[pct-l] Tuolumne to Yosemite Valley

[Charles Noe]

I had planned to hike the JMT this summer but am not one of the few who got a permit from NPS. So I decided instead to do an even better hike, the PCT from Donner Pass to Walker Pass. I joined and got a permit from the PCTA. I'd still like to complete the other sections of the JMT on this hike and wonder about the logistics of a day hike from Tuolumne Meadows to Happy Isles in late July. It sounds as if I'm allowed to camp the night before at the backpacker section of the Tuolumne campground. Yogi's book says a permit is needed to hike down to the valley even as a day hike, but  NPS says "Permits are not required for day hikes (except if hiking to Half Dome)." I have done longer day hikes than Tuolumne to the valley and could take the shuttle the next morning from the valley back to Tuolumne, but the problem seems to be where to camp in the valley. NPS says the walk-in campground, Camp 4, "fills early most mornings from spring through fall," and of course the Pines campgrounds are very like to be full. How have other hikers handled this - maybe asked car campers in the Pines campgrounds for a spot to pitch a tent? Or have people completed the hike early enough to take the shuttle back to Tuolumne the same day (5 p.m. for $9 YARTS bus, 3:30 p.m. for last free shuttle). Is there a safe, reliable place in Tuolumne to stash gear I won't need for the hike to the valley? 
Also, if I understand correctly my PCT permit allows me to summit Mount Whitney as long as I don't exit at Whitney Portal; is this right?  
Lucky Man