Rafferty Creek - Eveyln Lake - Lyell Fork Loop?

[Fairbanks142]

Hi all, we'll soon be in Yosemite heading up the Rafferty Creek trail for a couple of nights in the Vogelsang area. Any thoughts on making our return a loop via the Evelyn Lake trail and then Lyell Fork back into Tuolumne Meadows, vs. just doing an out-and-back on the Rafferty Creek trail? Thanks!

[LMBSGV]

Yes, I recommend it. My wife and I have done it three times, the first time on a whim—“Well, by the map we don’t have to do back the way we came. Let’s try this.” The other times, we planned the trip that way since we loved it the first time.

[balzaccom]

Why not? You get to see new stuff. We've done with trails (although not as a loop) and they both have some nice things to see...

[bobby49]

You could return via Reymann Lake and Elizabeth Lake.

[Fairbanks142]

Would you recommend the route leaving Rafferty Creek trail, shown at the link below, to cut up over to Reymann Lake?

https://caltopo.com/m/5CFG

And how is the traverse from Reymann to Elizabeth, skipping Nelson, traversing across at the same elevation from Reymann to cut over to Elizabeth Lake? (In other words, shortcut the route shown at the above link by traversing across from Reymann, picking up the route again above Elizabeth.)

[bobby49]

Yes, well, getting from Vogelsang over the pass to Reymann Lake is OK. Then you can take the long way around to Nelson Lake and then up over the pass and down to Elizabeth Lake. Going the other direction, I've always gone from Elizabeth Lake up to its pass, and then I take a direct route over and down to Reymann Lake.

[balzaccom]

How good are your XC skills? I don't think we can answer for you. The route from Elizabeth to Nelson to Reymann to Tuolumne Pass is fairly easy to navigate (the use trail from Elizabeth Lake is perfectly obvious.) The route from Reymann to the pass above Elizabeth Lake is not obvious, and you need both route finding skills and some common sense to avoid the steeper sections.

[bobby49]

The route from Reymann to the pass above Elizabeth Lake is not obvious, and you need both route finding skills and some common sense to avoid the steeper sections.

It's good training.

I led a bunch of beginner backpackers that way one time, and they all survived.

[wildhiker]

The easiest way from Vogelsang area to Reymann Lake is to start at Tuolumne Pass and head northwest about 1/2 mile to the little saddle, then head due north gradually gaining elevation on the slope to hit a minor ridge coming down from Rafferty Peak just above a little knob, and then drop slightly into the basin to the north and back up to the pass over to Reymann Lake. The route down from Reymann Lake to Nelson Lake is easy on mostly slabs and meadow. In fact, I would rate the whole route from Tuolumne Pass to Nelson Lake as class 1. Then you can pick up the use trail from the Nelson Lake outlet that first drops WSW down to about 9400 feet, then crosses the broad open granite ridge (easy to lose here), before turning sharply north to slope down to the big meadow along Echo Creek, where the use trail becomes very clear again and remains clear all the way over the pass to Elizabeth Lake. I highly recommend Nelson Lake as a campsite - you get a marvelous sunset light show on the big granite cliff to the east.
-Phil

[Fairbanks142]

Great information, thanks all. And we do have xc route finding skills and experience.

Sounds like if we don't want to drop down to Nelson Lake from Reymann Lake, we can traverse more directly from Reymann Lake to Elizabeth Lake. (By staying above the 10K elevation WNW from Reymann Lake to get over to where we'd go north up and over the pass to Elizabeth Lake.)

Also thanks for the tip of starting the traverse from Tuolumne Pass (coming from Vogelsang) rather than farther down Rafferty Creek trail as shown in the route at the link above.