In a couple of weeks a group of eight (8) of us will be hiking to May Lake HSC for two nights, hiking to Glen Aulin HSC for one night, hiking to Tuolumne Meadows 'HSC' for two nights. The day after we arrive at TM we will be doing a day hike (out and back) to Cloud's Rest. I was thinking about these parking options:
First, since we are going to be ending up at Tuolumne Meadows at the end, we can probably leave the cars in the Dog Lake parking lot and take the shuttle bus from the Tuolumne HSC parking lot, which is across the street from the Dog Lake parking. We would take the shuttle to the May Lake trailhead on Tioga Road. It is about 2 1/2 miles up to ML from the trailhead. That way when we hike out from Glen Aulin to TM the car will be there near TM. Probably better to leave the cars at Dog Lake parking rather than trying to find multiple car parking near the ML trailhead?
So, if we want to be at May Lake in the late afternoon, say by 4:00. It might take about three hours to hike the 2 1/2 miles up to the camp if we are really slow, right (?). If so, we would start at 1:00. OK, to start at 1:00 we would need to catch the shuttle bus at TM parking lot at 12:30 or so. Leave an hour to get prepped for the hike at the car (8 people - herding cats...) we would need to arrive at the Dog Lake parking lot at 11:30. It is 223 miles from SF to Lembert Dome, or 4 hours and 46 minutes, so say 5 hours. Given that, I would need to leave SF at about 6:30 AM.
Or, second, we could drive to the Dog Lake parking lot, leave one car there and then the other cars drive to the May Lake parking lot, hike into ML one mile or so, and at the end of the week take the car from Dog Lake parking lot to pick up the May Lake cars.
The day after we get to Tuolumne will be the hike to Cloud's Rest, so maybe it is best to have the least amount of coordination to do that afternoon prior to that hike.
Really curious to hear any feedback. I want to do option one as it is a longer hike, but it will be a really full day (but so what, right?)
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2013 09:20PM by Paris92.