Quotechatka We would like to enjoy ourselves.The problem is that we will spend 1st night at Vogelsang HSC and second night at Merced Lake high sierra camp and because of 1 night in tent we will have to take all our gear.So I am wondering how to do it with Half Dome with out spending night in our tent We would have to take backpacks,floor mat tent and food.So maybe to hike little longer and carryby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechick-on You can camp once you are outside the park boundary at Mono Pass. It's 4 miles from Tuolumne Meadows. And 1 mile from any plowed road. Which doesn't disagree with what I was trying to say and worded poorly.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Yeah, the required distance to go before camping is usually 4 miles from the trailhead. If you do not mind elevation, Saddlebag Lake with the ferry at the start is about dead easy as you'll get. Mono Pass to Sardine Lakes is a bit uphill on the way out but not hard to do. The trick on hills is to just slow down. (You can't camp until you're at Sardine - inside park boundary it's still within 4by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Day hiking is NOT backpacking, unless you are letting her carry a day pack and hauling everything of weight yourself. People learn this in my hiking group a lot - day hiking is a skip and a dance, backpacking is more work than it appears to be. Another 5-10 lbs in the pack can be the difference between a great hike and a death march. the correct first backpacking experience for a young'unby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I'm celebrating the way i do every year - backpacking far from any of that stuff. Never was one for huge crowds of people and loud noises.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I could do it, but that says nothing about whether you could. Can you do a 10+ mile day with a significant climb in the middle?by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
The bird is the word - if Sequoia means NP, you need a jet car. No way I would do that drive, especially after all that hiking, in a day and then get on a plane. You would be lucky to get out of the car once all day. And you left out the 11 year old. I still think it is way too much hiking for a kid.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Are you planning to then reverse course and hike back the way you came, if the road to Hetch Hetchy is closed still? I nearly had heat stroke on Pate trying to go up in the afternoon. Bad section to be in without water - no shade, no water til Morrison in late summer. Next time I'm taking an umbrella. Or camping at the river, getting up at 4 am, and hiking up in the early early early morn.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
There was a way to apply online, not too many years ago. They stopped doing it. I tend to just walk in anymore. I've gotten Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne that way. But that works best if you have a small group and some flexibility of starting point. Coming in midweek helps.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I just got back from Mariposa Grove - spent the night on Wawona Point. We took traction devices and snowshoes and used neither. What little snow is left, is hard and thin, with lots of bare patches. Unless it really lays down the powder this coming Tuesday (it says 5-9 inches possible) it's not pleasant sledding. The snow is patchy and thin along 41 as well. Not a lot out there.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteTroop Remember, the permit system is designed to limit overcrowding and increase safety. There's never a crowding issue on the dome at 6am. That's why the Rangers don't arrive at the subdome until well after sunup. We're not looking to avert policies or cause trouble for the much-appreciated Rangers, but they pass people going down as they go up in the morning and never make issue of pby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotedqniel QuoteAlmostThere When we did it at night, we did the JMT. There was a huge temp drop when we reached the river - we were hiking in down jackets at that point. Took them off again on the way up the hill leaving LYV. Cold SINKS and the water will make it colder. Unless you are certain of your rain gear the Mist Trail while the falls is "misting" is a ticket to hypothermia.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Penalty other than sliding around on icy granite and possibly getting flattened by rockfalls? Don't know, but if you jump one of the gates like that, take traction devices and the sense to turn around if things get bad. There's a reason they close gates on trails like that - they want people to stay off icy, unsafe trails.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I was in a campsite in the Pines campground across the road from Curry, and thought the tent cabins were way too noisy!by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechatka I called Wilderness center and they told me to get that permit going down from Tuolumne. Logically I would think like you,but they told me otherwise.Also we originally go 8 people,but closer we get,our group is getting bigger. You cannot easily add people to a permit once you have it. So once you get a permit, you'll have to stop the group from getting bigger. Or one of those peopby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotehikerchick395 We relied more on desired camping locations, not miles traveled per day. For the Bishop Pass to Kearsarge section, it would be 8 days/7 nights. And for the Kearsarge to Whitney Portal section, we took 7 days/6 nights. Both sections could easily be hiked in a shorter period of time...but why. For us, it was not long enough! If "more desired camping locations"by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteJamesMac QuoteDave It's graffiti. I knock them down whenever I see them inside the Park. There is a huge one on Tioga Road that's going to take several more trips. Do you knock them down even in back country. I always assumed it was kind of a friendly thing to keep others from getting lost. I don't agree with people doing it just to do it. If you need to stack rocks in Yosemite just for thby AlmostThere - General Discussion
The sequoia groves make good snowshoe trips. We do Mariposa grove every January.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Or, they could just rip out the cables altogether and let the climbers do as they will. That would surely diminish the daily injuries and the too-many hiker fatalities quite a lot.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quoteplawrence QuoteAlmostThere And a growing number who do, are very unlucky. You are gambling - in Yosemite the risk is 150% higher than if you do such things elsewhere. Where did you get this statistic? From the Park Service? A study by another group? And what exactly constitutes elsewhere? Just curious... . I hike there 10-12 times a year, and hike with a growing hiking groupby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Padding isn't a fix, since it just smashes flat anyway. Properly fitted pack is hard to figure out - the most adjustable pack I've ever had is an Aarn, I can angle the hip belt any way I please, fine tune it to my body in ways that other packs won't do.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
You have that to look forward to every day of the year in Yosemite... and it has been so for too many years.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
And lots of people do. People have also left smellies out in the open and not been hit, and left packs sitting on rocks, and all kinds of things. And a growing number who do, are very unlucky. You are gambling - in Yosemite the risk is 150% higher than if you do such things elsewhere. LYV is a half day's hike from a parking lot and people who know what gear costs have easy access to a place thby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
The other way to avoid crowds is to do stuff in the morning, before noon. We always start hikes (my hiking group, that is) at 7 or 8 in the morning. By early to mid afternoon when the sun is at its warmest, and bouncing up from the granite like crazy to further get you all sweaty, and bonus! you're on the way back and it's downhill! - we are fighting against the crowds of tourists going up the Miby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Quotechatka Preparation and organizing trip is soo much fun,and I have set days at end of June so I need to make sure that I will not miss the most exciting and adventurous part of Yosemite.And avoid most crowd and commercialization. Avoiding the most crowds will mean skipping Half Dome, the Valley, Glacier Point, Happy Isles, Mist Trail, Yosemite Falls, etc. To completely avoid crowds, I'd getby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I wouldn't leave a pack anywhere unattended. In a bear box in LYV, perhaps. Bears take them even if there is nothing in them. Each year I hear a new story about a pack being stolen by a bear, sometimes when it's put down and the person steps off to take a leak. It might not happen - but it happens. I also know someone who had their $500 tent stolen - they left it set up to go day hike, in LYVby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
I will claim that I have been on a lot of hikes that are better than Half Dome, because I have.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
QuoteKatyAnderson Many of you are saying that the original poster is being overly optimistic by scheduling a High Sierra Camp trip in late June. I beg to differ. From the Yosemite High Sierra Camps website: "High Sierra Camps are typically open mid-June through mid-September, weather permitting." As the OP has a confirmed reservation for late June and Vogelsang doesn't open untilby AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
When we went to Dewey last winter, we were each handed a WAG bag and instructed to carry EVERYTHING out. You are not supposed to have a fire in winter, period, by the way. That would lead to people cutting live trees up since the downed stuff is under snow at this point.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion
Will you be hiking or postholing in snow? is the real question.by AlmostThere - Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. News & Discussion