Feedback/advice request on 4-night Yosemite trip

[mkhaley]

I’m a forum lurker, first-time poster, living in New England and eager to explore the High Sierra. My wife and I are planning our first trip to Yosemite, and I was hoping someone from the forum might be willing to kindly give us some feedback/advice about our itinerary.

We were lucky to get a Rafferty Creek wilderness permit for the first week in September and would like to do a trip of 4 nights (or maybe 5 nights). We’re trying to strike the difficult balance of seeing different aspects of the landscape while not rushing too much; and seeing some of the more scenic spots while still enjoying some solitude. Also, we’d like to visit Cloud’s Rest, if possible. (Half Dome seems more crowded, thus less appealing.)

Our tentative plan has been:
Day 1: Rafferty Trailhead -> Vogelsang
Day 2: Vogelsang -> Merced
Day 3: Merced -> Upper Sunrise Lake
Day 4: Layover day at Upper Sunrise Lake, do out and back to Cloud’s Rest
Day 5: Upper Sunrise -> Cathedral Lakes Trailhead

I'd greatly appreciate general feedback or suggestions of alternate routes. There are also two specific things that I’m wondering:

1) Would it be preferable in terms of variety of scenery to finish the trip after Merced with a descent to YV, something like:
Day 3b: Merced -> Cloud’s Rest/JMT Junction (or before the junction)
Day 4b: Layover day at Cloud’s Rest/JMT junction, do big loop over Cloud’s rest, north to south
Day 5b: Half dome in the morning, then hike down to YV

I imagine they’re both great trips, but am wondering what some of the benefits and drawbacks of each would be.

2) Is this 4-night itinerary too rushed? We could make it 5 nights, adding another layover day at Vogelsang at the beginning to relax and explore the lakes. The drawback would be one less day of day hiking elsewhere in the park at the end of the trip. We plan to be in Yosemite for a week total. When not backpacking, we’ll be staying at one of the valley lodges.

Re: our experience, I’d say that we’re Level 2/3 backpackers. We’re comfortable with Class 3 terrain from day hikes and could manage some easy cross-country, although we’re not necessarily looking to do either here.

Thanks for your consideration!

[JWreno]

I have done this trip a few different ways. I have ended up at Happy Isles after Merced Lake and Half Dome, using the shuttle to the starting trailhead. I have gone to Merced Lake back up to Sunrise High Camp and then followed the JMT back to the starting point. I have also gone to Tenaya Lake after Clouds Rest and continued over to Glen Aulin and did a day hike down to Waterwheel falls and back and finished back at the starting point.

I love Clouds Rest. I have done Half Dome about 5 times over the years, all before the restrictive permitting started. I think Clouds Rest has the better views and less crowds. I have done Clouds Rest and Half Dome on the same day back in 2008 finishing up a northbound JMT trip starting at Cottonwood Pass south of Mount Whitney.

I think your tentative plan is fine. This may be your first time hiking much above 8-9 thousand feet. The elevation gains to Vogelsang and also backup to Sunrise Lakes may be felt a bit. It's all very pretty and you don't need to push the miles. It is good that you are going in September. It will take a while for the snow to melt of this year and the bugs will be better in September compared to August.

[c9h13no3]

A few thoughts:

The hitch hike/walk from Cathedral to Rafferty Trailhead is super easy. Sounds preferable to me vs doing the bus thing. The section of the JMT that goes from Sunrise Camp to Cathedral Lakes is quite good. Course, if you don’t rent a car, that may not be an advantage.

I didn’t find the stretch of trail between LYV and Half Dome/Clouds Rest to be particularly scenic and the 2014 Meadow fire burned the stretch from Lost Valley to LYV. Plus the best part of the trail in Yosemite Valley (the loop up the Mist, then down the JMT) is easily day hiked.

The highlight of the Vogelsang area is largely the plethora of lakes, accessible by trail. That area is starting to get above tree line too, which I really enjoy. Take a look at photos of Evelyn Lake, Bernice Lake, ect. and see if you think they’re worth adding to your itinerary.

I thought Puppy Dome was a nice way to burn 30 minutes if you find yourself with an awkwardly short amount of time between activities. Nice at sunset.

Carry an N95 in your pack. Weighs nothing and is useful for wildfire smoke.

[LMBSGV]

The route is fine. My wife and I did this in 1981 in the opposite direction. I’m sure it’s changed a lot since then. We began at Cathedral Trailhead since the climbs are a little easier that way. Expect a lot of people on this route. Clouds Rest is nowhere near as popular as Half Dome, but it still gets a lot of dayhikers from the Sunrise Trailhead. I prefer camping at Middle Sunrise to Upper Sunrise. Also, we didn’t really like Merced Lake and camped along the river above the lake and found solitude. Besides Vogelsang Lake, you can consider either Bernice Lake before Vogelsang Pass, Townsley Lake above Fletcher Lake, or Evelyn Lake. If you camp at Evelyn Lake you can return through Lyell Canyon, which my wife and I did a couple of times.

[Wandering Daisy]

You seem to want less crowds. In that case be aware that the Merced, Volgalsang or Sunrise "High Sierra Camps" are very crowded. There is a lot of nice camping if you adjust the schedule a few extra or less miles to avoid these camps. For example, if willing to do a short off-trail section Townsely Lake is very scenic. Although a long day, Bernice Lake is wonderful. I really do not like Merced Lake- it is so vegetated that it is hard to get to the shore. If you drop down the outlet, just before dropping to the bottom of the falls, there is a nice spot a bit off trail. With this year's high snowpack, there should be plentiful water which should offer more potential campsites. Be aware that with your permit, you are generally free to camp well away from that indicated on your permit the other nights. The only thing set in stone is entry and exit trailheads and first night. I think you can even be flexible about exact location the first night.

First week in September includes Labor Day crowds and often is still summer (hot). In the higher country there could be lingering snow patches in spite of hot temperatures. Check detailed weather forecasts, you may get by with considerably less clothing than you think. Many of us will be posting trip reports this summer that will give you more information on conditions.

[mkhaley]

Thank you all for kindly sharing your feedback and knowledge, it’s very helpful. I’m gathering that the first route, looping back up to Cathedral lakes, might be exactly what we’re looking for—scenic but not quite as crowded. Then we can do the loop up Mist and down JMT as a day hike on another day (or another visit).

I appreciate the suggestion about aiming for Middle Sunrise Lake rather than Upper. I also appreciate the suggestions of campsites away from the more crowded backpacker’s camps. The only reason we were aiming for the camps at Vogelsang and Merced was to be able use the bear boxes at the beginning and then carry a smaller bear can. But I should maybe just get over it and carry the bigger BV in order to enjoy more solitude. I had thought about trying to get to Bernice on day one, but Townsley seems like a great closer option, since the altitude might hold us back. We did the Teton Crest Trail last summer, and we managed a long first day ascent up to 9,500 feet, but the hiking was pretty miserable at the end. Once we acclimated, the passes near 11,000 feet were manageable. We live at sea level, so we're expecting an exhausting first day.

I'll definitely be reading the trip reports in August and checking the detailed forecasts. I'm imagining the weather.gov spot forecasts are the most useful.

[Lumbergh21]

One more vote for not camping at Merced Lake. Even without any people there when I passed through in 2020, it didn't strike me as a good place to camp, but maybe if I had been looking for campsites, I would have found them. I'm not certain which trails you plan to take from Merced to Sunrise Lakes, but when I went through there in 2020, I headed west after crossing Echo Creek and dry camped near the trail junction at the saddle about one mile from the top of Clouds Rest. Much of that hiking was through burnt forest, which wasn't so pleasant. However, camping where I did above the burn area, I was the first one on top of Clouds Rest that morning, beating the crowds.