T. meadows--1000 island lake via Roper's high route-- advice
Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:56 pm
Hi,
If possible next week, I'd like to go from Tolumne meadows to 1000 island lake via Roper's Sierra High Route in reverse-- to volgesang, isberg pass trail, XC to twin island lake, N. Glacier Pass, then 1000 island lake and out to the June Lakes road, using the Yarts bus to leave a car there beforehand.
My thinking in going in reverse is 1) the two parts described as steep-- the west side of blue lake pass, and the twin island lakes to N. glacier pass sections-- would be steep going up, which is always easier, rather than down. and 2), we could warm up with two relatively easy days on the trail before the more difficult terrain. Aside from the Raferty creek to volgelsang part, I've never been through this area before-- is there a reason it would be better to do it the other direction? I've gotten in repeated trouble for underselling arduous XC trips in the North Cascades from my wife-- I know that this won't be in that league, but I'd like to be able to be up front about whatever unpleasntries lie in wait.
My second question is what is the upper Lyell fork of the Merced like? My initial motivation for this trip was years ago seeing all the lakes in this basin on a map. For those of you who've been there, what do you recommend? My thought was camping the second night somewhere upstream from the trail along this creek and spending some amount of time (a morning? a day?) exploring around. Given Roper's description of the route between twin island lake and the isberg pass trail, it seems like much of the rest of the terrain is also worth extra attention-- what areas would you recommend for spending any layover time?
And I guess one last question is: if we have the time the first day to keep going past volgesang, are there any recommended campspots along the way from there towards Lewis creek?
Thanks a ton for any advice,
adam
If possible next week, I'd like to go from Tolumne meadows to 1000 island lake via Roper's Sierra High Route in reverse-- to volgesang, isberg pass trail, XC to twin island lake, N. Glacier Pass, then 1000 island lake and out to the June Lakes road, using the Yarts bus to leave a car there beforehand.
My thinking in going in reverse is 1) the two parts described as steep-- the west side of blue lake pass, and the twin island lakes to N. glacier pass sections-- would be steep going up, which is always easier, rather than down. and 2), we could warm up with two relatively easy days on the trail before the more difficult terrain. Aside from the Raferty creek to volgelsang part, I've never been through this area before-- is there a reason it would be better to do it the other direction? I've gotten in repeated trouble for underselling arduous XC trips in the North Cascades from my wife-- I know that this won't be in that league, but I'd like to be able to be up front about whatever unpleasntries lie in wait.
My second question is what is the upper Lyell fork of the Merced like? My initial motivation for this trip was years ago seeing all the lakes in this basin on a map. For those of you who've been there, what do you recommend? My thought was camping the second night somewhere upstream from the trail along this creek and spending some amount of time (a morning? a day?) exploring around. Given Roper's description of the route between twin island lake and the isberg pass trail, it seems like much of the rest of the terrain is also worth extra attention-- what areas would you recommend for spending any layover time?
And I guess one last question is: if we have the time the first day to keep going past volgesang, are there any recommended campspots along the way from there towards Lewis creek?
Thanks a ton for any advice,
adam