A bit late but wanted to share a great 4-day trip in Yosemite - we did a clockwise loop starting from the Mono Pass trailhead and around Lyell Canyon. The weather was perfect and the snow was minimal, beautiful, and made some traverses easier. The mosquitos were not as bad as I feared esp as we were fairly high most of the trip. They were worst near Fletcher lake, but deet took care of them.
Mono Pass TH > Kuna Crest: We started out at about 1pm on the 21st from the Mono pass trailhead. The trail ended at Spillway Lake but we easily made our way to Helen lake. From the lake, it was an easy Class 2 hike to the crest.
Kuna Crest > Amelia Earhart Pass: This route was the most tricky as we didn't want to drop too early into Lyell Canyon. We ended up hitting the JMT about 2 miles north of Donahue Pass (if I did it again, I may try to stay much higher as it looked like a fun traverse). We crossed the JMT and headed up the drainage from the various lakes below Earhart Pass. The route to the pass was straightforward (easy class 2 / maybe class 1). We used our microspikes on the west side snow as they helped from slipping a bit (and we brought them!) but they were not necessary.
Amelia Earhart Pass > Bench above Fletcher Lake: It was an easy hike past Ireland Lake to a small lake above Fletcher with a big view and some nice wind protection. This is where the mosquitos were the worst although tolerable.
Fletcher Lake > Mono Pass TH: We made our way back to the Lyell Canyon trail near Ireland Lake. As our car was far east on Tioga, we left the JMT when it turns west close to Hwy 120 and headed through the forest (the downed trees were semi-frustrating). We eventually hit Tioga Pass Rd at the Lower Gaylor trailhead and miraculously got a ride from a very generous couple from southern CA as soon as we got to Hwy 120.
We hiked a bit over 30 miles and the majority was XC...it was a fun trip to start the summer.
