Re: Fisherman's Trail to Glen Aulin

Greetings - A photographer friend and I are planning a day hike into Glen Aulin, and downstream, with large format camera equipment. Since we will be carrying a heavy load of photographic equipment I am seeking advice on the route that I understand takes off from near Pothole Dome. I am hoping someone will be kind enough to post the best route for a couple of old fart photographers wanting the easiest and shortest route in and out. Many thanks.

You can circle counter-clockwise around the base of Pothole Dome. There's a use trail that's not at all hard to follow.

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eeek
You can circle counter-clockwise around the base of Pothole Dome. There's a use trail that's not at all hard to follow.

Thanks so much for the super-fast reply. Just to make sure I understand. The route circles around the east side of the base of Pothole Dome, and then the trail takes off from the north end of the dome? A friend spoke of a route that took off to the west of the dome - some short distance and went through the forest. Perhaps his route (which I don't have details on unfortunately - and he's out of the country) is shorter, but your suggestion sounds easier. Additional thoughts? By the way, from your other posts I see that you are also a large format photographer... correct?

You can also go west of the dome. The route isn't as obvious but shouldn't be all that much of a problem and you certainly can't miss the river.

Thanks so much for the additional information. I appreciate it.

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johnsexton
Thanks so much for the additional information. I appreciate it.

Hope your shoot works out. Last time I hauled my 4x5 camera out there I found out the batteries in my spot meter had finally gone out.

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eeek

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johnsexton
Thanks so much for the additional information. I appreciate it.

Hope your shoot works out. Last time I hauled my 4x5 camera out there I found out the batteries in my spot meter had finally gone out.

Sunny 16 rule to the rescue!

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hotrod4x5
Sunny 16 rule to the rescue!

That's exactly what I did.

Wow... that's no fun! Especially after hiking the gear in all that way. As noted the Sunny f/16 rule is something I have had to use a number of times. Once on a long hike I left my spotmeter in my van!!! To minimize the chance of battery failure, I change all of my photographic batteries each year on my birthday.

Never heard it referred to as "fisherman's trail" haha. Park personnel that work at Glen Aulin and backpackers have been using that route for decades. Refer to.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=37.88935,-119.40113&z=15&t=T

Don't really need any advice, just a topo map because it is trivial crosscountry. No dense forest to become confused and enough landforms poking up to easily adjust bearings even without a compass. There is no one trail, though lots of use paths from deer. Only down below 8400 feet does the route become confined causing a short section of heavier use through the Little Devils Postpile area. For those that can't make out a topo from a (pot)hole in the ground, eeks advice of going around Pothole Dome until one reaches the river will work. If so park along the road below shading pines just east of the heavily used Pothole Dome viewpoint small paved parking lot at BM8565. The rest of us park along the road west of BM8639, then go up and through the saddle west of dome 8854. Then wander down northeast to the flats at 8480+, before aiming north-northwest at the little pond near the big M in TUOLUMNE. Early season there are a lot of swampy, grassy areas closer to the river that makes staying just above the boundary of trees and meadow in the lodgepole wiser. Note a couple places one must punch through denser short sections of lodgepoles.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2011 08:50AM by DavidSenesac.

David - "Fisherman's Trail" is what how my buddy referred to the route. Thank you so much for the very complete, and most helpful, information. I feel much more confident with the detailed description you have provided - along with the information from eeek. I have taken "short cuts" in the past that ended up being hours of bushwhacking and trying to find out where the hell I was... making them "long cuts". Thanks again. John

On a similar note - does anyone have a good description of where the fisherman's trail to Cathedral Lakes begins?

Never heard it referred to as "fisherman's trail" haha (no fish anymore in LCL). Climbers and park personnel that check illegal camping around Cathedral Lake or backpackers without permits have been using that route for decades. Lose the vague use route and one easily gets into class 3 slabs, so not a route I'll explain beyond...

start at Virgin Dome

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http://www.davidsenesac.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2011 03:27PM by DavidSenesac.

Looked at the map, and I see no way to cross the river until the foot bridge. So you just follow the west side of the river till the PCT crosses over? Then join the PCT?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2011 06:41AM by hotrod4x5.

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hotrod4x5
Looked at the map, and I see no way to cross the river until the foot bridge. So you just follow the west side of the river till the PCT crosses over? Then join the PCT?

Yep.

Trail to Glen Aulin talked about here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,26056,26353#msg-26353

Trail to Cathedral here:
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,28755

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I hiked this trail this past Sunday. Wasn't planning on doing it but after climbing on top of Pothole Dome we decided we'd take this route down to the footbridge and then hike back up the Glen Aulin trail to Lembert Dome where our car was parked. This was my first trip to Yosemite (and my brother's first as well), and we absolutely loved it. Hiking down the west side of the river was much more scenic than the Glen Aulin trail on the way back. I had read on these forums about this trail. We didn't follow much of a trail as we hiked down right next to the river all the way to the meadow. It was there that we weren't quite sure where to head, but after a little bit of searching, we made our way through the meadow (followed the dry creek bed across). We saw a total of 6 people the entire time down between Pothole Dome and the footbridge. I can't begin to count the number of hikers we saw on our way back.

We also hiked up to Elizabeth Lake on Saturday morning and had the entire lake to ourselves. Didn't see a single soul until our descent back down the trail.

This was my first time to Yosemite but will definitely not be my last.

I think it's Brook Trout got him at the last Sunrise lake August 2011



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2011 08:41AM by rroland.