Babcock which can
be found in his picture set in this thread:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,41154

He went up Fletcher Creek... so you can see what I mean by "Yosemite-ish" .
Domes!

Have fun

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While planning for a trip a couple of years ago, in Flickr, I mistyped Vogelsang as Volgesang, and came across this fantastic picture taken from Vogelsang Peak:
(you have to click once on the picture for the best view)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dankocevski/2756448615/

That one picture convinced me to hike up in that area that summer, and to tackle Vogelsang Peak. I didn't make it all the way to the top of Vogelsang Peak, but it was still a fantastic trip. I could have made it all the way up, but in the back of my mind was a recent article in the paper about a manager from the Yosemite Mountaineering School who got crushed by a loose, four-foot boulder.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/25/SPTV18TMK9.DTL



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/2012 08:18PM by KenS.

Hmm... I thought tomdisco posted his pictures.... but I only see this trip report:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,28432

Here's a few more Oliver:

The Classic Shot from Vogelsang Pass (sorry I did a crap job of stitching):


Only been to Babcock Lake once but here it is looking north:

(the smoke in the air... that is why the photo atop Emeric Dome looks like it does)

Here's Babcock Dome... (compare it to basils)


And you'll see this pretty much no matter which way you choose:


All this reminds me there used to be a trail West of Lewis that I need to go explore...

Thx and enjoy

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2012 06:28AM by chick-on.

I guess you are full... but I just ran across this one...
Took this from top o Mount Clark last year:

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nice, thanks -- however, what are we looking at in that pic? i've tried to match the pic to my topo, but no luck.

is that babcock dome with emerick outlet flowing to its right and babcock lake hidden behind it?

Look at the photos above of Babcock Dome... they should match. (they do).
Yes, that is Babcock Dome with Fletcher Creek on the right of it.

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