Greetings to all. I just came across this forum while putting the finishing touches on my trip coming up this week. We've got a permit for the Lyell Canyon trailhead on Sun, 18Sept. Planning on exiting at Happy Isles on Friday. I've got a few questions that I would love to get some experienced perspective on.......
1: I was thinking about staying in Lyell Canyon on the first night near where Ireland Ck flows into the Lyell Fork. It will make for a short day, but thought tackling the climb up Ireland Ck to Evelyn lake might be best on fresh legs at the beginning of day two. Also gives us another night to acclimate before staying around/near the HSC. The only reason I can think to not do this is the amount of bear activity I've heard in Lyell Canyon. Is that a big enough issue to want to push out of the canyon on day 1 without camping?
2: Around the HSC will we want to spend the time/effort to climb Fletcher peak? Is it worth it, and do-able? Any insight into that side trip would be appreciated.
3: Heading to Merced lake from Vogelsang, I was thinking of using the trail along Lewis Ck. Any real reason to not do that, along with a side trip to Bernice Lk?
4: After Merced Lk we're planning on crossing JMT and Sunrise Ck to climb up to the trail north of Cloud's Rest. Would rather do that climb without a heavy load of water, so the question is at that T-intersection of with the Tenaya/Clouds Rest trail....where's the nearest sure fire water. ( I read another post about Chick-ons 100% guarantee, but could quite figure out where it was relative to the intersection)
5: Approaching Clouds Rest from the North....will we want to shed packs that the intersection immediately before clouds rest, then backtrack and continue south on the L fork, or just carry packs up and over and down the steep south face?
Any help you can give me on these points would be greatly appreciated!
Dave (badknees) Slade