Started last wed. and here's what I found:
Out of Happy Isles to Echo Valley (2 miles short of Merced Lake) on day one, surprised that there was no water from the Merced flooding the trail anywhere. Also no real snow--the whole way a breeze. And no rattlers! Lots of downed trees but I ran into a crew just out of L.Y. valley clearing the way.
Day two, day hiked up past the lake and on up about 1500-1800 feet towards Vogelsang. No real snow past the lake, and very little the whole way up. The trail tops out just short of Babcock lake and enters a forested section which looked to be 95% snow.
Day 3, took the High trail back to the valley floor. Lots of downed trees again but no problems. At the junction with the Clouds Rest trail there was significant snow, but only for about a mile at most going down. There is one tricky jag where I briefly lost the trail, but soon it was easy to follow. Happily, the snow was well consolidated.
I spent two night alone at Echo Valley. The second day I only saw two people leaving the lake--no one else was there--and then no one until I was back in Echo Valley, where a group was headed up to Merced Lake.
Hard to know what the Merced river will do now that it's finally heating up, but I doubt that this stretch will pose insurmountable problems, since so much snow has already melted down low.