JMT timing summer 2011/walk on

Are you asking about walk in sites in Yellowstone, Wyoming or Yosemite, CA? And for which campgrounds in said park?

It's hard to predict weather. Both start dates would provide for an amazing trip. It's possible that there will still be some (very manageable) snow starting on July 6th. It wouldn't be much of a factor later in the year. My guess is that the later start will provide for better wildflowers. How fast will you walk? Which direction?

Found the info about walk ons. Made a reservation for the 6th today- BUT would try walk on if I thought flowers better and easier to manage the snow. The ranger today thought 3 weeks would make a real difference.
Planning about 15 days Tuolomne to Kearsarge and out from there.
Would welcome any thoughts/critique.

Sam.

Sam,

As you probably know, we have quite heavy snowpack this year in the Sierras.
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/PLOT_SWC

This means that the mosquitos won't thin out until late August. I think that any start date in July will mean heavy mosquito load. If you care about bugs, then the later you can go the better. July will have heavy bugs. September will be bug free, but few flowers. Early August will still be buggy, late August might or might not be bug free. If you don't care about bugs, then any July date will have great flowers.
Amy

Amy –

I hope you're wrong about the bugs!

But I have no reason to doubt you're right.

We're on the JMT for two weeks right in the middle of August. We'll just have to see how it goes…..

I predict the bugs will mostly be gone by August. Certainly entirely gone by late August. Every year, the snowpack at this time looks overwhelmingly bad, and the predictions for closed routes well into August seem dire….and somehow, by the beginning of July the trail is mostly clear of snow, and by the end of the month the bugs are mostly gone.

The long days in June will do the trick again this year…

Cheers!

Lets hope so, I leave July 25th