I worked for the Yosemite Mountaineering School in the 70’s and 80’s and we taught rock climbing, Intermediate 2, on a small cliff in Olmsted Canyon. As we hiked in we would talk about how this must have been a major trail as there were blazes, rock work and we often saw obsidian.
The Yosemite Mountaineering School worked out of what is now the Tuolumne Visitor Center. We had the whole place and there were some great parties there. The Yosemite Mountaineering School had week long seminars with up to 60 students each week. It started off with Basic then Intermediate 1, then Intermediate 2 and then snow climbing at the pass. On Friday we took everyone on guided climbs and would swarm Stately Pleasure Dome above Tenaya Lake. It was quite a sight and bit concerning for the guides as you would have 3 to 4 clients strung out over multiple pitches and you had no idea what was going on below. You just hoped they got what had been taught. The guide would summit out and not see the bottom client for quite awhile!
Well after all these years i went back on 6.27.24 to find and follow the trail all the way through. It is quite easy to follow from where the trail starts on the Tioga Road all the way through to the Old Tioga Road that comes down from May Lake to Tenaya Lake.
It is a old Indian – Cavalry Trail and there is great write up and amazing history on it at
https://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,80796,80867