A Walk in the Wilderness: 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.