High Sierra landscape trip pre-plan

Hello all, I'm going on my first "landscape backpacking" trip in a couple weeks and would love input and experience from the veterans. On another forum I frequent, BPL (backpackinglight), there is a Pre-trip Planning section, where folks post their route and others offer suggestions. I'm hoping to do something here, but from a photography oriented perspective.

Dates will be the second and third week of September. The Sierra has had a dry winter and a dry summer, so I'm hoping for a bit of weather excitement. Luckily thunderstorms are common in the Sierra during summer.

I'm still deciding my route. My first night will be at Cathedral Peak, in Tuolumne Meadows, on Tioga Pass. I'm only there one night, but I want to try some shots of Cathedral Lake with the peak behind it at sunset.

Second night will likely be in Mammoth Lakes, at a hotel. The third night I start my backpacking trip, and I'm up in the air as to where I'll go. I already have a wilderness permit for Shadow Creek/ Lake Ediza, since that is a popular route that filled up fast. Other areas I'm considering instead are Humphrey's Basin and Cottonwood Lakes.

Now to the landscape photography oriented questions...I'm trying to get a really great shot. One wall hanger is all I ask. I already know I want a lake or a tarn in the foreground, with a mountain (or 10 ) in the background. A mirror-like surface and reflections would be excellent, but I'm not in control of that. So for the professional folks out there, would you recommend a loop route where I'm seeing a variety of beautiful scenery that changes each day? Or should I find a spot I like and sit on it for 3 or 4 days, waiting for conditions to be perfect?

The photo gear I'm bringing is the only photo gear I have, a Sony A7R with a 55mm 1.8 prime, a C-pol filter, and a tripod and ball head. Today I learned how to create a stitched photo (I took 6 shots and stitched them). So I think I'll be able to overcome the limitations of a 55mm prime. I did read that c-pol filters are a no-go for stitched photos...is that correct? Of course if I want a reflection shot I wouldn't likely use one anyways.

How long before sunrise should I be up? And do you start taking photos before the light actually hits the peaks? I tried a photo on a previous trip and waited for first light on the peak, but didn't really care for the effect:

I think you are correct about avoiding the polarizer for something that will be used to stitch. You can get somewhat uneven results in the sky with a polarizer, darker and lighter sections of sky for example (i've got plenty of examples of botched photos using polarizers).

You've hit on my problem with mountain photos - valleys can be in deep shadows in morning and evening, by the time sun clears a mountain ridge the nice morning light is gone. Maybe shooting before sunrise would help.