A Walk in the Wilderness: 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.