I just wanted to thank everyone again for the info. We just got back from a wonderful trip. We ended up keeping it pretty leisurely and had a blast - and it was a nice warmup for the HST which I leave for in a few days.
I'll post a trip report with photos later, but here it is in short:
Day 1 (Thurs): Dropped car in Mammoth and took YARTS to tuolumne. Hiked in Lyell Canyon and camped at the lower lake below the pass. Arrived just in time to pitch tent before short but violent hail storm. When storm cleared, took out the fishing pole and cast a few times - pulled out a couple of small brookies.
Day 2: Hiked to 1000 Island Lake rather quickly since storms were building all around us (yet a small patch of sun seemed to stay on us all day - quite nice!) Found a nice site and quickly set up in anticipation of the storms, but they never materialized above us. Enjoyed a nice afternoon of swimming, walking the entire north shore of the lake with my fishing pole, but not a single bite.
Day 3: Hiked to Shadow Creek and found a nice (legal) site below Ediza. Scrambled up the (wrong) route to Cabin Lake, fished (nothing), then found correct trail back to Shadow Creek which spit us out right at our campsite. Heh. Husband went up to Ediza with his fishing pole and came back with a brookie feast for dinner.
Day 4: After another successful fishing expedition to Ediza and brookie breakfast, we dayhiked the lakes and meadows around the area (Nydiver, Iceberg, etc). Really enjoyed Nydiver lakes - definitely plan to go back there sometime.
Day 5: Hit the trail early and exited at Agnew - was eating fish tacos at Whoa Nellie by noon.