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I believe that "backtrack" sentence from the Trailheads map may be the single most poorly written and misinterpreted? statement in all of the Parks posted information on permits and trailheads.? I have puzzled over it for years, and looked into it a number of times, and have determined to my own satisfaction that it does not have anything to do with where you can hike to on trail, in wilderness, after your first night on the trail.
I first noticed it when I was iin a fairly lengthy correspondence with Ed Dunlavey, at the time the chief Wilderness administrator for the park, about the then-newly proposed Donohue quota*.? In looking over that proposed rule, I had stumbled across this "backtracking" language and was puzzled by its odd wording.? I'll spare everyone the grammatical details for the moment, but if you think about it, the modifying phrases "from one trailhead to another", "on any night"? and "either partially or fully" really do not add anything to the meaning of the statement.?
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les that is revised at least yearlySO I dug further, looking for an interpretation, or reiteration somewhere in the permit literature.? I determined that it appears nowhere else.? SInce at least 2015, I have not seen it or anything like it in any permit application page, on any permit, in any statement anywhere in the process of getting or learning about Yosemite wilderness permits.? Most importantly, neither this statement nor anything like it appears in the Superintendents' Compendium, the book of actual rules that is revised annually, and is where a rule actually is made a rule.? If the back tracking rule is actually a rule, violation of which actually has consequences, I wondered why in all the various statements of of rules, conditions and requirements you go through in the permit process, it appears only on this map that many people, including rangers, are not even aware of?
? So I raised it with Ed, and he literally did not know what I was talking about.? He was not aware or either the specific quote from the Trailheads map, nor any rule involving "backtracking" but explained that once a hiker has complied with the first night camp requirements, "We don't tell anyone where they can and can't hike to or camp in wilderness".?
Since that time, I have asked a few rangers about it, and until recently, none of them were familiar with the specific entry, although all referred to the lines and arrows? on the trailheads map, but all said the same thing: once you comply with that first nights camp location, you can go anywhere you can get to on any trail in wilderness.?
Then, a couple of? weeks ago, in a conversation with a ranger at the Wilderness Center, I found one who knew exactly what I was talking about, and who took the time to look at the map with me and go over the paragraph word by word.? ANd guess what: the lights finally went on.
It turns out that the "backtrack" rule has nothing to do with where you can go on the trail in the wilderness.? "Backtracking" according to the ranger, means exiting wilderness from your starting trailhead after your first night and then reentering at another trailhead. ? Go ahead, reread this last sentence two or three times:? I had to have him repeat for me.? The example he gave was this:? You have a Mirror Lake permit to the Snow Creek Trail, but you really want to hike from Happy Isles.? You start out at Mirror Lake and? hike some of Snow Creek, camp legally for the night, but at some point you backtrack, part or all the way to Mirror Lake, exit the Wilderness,? and cut over to Happy Isles (yes there is a trail that connects the Valley Loop around Mirror with Happy Isles, bu tit is not in WIlderness) you then start up the Mist or JMT and Happy Isles to LYV.? Bzzzzzzt! You just voided your permit, but thank you for playing.?
Now, granted, there are a zillion ways that this rule could be stated better, but it fits leaving wilderness at one trailhead and reentering at another? a lot better than hiking back along a section of trail and taking off in another direction.? Just think of what that would prohibit.? Every side trip you can think of, including several I have done since and talked to rangers about, including two years ago, when on a Lyell non-Donohue Permit, I camped the first night at Lyell Base camp, second day hiked up and tagged Donohue Pass, camped at Lyell Headwaters,? and dropped back down to the Lyell Canyon trail - backtracking several miles to the Ireland Lake trail, then up to Vogelsang, Merced Lake, LYV Sunrise and exit at Cathedral Pass TH.? Went over it with a ranger to make sure I was OK tagging Donohue.? No Problem.including the backtrack, once I had passed that four mile arrow for the first camp.?
I don't see any meaningful difference in backtracking to LYV and then Sunrise or anywhere else on the HI/Illilouette permit.? But don't take my word for it:? its always well to inquire.? That can be done by simply putting in your HI/Ililouette/Sunrise/Tuolumne itinerary and see if you get pushback.? I don;t think you will, but because there is not always perfect transparency among rangers, and certaily less than perfect correspondence between the rules as written and as descibed on websites, YMMV.?
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Lange Jorstad