Day 5- Thousand Island Lake to Rosalie Lake

Saturday, June 21

"And it came to pass."

Beginning: Thousand Island Lake (Mile 43)
Ending: Rosalie Lake (Mile 51)
Daily recorded distance: 8.3 miles
Total recorded distance: 61 miles
Daily recorded elevation gain: 1,870 feet
Total recorded elevation gain: 16,083 feet

    In the morning the wind was still blowing full force. Impatient to find a more pleasant climate, I was packed and on the trail long before the others. Because the PCT's route leaves the JMT for several miles, we saw very few northbound hikers today. There were a few unfortunate groups on short trips who had chosen the wrong weekend for their adventure.

     One mile north of Thousand Island Lake is Ruby Lake. It is a very small lake hiding behind a large mountain. Several excellent campsites lie just off the trail in the thick pine forest surrounding the lake. If you ever feel the need to camp at Thousand Island Lake in a windstorm, hike a mile further to the much more sheltered Ruby Lake. You will be much happier.

    Somewhere beyond Ruby Lake is Garnet Lake. It is almost as large as Thousand Island Lake, and the wind was blowing even stronger, threatening to blow us off the narrow log bridge that crossed the outlet. I'm sure this area was beautiful, but it was cold and windy.

    Besides getting out of the wind I had two goals for the day: fishing in Shadow Creek and a bath in Shadow Lake. Thankfully the wind stopped in the early afternoon shortly before reaching Shadow Creek. I found a nice pool to fish and caught several small brook trout. Bryson soon caught up to me, and we continued to Shadow Lake together.

    There is one small problem with bathing on this backpacking trip: all of the water in the Sierras is cold. Lakes are less cold than creeks, and lower elevation lakes are less cold than higher elevations, but they are all cold. Shadow Lake, sitting at 8,800 feet, was one of the lowest lakes we would pass. Even in the hottest part of the afternoon, the bath was still cold. It was refreshing, though. After catching a few more rainbow trout, some thunderclouds cresting the nearest ridge suggested that we continue on to our camp at Rosalie Lake.

    The clouds blew over without dropping any water, and we had a really nice time at camp along with a couple other groups hiking northbound.  One retired couple was hiking the JMT in two parts because they couldn't get permits to the trip end to end. They had started two days ago at Duck Pass (Mile 72). When they reach Yosemite Valley, they plan to find transportation to their starting point. From there, they will continue on to Mt. Whitney. Several rainbow trout added to our supper, and two guys from our party went for a swim. Judging from their yells, I would say the water was frigid.

The bridge at Garnet Lake

Rosalie Lake

Day 4- Donohue Pass and Wind

 Friday, June 20

Pace yourself; don't push yourself.

Beginning: Lyell Canyon (Mile 30)
Ending: Thousand Island Lake (Mile 43)
Daily recorded distance: 14.6 miles
Total recorded distance: 52.7 miles
Daily recorded elevation gain: 3,885 feet
Total recorded elevation gain: 14,213 feet

    Today started in a dream and ended in a nightmare. By this time, we have each settled into our own routines. Weed Man leaves camp first because he hikes the slowest. I've been leaving shortly thereafter, and the speedster Bryson and Casey leave sometime later. The dream of Lyell Canyon continued for several more miles before the trail pitched sharply towards Donohue Pass. Donahue is the first of the "big" passes of the JMT and the highest point we will reach until Muir Pass at mile 128. From our camp, we had to climb over 2,000 feet to reach the 11,073 foot summit of the pass. Behind us were excellent views of the meadows and rivers in Lyell Canyon, and ahead were views of some of Yosemite's highest peaks. The first peak south of the pass is 13,114 foot Mount Lyell, the tallest peak in Yosemite National Park. The route to the top is reported to be an easy class 3 scramble from the JMT, but we decided to leave that attempt for a later trip. We crossed several lingering snow fields which made up the very source of the Tuolumne River. As we continued to climb, the wind grew steadily colder and stronger. Near the top, I found shelter from the wind and settled down to wait for the rest of the group. I was especially curious about Weed Man because I should have easily passed him long before. When Bryson and Casey arrived, they told me that he had gone off trail to bathe in a stream. We decided to press on through the wind without waiting for him. Topping the pass without any trouble, we left the familiar trails of Yosemite behind us. On the way down the southeast slope, we occasionally lost the trail in a snow field and had to pick our way through the boulder fields until we found the trail again. This is where the dream ended and the nightmare began. As we pounded our knees down the rough, shaley trail, the wind grew even colder and stronger. 

    We finally reached Rush Creek at the base of Donohue Pass, only to find that our goal, Thousand Island Lake, lay on the other side of Island Pass. This climb was only 550 feet, but after our earlier climb and bone-jarring descent, the climb was torturous. At this point, the wind began reaching the strength of "knock you off the trail if you're not careful." We kept walking and the wind kept blowing. Reportedly, Thousand Island Lake is a popular spot to camp on short two or three day backpacking trips, but today the lake was nearly deserted. The wind was whipping the surface of the lake into a frothy mess, and breakers were throwing spray onto the trail itself. After a brief search, we found a campsite nearby Emerald Lake that offered a little shelter from the wind. We quickly set up our tents and cooked a hot meal. Crossing the outlet of the lake, we had seen several large trout, but no one was willing to brave the wind for fishing.

   Bryson and I went back up trail to find Weed Man. On the way back to camp, we happened to see a sleeping bag sheltered from the wind behind a stand of pine trees fifty feet or so off the trail. Upon closer inspection, Bryson found the sleeping bag to be occupied by a young woman in military issue uniform protected by a black German shepherd. She said she did not need any help and we should continue on our way. We did so, and never heard from the woman again.

The descent of Donohue. There were a few more snow patches when we did it.

Thousand Island Lake on a nice day.

Day 3- Fishing and a Town Day

Thursday, June 19

"JMTers are just wannabe PCTers."

Beginning: Cathedral Lake (Mile 18)
Ending: Lyell Canyon (Mile 30)
Daily recorded distance: 13.3 miles
Total recorded distance: 38.1 miles
Daily recorded elevation gain: 876 feet
Total recorded elevation gain: 10,328 feet

    In the words of one hiker we met on the trail today's hike "restored our faith in our ability to walk." The legs were tired from the brutal climbs of the last two days, but today's trails were smooth with very little climbing. For the first four miles, there were not many big views, but we had a nice easy downhill through the forest until the trail broke out on Tuolumne Meadow. Highway 120, the only road that goes east and west through Yosemite, goes right through Tuolumne Meadows so there were lots of tourists visiting. Despite the blacktop and tourists, Tuolumne Meadow was a highlight because the Tuolumne River is one of the prime fly fishing destinations of the Sierras. Two men walking beside the highway were fascinated by the browns and brookies I was pulling out of the river. They also could not believer I would hike thirty miles only to fish right beside the highway. The weather was perfect; the fishing was a lot of fun; but finally it was time to move on.

    At the Tuolumne store and grill, we got our first taste of through hiker culture. Laden with caesar chicken wraps, drinks, and ice cream, Bryson and Casey looked like kids in a candy store. They were chatting it up with a group of PCTers seated around the front of the store. Up to this point we could possibly have felt kind of big about hiking over two hundred miles in a couple of weeks. To the day hikers from Yosemite Valley and backpackers doing short loops within Yosemite, hiking all the way to Mt. Whitney looked like a huge undertaking. Not so for these hikers. These trail-hardened PCTers had already hiked over nine hundred miles, seven hundred of which had been through dry, shadeless desert. They had plenty of harrowing tales to tell about crossing icy, snow-covered passes far to the south which we would also have to pass someday.

    At the Tuolumne wilderness center, some of us picked up our first resupply. Bryson, Shane, and I had decided to cache some food in the bear boxes so we could reduce the amount of weight we would have to carry out of the Valley. Casey, who had started with a full six day's worth of food, would have to wait a few more days before restocking his own portable pantry.

Lyell Canyon

    Lyell Canyon is a dream. I can't believer I had never heard of Lyell Canyon before this trip. It really is one of the most beautiful places you can find, and it's not even that hard to get to. The trail into the canyon starts at the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center, which is right beside Highway 120. From there, a nearly flat four miles will get you far enough into the canyon to appreciate its splendor. Most of the hikers we saw were northbound PCTers intent on reaching the Tuolumne Grill before they ran out of hamburgers which I'm afraid were a terrible distraction from the beauty of the canyon. Besides through hikers, we saw three other groups. One was a family of five who had hiked in to fish for the day. Another was an old man with a tattered backpack and a walking stick. (He might have been the ghost of John Muir himself.) And the other was a solo fisherman camped four or five miles up the canyon. Really, I can't describe the meadows, forest, rivers, and peaks to you. If you only visit two places in Yosemite, drive through Yosemite Valley and then hike in Lyell Canyon.

    That evening, we found a nice campsite beside a small creek that feeds into the Tuolumne. Bryson, Casey, and I fished the creek and the main river, catching several brook trout and a few browns. One elusive giant of a trout evaded every fly and spinner that Bryson or I could throw at him. Someday, I will figure out how to catch him. It was here that we began experimenting with the best way to cook a trout while on the trail. I found that six to eight inch trout fried on a small backpacking stove with a little butter and Tony's seasoning make the perfect supper.

Tuolumne Meadows

Lyell Canyon

Day 2- Cathedral Pass and Mosquitoes

 Wednesday, June 18

Beginning: Sunrise Creek (Mile 8)
Ending: Cathedral Lake (Mile 18)
Daily recorded distance: 11 miles
Total recorded distance: 24.8 miles
Daily recorded elevation gain: 3,389 feet
Total recorded elevation gain: 9,452 feet

    "The road to success goes past many great parking spots."

    Today started with an easy hike through scrub brush and charred pine stumps. At times, we had views of the Clark Range to the south. Other times we were scrambling over dead trees beside Sunrise Creek. It was here that we met our first southbound JMTer. Tonton, who was hiking solo when we met him, had started northbound with a buddy, but the snow on the passes had sketched him out enough that he got off the trail. He was now hiking southbound in hopes that the snow would be off the southern passes by the time he got there. Although we were prepared to deal with some snow, we shared his hopes. We also met a few PCTers on a side trip to Yosemite Valley. Most PCTers share several characteristics: they walk fast; the have a Garmin Inreach on their right shoulder strap; they wear long sleeves; their packs are smaller than ours; the men have big beards; the women almost always have double braids.

    Another group known to us as "Julie and her boyfriend" started calling Shane Weed Man after the company logo on his dark green long sleeve shirt. The trail name stuck, and some of us began feeling compelled to tell people that, "No, Weed Man does not work in a dispensary."

    Eventually the trail left the burn scar and began a grueling climb through a thick pine forest. On legs tired from yesterday's climb out of Yosemite Valley, this 1,400 foot climb was much harder than we expected. The climb finally topped out at the top of a tree covered ridge so we had lunch in the shade before descending a gentle slope to Long Meadow, home of the Sunrise High Sierra Camp.

    I can't describe every meadow, mountain, lake, or vista that we see on this hike. Each one is unique and beautiful, but my descriptions would be redundant and uninteresting. Sunrise Meadow is a large, verdant meadow surrounded by thick pine forest. A granite dome sits on one edge of the meadow, and a few snow-capped peaks rise in the distance.

    The mosquitoes were very friendly. For the all of the first and second days, we used every mosquito prevention tactic we knew to avoid becoming over acquainted including Permethrin treated clothing, head nets, long sleeves, and bug repellent. This is where I recommend the use of Picaridin lotion over Deet based bug sprays. It is much less greasy, and it does not stain gear. Bug nets that go over the hat are a must, and Permethrin treated long sleeves seemed to help.

    Following Long Meadow was a short scenic climb to the top of Cathedral Pass. We quickly made the descent to Cathedral Lake where we set up camp at the base of Cathedral Peak. I can't describe Cathedral Peak to you, but it is truly an awesome sight, rising imposingly above the basin. Cathedral Lake is a pretty lake surrounded by marshy grasslands on the east, snow-covered slopes to the north and west and pine forest to the south. There were several other groups camped around the lake, most of whom were out for short backpacking trips. Our friend Tonton was camped nearby, and he seemed to enjoy Bryson's fishing stories.

    The fish in this lake seem to prefer size to quantity. I only saw two fish. One was a fifteen inch brook trout in Bryson's frying pan, and the other was a similarly sized trout darting out of the pool I was trying to fish. It just goes to show that when chasing brookies, one must take his time and do it right.

Cathedral Peak as seen from Cathedral Lake

The track for Day 2 is in yellow.

I'm not sure what's up with that really steep face around mile five. The trail was steep, but it was never that steep.