From TRIP 30: Traverse from Yosemite Creek to Tenaya Lake via Ten Lakes Basin Switchbacks lead east out of the South Fork drainage, alternately climbing across open slabby slopes and through forest pockets until you cross onto continuous granite slabs for the final zigzags. Rolling over the lip out of the South Fork drainage, the north side of Tuolumne Peak fans out broadly, and the trail follows a series of broken benches across it. It is a beautiful landscape, with repeated granite spurs proffering exquisite views across Yosemite''s northern lands and beyond to Emigrant Wilderness. You drop repeatedly to drainages holding small tarns, rivulets lasting most of the summer, and dense clusters of hemlocks, only to again ascend a rocky rib. There are lots of hidden camping options along here if you collect water from the little creeks and then trend up and north to camp in sandy flats on a knob. Indeed, starting where the trail first levels out near a seasonal tarn, there are places to stop on every major knob for 1.5 miles east. Ambling along the bench, you eventually cross the most major drainage off Tuolumne Peak (14.

1 miles)--this is the easiest place to ascend the peak to enjoy a 360 degree view, a worthwhile and easy side trip if you have 2-3 spare hours. Continued walking brings you to another pair of seasonal tarns, with the final superb campsites. A few more switchbacks take you to the top of a spur, beyond which the trail turns to the south and begins a long descent down the northeast side of Tuolumne Peak. The walking is generally pleasant and sandy, with various flower displays breaking the monotony, since views aren''t striking. From TRIP 57: Vogelsang Pass-Merced Lake-Emeric Lake Semiloop You cross roaring Lewis Creek on a pair of bridges and proceed west on an almost level, wide, sandy path under forest canopy, noteworthy for the beautiful grove of Jeffrey pines. The trail then loops south around a granite ridge, dropping an additional 100 feet to reach the Merced Lake basin. You first pass the Merced Lake High Sierra Camp (15.65 miles), where you can buy a few provisions at the small store and make use of a water faucet, and heading north, soon encounter a short spur trail to the Merced Lake backpackers'' campground, where there is a toilet and bear boxes (15.

8 miles). This is the only legal campsite around Merced Lake. After spending a night here--for why else did you descend to here?--and enjoying Merced Lake in its photogenic late evening and early morning moods, you retrace your steps to the Lewis Creek--Fletcher Creek junction (17.75 miles) A few tight switchbacks descend to a wooden bridge over Lewis Creek. In a flat to the northeast are a few pretty tent sites, although fallen trees have vanquished most real estate in this previously popular camping area. From here, the trail begins a moderate-to-steep ascent over unevenly cobblestoned, exposed trail--a grunt on a hot day. The path is bordered by prickly shrubs, in particular featuring whitethorn and huckleberry oak. Just past a tributary a half mile from the Lewis Creek bridge, stepping west of the trail provides views of some fine cataracts and waterfalls along Fletcher Creek.

Climbing onwards, granite slabs open to your left, providing splendid vistas of Fletcher Creek chuting and cascading down the bare bedrock. The trail keeps ascending, steeply at times and mostly some distance east of the creek, often on the now-familiar and generally-despised cobblestones that are essential to prevent too much erosion. A detour onto the middle of the slabs is called for, to feel the smooth glacial polished rock away from the water flow and the water polished rock within it, but be careful not to slip. The few solitary pine trees clinging to the nearby slabs and the dome overhead testify to nature''s extraordinary tenacity. The trail climbs up to a notch, levels off, and soon meets a side trail left (west, then south) to small Babcock Lake, with acceptable campsites, but once again lots of lodgepole-needle-miner-induced ghost forest (19.35 miles). Onward, you walk for 0.6 mile through flat, marshy forest, passing springs and small meadow patches brightly colored with flowers.

Turning a little west, the trail breaks into the open and rises more steeply via rocky switchbacks. From these, looking north, one can see the outlet stream of Emeric Lake--though not the lake itself, which is tucked behind a dome just to the right (east) of the outlet''s notch. The switchbacks parallel the dashing creek until it tops out in a long, skinny meadow, constrained by domes to either side. The trail follows the meandering Fletcher Creek northeast to a ford and just beyond reaches a scissor junction, where a sharp left (west) is the spur trail to Emeric Lake (21.35 miles), a worthwhile detour.