Agnew to Happy Isles 5 night itinerary

[Angie Russell]

We are a group of 2 families (with teenaged kids). We would like to hike from Agnew Meadows (first night at Thousand Island lakes, or maybe Garnet?) to Yosemite Valley. I’m hoping this is feasible in 5 nights, but we don’t need to plan on doing much more than 10 miles per day (less would be better). Some of us have already done the Minarets Loop…..others have never seen Yosemite, hence this trip as opposed to an all-out loop in the Minarets. We would like to hike over Clouds Rest, but are uninterested in climbing Half Dome. We are not opposed to a shuttle from Tuolumne to Tenaya Lake, to reduce mileage, but Cathedral Lakes looks pretty nice. Does anyone have recommendations for an itinerary (where to camp each night)? Should we stretch this trip to 6 nights to keep our mileage down (this would reduce our acclimation time to 2 nights as opposed to 3….we’re coming from Arkansas). We don’t want to do any layover days. We do want to pick up a resupply at Tuolumne and grab a burger. Thanks BPL!

[Matthew / BPL]

I really enjoyed Lyell Canyon. It’s such a nice meadow. We camped on the flats before ascending Donahue Pass going SOBO on the JMT two summers ago. This would put you well within range of having a burger at Tuolomne followed by a leisurely afternoon hike to Cathedral Lakes.

I was able to pull GPS coordinates from my InReach history:

Lat:37.798473
Lon:-119.262836

Just my $.02 but plan for six nights rather than five. Why rush it?
Also you can definitely resupply from the Tuolomne grocery store (assuming it is open, you didn’t mention when you were doing this hike) for the last night or two. No need to carry food for the end of the trip all of the way from Agnew Meadows in my opinion. I bet the teenagers (and adults?) will have a new enthusiasm for the trail after raiding the store.

Have fun!

[Kenneth Keating]

I’ve hiked from TM to AM in 2014 and 2015, and last year from AM to TM to Clouds Rest down to the valley via panorama trail-glacier point-4 mile trail.  First, the trip to Clouds Rest is definitely a great route as opposed to the JMT, you’ll really enjoy the view.   Regarding camping spots, you’ll have plenty of areas to find, so no problems there.    From AM take the PCT, not the River Trail.  Beautiful views along the PCT, whereas the River Trail runs in a valley with very limited views.

I’m hesitant to provide an itinerary because there are so many variables regarding hiking speed, comfort, starting times, etc but to be honest there’s so many great camping spots you can’t go wrong.  If the group is not in the best of hiking shape my recommendation is not to try to go over Donahue Pass late in the afternoon, try to camp two to three miles southeast and hike over the pass in the morning.

You can still stop off at Cathedral Lakes, just take the JMT to Sunrise, head west to the Tenaya Lake-Clouds Rest trail and continue south to Clouds Rest.  But if you’re tired when you reach TM just take the shuttle from TM to the Clouds Rest Trail head just west of Tenaya Lake.

There’s plenty of water to be found along most of the route except from about three miles north of CR and five miles south of CR to the JMT so plan accordingly.   But this has been a very high snow year, so there could be more water on this portion, but there was none last year around June 20. If you’re going late in the season there may not be water from AM for the first six miles.

[Lester Moore]

As Matt suggested, shoot for 6 nights instead of 5 – it’s much easier to shorten a trip at the last minute than to extend it, especially if jobs and flights are involved. And as Ken mentioned, there will be a lot of snow in the Sierras this year, so unless the snowpack changes, there could still be significant snow on the passes into July.

Keep in mind that camping is restricted near Thousand Island and Garnet lakes. If you have time for a few extra miles, consider camping at Ediza Lake instead of Garnet – very pretty lake and scenic valley that you hike up to get to it.

If you have two nights to acclimatize before beginning your hike, camp as high as you can both nights. There’s some free camping right off the main Mammoths Scenic Loop Road just North of the town of Mammoth at nearly 8500′ in elevation.

If you are open to varying from from traditional JMT and want to add a few miles to the end of your trip, consider the alternative trail from Tuolumne to Yosemite Valley that goes past Vogelsang Camp, down to Merced Lake and then down scenic Little Yosemite Valley. One of the best camp sites and swimming holes we found on a JMT-like hike last summer was in Little Yosemite Valley –  Lat -37.745 Lon -119.460.

[Angie Russell]

Thanks for all of the replies. We will have a maximum of 9 nights total for this trip. So….if we take 2 to acclimate, we’ll have 6 for backpacking, and then 1 near airport for flight home. Thinking of a hotel room or condo at Mammoth Village (as high as possible) for acclimation. I like the suggestion of climbing Donahue Pass in the morning with fresh(er) legs. I’ve done the High trail before and like it’s views and gentle grade. I’m thinking now about the following itinerary:

Day 1: High Trail, camp at TI Lakes

Day 2: hike to just prior to Donahue Pass

Day 3: over Donahue and camp somewhere in Lyell Canyon (closer to TM, within legal parameters)

Day 4:to TM for lunch and resupply, then to Sunrise lakes via Tenaya

Day 5: over Clouds Rest to LYV

Day 6: Mist Trail to Valley (camp at backpackers campground)

Day 7: drive toward Reno for flight home the following day

(alternately, we could opt to camp at Cathedral Lakes on Day 4, Sunrise (or closer to Clouds Rest?) on Day 5, LYV on Day 6, and drive back towards Reno airport after hiking to the Valley on Day 7)

What do you think? Is this doable for lowlanders who think 10 miles  is a full day?

 

[Matthew / BPL]

Yes totally doable. If they haven’t been in the Sierra before they will be absolutely floored by what they are seeing. It sounds like a great trip!

[Kenneth Keating]

You’re itinerary looks good.  Once you reach TM you’ll have a good ideal of hiking speed and endurance for how to proceed to the valley and can plan accordingly.

[Paul Wagner]

Nothing wrong with your itinerary–but you will meet a lot of people on that trail.

If you want a route that is slightly less traveled, you might look at going over Donahue Pass, then up past Evelyn Lake to Vogelsang. From there you can choose either Lewis Canyon (camp at Bernice lake!) or Fletcher Canyon (camp at Babcock) and then continue down to Merced Lake. Lovely country. Not nearly so many hikers as on the JMT. And you could still day-hike up to Clouds Rest from Little Yosemite Valley…

[Angie Russell]

I know we would enjoy the relative solitude of the other route, but we like the idea of picking up food for the last few nights at TM. We have younger/smaller teens in our group, so we won’t be asking them to carry any of the food. Will be nice to only carry 3 nights’ food for 4-5 people (per family) as opposed to 5-6 nights’ food. That’s the main reason we’re looking at this loop as opposed to North Lake-South Lake or the HST(which are both on my list for when the kids have more adult bodies). For now, we’ll just have to deal with the busy trails…..as long as we can find campsites, seeing other people is not really a big deal to us. But I do appreciate all of the advice!

[jscott]

The hike from TI to below Donohue is short and easy. There’s several great day/off trail hikes in that area. A spectacular second-half-of-the day hike would be to hike towards Donohue, then take the junction up to Marie Lake. (There’s a beautiful camp just a few yards past this junction, so camp there). If you do this, I recommend leaving the trail just as you approach the first lake below Marie Lake (sorry I don’t have a map in front of me.) Simply climb a little bit onto the ridge to the left. This gives you spectacular views of the entire area for many, many miles. Follow the ridge up until it re-connects with the trail (a mere 1/2 mile) that leads to Marie Lake. One could leap across the outlet stream and wander on sheer granite for hours at this point. Or return to camp. You could also camp at the lake below Marie that I mentioned. Very few people camp there. But I prefer the views from the campsite on the trail to donohue.

I like Paul’s suggestion as well. Bernice Lake is great, but the trail to and past Babcock is far more spectacular, imo. However, if you camp at Vogelsang backpacker camp, it’s worth it to day hike to Vogelsang Pass. This gives the best views to be had on that route. Then take Fletcher the next day. Best of both worlds. (A day spent off trailing from Vogelsang Pass is fantastic too.)(for that matter, there’s easy off trailing up past the inlet falls to Vogelsang Lake and back into the lakes in that basin.)

[Angie Russell]

Thanks for the tip re:exploring below Donahue! I’m definitely going to get out the map and make a mental note of that area!

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