High Sierra Topix

Sorry that this is so vague, but I'd like to try hiking in Western Yosemite National Park and I'm wondering if anyone could help with a trip recommendation.

I've traipsed all around the Ansel Adams cross-country and otherwise (you could drop me blindfolded in the AA and I'd find my way out). I've also been all around the east side of Yosemite National Park, the Emigrant Wilderness, and Inyo.

I'd like to try the west side of Yosemite, three to five days, ideally a loop so we could start and finish the same place. I've always avoided Yosemite because it seems so crowded, but it occurs to me I ought to explore the place before I get too old.

Thanks in advance for considering this admittedly vague request...

Not sure what you intend to do in "western" Yosemite Park. Yosemite Valley proper is not backpacker territory -- it's not wilderness. You can do the south rim (Pohono trail, from tunnel view to Glacier Point) or the north rim (from OBOFRT to Snow Creek and down to the valley floor), or you can do a couple of loops (one shorter, one longer) in the wilderness area accessible by trailheads in Wawona or along Glacier Point Road. Look for Buena Vista loop trip reports for info on that area.

Some loops that include things like Cathedral or Sunrise Lakes, or Red Peak Pass/Clark Range, may have been part of your more easterly expeditions, and since you are crowd-averse and that area is quite crowded -- lousy with day hikers as well -- I'll just give them a mention as a possibility.

Are you referring to Yosemite Valley or areas out of Hetch Hetchy Pietro, be more specific? Also, when are you planning to do this trip?

I suppose Hetch Hetchy is also western. It's right next door to the Emigrant, however, and so I was guessing it might have been someplace he'd been already.

Functional definitions are wiggly things...

Trails in western Yosemite have trail quotas, just like the JMT. The "crowdedness" is more when you get within range of day-hikers. Back in the wilderness, out of range of day-hikers, it is no more crowded than Ansel Adams Wilderness. Two loops I have done. There are actually more Alpine loops if you stay near the Crest but I thought you meant other hikes more to the west.

Fernandez trailhead is on FS land south of Yosemite. Not crowded at all. Lillian Lake and lakes in upper cirque. Off-trail to Breeze and Chain Lakes (you can also go back to Lillian Lake and take the Fernandez Trail over Fernandez Pass). Merced Pass to Ottoway Lakes. Red Peak Pass to Red Devil, Edna, Turner Lake. Lakes on bench between Iseberg Pass and Harriet Lake. Over Iseberg to Saddler and Mc Clure, over Post Peak Pass to Porphory Lake. Off-trail traverse to Post, Slab, Rutherford Lks. Trail back to Fernandez.

Grand Canyon of Tuolumne and Ten Lakes loop. From Lukens Lake TH. Lukens Lake - trail north and intersect trail from Harden Lake. Drop to Pate Valley, up Tuolumne, Mc Gee Lake, Cathedral Creek, north of Poly Dome Lakes, unnamed pass to SF Cathedral Creek, Ten Lakes, Lukens Lake. I did this in 5 days, but it was too fast. Better for a week trip.

I wrote up trip reports on both of these.

If you really want to explore the western part of Yosemite, look at Boundary Lake or Jack Main Canyon. Those trails leave from Hetch-hetchy or Cherry Lake...and get you into some wonderful country. If you enter through Cherry Lake there are no trail quotas, but you get your permit from the Stanislaus National Forest office in Groveland. We have trip reports on a number of these hikes on the website in our signature.

How far West do you want to hike? And do you want to stay on the trail? We took a delightful hike last year from TM to Glen Aulin, then off trail up Conness Creek to Roosevelt Lake, then across to Young Lakes, and back to TM. Four pretty leisurely days....and we saw nobody between Glen Aulin and Young Lakes...

And getting a pass through permit for Glen Aulin is not hard. Not a popular trail choice, I think,

Thanks very much for your advice. After I got out the maps this afternoon, I realized "west Yosemite Nat'l Park" really is vague.

And after looking around at the maps, I came up with this loop: Hetch Hetchy to to Laurel Lake to Vernon Lake to Rancheria Falls and back to Hetch Hetchy.

It seems like I should do this one in September when it's a little cooler, as I get the impression these trails can get pretty hot. Is Rancheria Falls a crowded campsite? It seems like it would be as it's so close to civilization.

Let me know what you think of this hike and if you have tip or advice.

Thanks in advance...

Rancheria is a zoo, and the rangers will ask you to stay in the overused sites right next to the river. There are some scattered flat areas farther down the river, and some places higher up, if socializing isn't your thing.

Laurel is gorgeous. Vernon is better fishing I think. The higher and farther out you go, the higher the elevation - when planning in this area, I arrive midafternoon the day before I want to hike, pick up the permit at the gate, and get down to the backpacker camp. A pre-dawn start to climb the switchbacks up Beehive gets us into milder temps for daytime hiking pretty quickly. The road closes at dusk so plan to be there after 8 am or before sundown. I find the trail along the lake is the freeway of the area -- all the day hikers go to Wapama Falls and back, and all the single-nighters go to Rancheria Falls. Beyond that you will enjoy relative solitude.

A fire burnt out a lot of the trees lower down, in the Miguel Meadow area. The last time i was at Laurel a few years ago there were tons of downed trees -- the wind event of 2011 reduced the number of campsites overall in forested areas -- but we found a good spot on the south end of the lake.

Would recommend doing his hike in the early season (depending on snow levels), waterfalls/cascades will be gorgeous, you will have less folks, especially at Laurel and Vernon, Rancheria will still be crowded and bears will be an issue. Far eastern end of the Vernon Lake basin is really pretty, especially if Branigan Creek is booming, use the use trail on the eastern side of the lake. Also the no name lakes chain leading south of Middle Branigan onto the bench above Lake Vernon is really pretty, you can hike down to Vernon from the last lake, makes for a great day hike.

- See more at: http://www.highsierratopix.com/high-sie ... btiRf.dpuf

Unfortunately early season isn’t an option for me (I’m hiking the San Jacinto Mountains in the early season).

Can I reasonably expect the backpacker camp at Hetch Hetchy to have room for my party if I arrive in the afternoon? How quickly does it fill up? We’ll probably be there on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

Another question: What is the name of this trailhead? I couldn’t find anything at the Yosemite permit webpage that seems to be it.

Maverick—Your dayhike suggestion out of Lake Vernon sounds very nice. You’re saying to follow the inlet creek from Lake Vernon up to Branigan Lake, then hike south beside the no name long lake and short lake, and then go due west back to Vernon?