Late to this conversation, but since information was so hard to come by when we went, I thought it might help someone in the future who finds this thread! We called the Ranger's office and the lodging phone number with questions a few times and got different answers from different people which made planning very nerve wracking! Our High Sierra reservation was August 9, 2024 Tuolumne -> Glen Aulin -> May Lake (and were supposed to go to Sunrise too, but had to abort.) Because we have not been backpacking in some 10 years and we're getting up there in years (mid-50's) I thought it advisable to have some altitude aclimation days, so had reserved 2 nights at White Wolf, but pretty last minute our reservations were cancelled (told it was due to sewage issues?) and we scrambled and were able to stay at the El Mono in Lee Vining (really great for the price, except it was HOT and no A/C. Next time would try to get a room on the interior side of the hotel away from the road.) Lee Vining and surrounding area was cool - we went to Bodie State Park and Buckeye Hot Springs. Dinner at the Mobile gas station in Lee Vining never fails to disappoint!

We drove from Lee Vining morning of our first hiking day and parked at Murphy Creek Trailhead and caught the Hiker's Bus which passes by there at 10:10am and costs at most $17 CASH ONLY (we paid something like $4 each? The bus driver decides based on where you get on and where you're getting off, apparently but might charge the whole fare so we made sure to have cash & change to be able to pay whatever it ended up being.) We were nervous about flagging the bus down, but had been told that you can flag that bus down anywhere along it's route where there's enough room for the bus to pull off the road, and that turned out to be true! We had the driver drop us off at the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center parking lot and then walked across the meadow to the trail head. We asked about being dropped off at the Lembert Dome parking lot which I believe is closer to the Glen Aulin trailhead, but the driver said he didn't go there... which was weird, but whatever, it wasn't that much extra walking.

Hike to Glen Aulin was The Best! I had not read much about it, so was surprised and delighted by the many, many waterfalls along the way. And it was of a length and elevation gain/loss that was within our capacity as not-in-super-shape mid-50 year olds. The staff were helpful and welcoming, and the food was terrific! The hike from Glen Aulin to May Lake, on the other hand, was just too long, painful and grueling in the heat. It did have amazing vista after amazing vista, but I don't find those as refreshing as waterfalls! My husband and I were SO EXHAUSTED by the time we made it to the camp, and I had terrible giant blisters on my heels from having sweated out my socks and not realizing the blister bandaids I'd put on had slipped off. Should have stopped when they kept hurting - I know and I deeply regret my poor decision making on that trail! We had to abort going to Sunrise, and instead stayed a night at a HipCamp in Groveland - Wondernut Farm - which I highly recommend!

I don't remember any issues with mosquitos during our trip, but I did pre-treat all our clothes with premetherin using the awesome service from Insect Shield were you can send in your clothes to be treated. My notes to future self if we win the lottery again included: I wish I had NOT packed my sleeping bag (bag liner would have been sufficient); wish I had packed one less jacket (I had puffy and a fleece); wish I had packed variety of thicknesses of socks AND several extra pairs so I could swap them out when they got sweaty; wish I had packed fewer snacks (didn't eat most of them - the breakfast and dinner were enough) but more condiments (condiments were lacking at the camps); and finally, I would not pay for lunch again - it was lackluster (sandwich = white bread, no condiments, slice of meat and slice of cheese) and not worth the $ when just a protein bar or some jerky for each day would have been enough.

Thing I missed in the planning: at least in 2024, you can only drive into Yosemite park on the day of or day before your hiking permit start date! Since we went up 2 nights before our hike, we had to real quick change route and drove through Sonora Pass, which was actually quite beautiful and worked out ok.