I can think of four possibilities that, with minimal approach, can get "boots on the trail":
- Devil's Postpile/Red's Meadow (via )
- out-and-back from Devil's Postpile (worth seeing in any case) crossing the Middle Fork San Joaquin River
- loop from Red's Meadow south then west and north to Devil's Postpile junction and back down
- Yosemite Valley: Happy Isles to Nevada Falls (strenuous day hike and crowded)
- Glacier Point:
- Shuttle to Glacier Point then take Panorama Trail to Nevada Falls then JMT to Happy Isles (shuttles are not easy to get)
- Hike Four-Mile trail up to Glacier Point (strenuous) to Glacier Point, then Panorama-Nevada Falls-JMT-Happy Isles **
- Tuolumne Meadows: Several departure points as the JMT crosses Tioga Road?
- Take "old JMT" north from Lembert Dome parking (visit Soda Springs and Parsons Lodge) and loop back to highway.**
- Cathedral Lakes trailhead: out-and-back to Lower Cathedral Lake (or Upper Cathedral Lake if you're fit!)
- Lyell Canyon trailhead: out-and-back past Dana Meadows and Lyell Fork of Tuolumne River
** I've done these day hikes
The trick in all these cases will be logistics: either securing a shuttle or finding parking.? Tuolumne offers the most possible options and gets you closest to the trail at the start.
If they're able to do this, I suspect they might change their minds about backpacking.? That was the case for me:? I hiked some parts of the JMT in 2015; I ended up doing the full trail three years later.
-Glenn
Glenn Ray