east coast newbs

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Mike M.
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Re: east coast newbs

Post by Mike M. »

To really appreciate Yosemite, you have to see it in the off season. Fall and spring are ideal times to visit. If you have no choice and must come out in July, you might think of taking a day-long swing through the valley (with the zillions of tourists) see the major (awesome) sights (waterfalls, towering granite walls, girthy redwoods), then drive through the park via the Tioga Road (Hwy. 120) and venture south to one of the east side trailheads south of Mammouth. These traiheads are all high and put you almost immediately into the high country. The Mono Pass trailhead, outside of Tom's Place, is a favorite. The trailhead starts at almost 10,000 feet; you can hike up to Ruby Lake and do a number of dayhikes, or you can continue over Mono Pass and explore the Mono recesses and Pioneer Basin. This area tends to be under utilized compared to some of the other east side trailheads.

Other favorite options include Bishop Pass (Dusy Basin is spectacular), Piute Pass, Kearsarge Pass (Kearsarge Lakes are beautiful and easily accessible), and Cottonwood Pass. Of these options, Kearsarge is probably the most crowded, followed by Bishop and Piute. Crowded is relative -- nothing compares to the overuse you would see in parts of Yosemite in high season.

All of these traiheads have quotas; Kearsarge, Bishop, and Cottonwood all have very generous quotas. If you do not have a reservation, you can almost always obtain permits (at the ranger station in Bishop) on any weekday; weekends (Fri and Saturday) can be problematic.

Approaching the high country from the west usually takes a little longer, since the trailheads tend to start at much lower elevations. The west side gets more moisture and the range ascends gradually and supports huge areas of remote forestland; the east side is more arid and the range rises abruptly. Because of nature's obstacles and a lot of luck (plus some foresight) no roads bisect the Sierra from east to west between Yosemite and Bakersfield. This means that once you hike over a pass, you're in a true wilderness, clear of any road ends and away from crowds.

Coming from the Appalachians, the country will look and feel quite foreign to you. Very little humidity! The Central Valley is hot (usually 95+ degrees every day in a typical summer), but it's a dry heat. Along Hwy 395, on the east side, it can get hot too, but as you get to elevation (near the trailheads), the temperatures are almost ideal -- in the 60s and 70s during the daytime and quite cold at night (anywhere from 20 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit at night).

Enjoy!

Mike
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lambertiana
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Re: east coast newbs

Post by lambertiana »

As has already been said by others, good luck getting permits for anything decent in Yosemite. However, I prefer SEKI/Ansel Adams Wilderness over Yosemite, and there are many beautiful areas that are easily accessible, and you have a much better chance of getting a permit. A lot of good suggestions have been given - Minarets/Thousand Island Lake, Dusy Basin, Kearsarge Lakes, to name a few. You just can't go wrong in that part of the Sierras.

If you want a deep canyon that is very similar to Yosemite Valley, with zero people and no quota at the trailhead, check out Tehipite Valley.
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Re: east coast newbs

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Do not send those poor inocent souls down to Tehipite Valley mid July!

All othe suggestions are fabulous.
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balzaccom
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Re: east coast newbs

Post by balzaccom »

lambertiana wrote:As has already been said by others, good luck getting permits for anything decent in Yosemite.

Huh? Glacier Point/Illilouette is almost completely open. Glen Aulin has huge windows of availability, May Lake and Mono Meadows are wide open, so are Nelson Lake, Ten Lakes and Young Lakes. And as others have noted, it's even easier to get permits for Twin lakes, Virginia Lakes, etc.

Just because you can't hike up the mist trail wearing your backpack doesn't mean the trailheads are all full.
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sparky
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Re: east coast newbs

Post by sparky »

Getting a permit isnt an issue if you show up early. If thats a big deal, then dont go to yosemite. But like others have said, anywhere in the sierra is wonderful, and you cant go wrong. If you want solitude in only 3 or 4 days avoid yosemite.

If you just want to hike the high sierra, you will find it outside yosemite. Green meadows, towering sheer granite, waterfalls, lakes, blue sky.....go find it
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markskor
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Re: east coast newbs

Post by markskor »

lambertiana wrote:As has already been said by others, good luck getting permits for anything decent in Yosemite.
By this time of year, when you call in, you will discover immediately that all the desirable reserved (on-line) backcountry permit dates are filled - gone. This does not mean that good permits are still not available. Here is the way it works - Yosemite permit-wise. 60% of all the backcountry permits are designated reservable, and by this time of year, (check for yourself) probably your choice of dates is long filled up. However, the remaining 40% are designated "next-day" and are still available - in fact, most of the quotas are never filled.

Many hopeful backpackers send in their dream choices 6 months ahead of time to ensure guaranteed trail space - always a wise move for larger parties. Unfortunately, these planners often ask for 4 - 6 person permits, anticipating that Aunt Millie and the neighborhood friend will be coming along too on the trip...(You know how this story goes?)...over 1/2 drop out last minute. The Yosemite Permit folk have no way of knowing that the reserved party of 6 is now only a twosome until the day before when the party arrives in the park to pick up their reserved permit...thus 4 spaces are opened up last minute.
If 20% of the reserved permits drop out (a conservative estimate) and 40% are open as next day, that adds up to over 50% of all permits being wide open and available.

If you are a single or a two, just show up, get to the permit place early, be flexible, and grab one - I do. I never make reservations anymore and have always gotten my first choice of trailhead...(Half Dome/Happy Isles being the one exception). Even at that, my buddy once wanted to bag the Dome two years ago July 4th (a rather busy day in the park). Without any prior reservations, we were on the trail by 11:00, permit in hand.
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AlmostThere
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Re: east coast newbs

Post by AlmostThere »

What trips people up with Yosemite is that the campgrounds fill, the permit quota that's reservable fills, and they have these nightmares of not getting to do what they want to do.

I have made one campsite reservation - last August, height of the season, someone wanted to hike some destination from Happy Isles. I went online on a whim and got a site in Upper Pines that had apparently been a cancellation. Allowed several of us to go up the night before so we could dayhike at the ungodly hour our friend wanted to start hiking.

I took a group of 20 people to Tuolumne Meadows campground the week it opened last year - we got enough sites for us. Had to get on a waiting list but the sites that came up were all next to each other.

I have done three consecutive backpacking trips - walk in for a permit for Parker Pass, get it, hike with one group of friends. Walk in the morning I got back, got a permit for Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, went for three days with another friend. Walk in after that... Yeah, I stored a bunch of stuff in a bear locker at the Dog Lake Trailhead, it was all there each time I picked up another canister full of food.

Take a list of trips of the same duration, prioritize them, walk in, get permits, go backpacking. People cancel ALL the time. ALL the time. Ask Inyo - they are really, really good at recycling those Whitney permits, abandoned daily. One of the reasons I got with a hiking group was having endless cases where the hiking buddy du joir bailed out on me and left me in the lurch. I'll post a trip, have 50 people sign up, and have six people on the trail with me at the end. There has not been a trip where I have not had enough permit slots for people, but there have been those where I reserved 10 and ate the fees for half of those.
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