MudNCrud Forums
Climbing and ... Climbing => Everywhere Else => Topic started by: mt.reynier on July 02, 2018, 07:24:05 PM
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Like the opening act for a famous band, here's a small trip report to tide everyone over until the much anticipated PCT Volume 35.
Brian, Finn, and I spent a few days in late June exploring Mammoth and backpacking in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. It was our first visit to this wilderness area, and wow, it did not disappoint.
Being our first backpacking trip in a while, trip prep was more than I anticipated. We quickly realized it's been ages since we have gone on a solo trip, so we had to make sure we could actually take care of ourselves and the pup out there...
Does the water filter work?
What's actually IN our first aid kit?
Where's our tent?
Our food will totally fit in the bear can... (proceed to test late at night)... Our food totally does not fit in the bear can... (buy new bear can for next day pick-up).
How many bars will a Brian man eat, if a Brian man must eat bars?
We had a permit for a Saturday entry via the High Trail out of Agnew Meadows. We left the Bay late on Thursday night and slept outside of Yosemite. Our trusty canine alarm clock roused us at dawn (and would proceed to do so throughout the entire trip), so we enjoyed some bonus hours sightseeing and fishing our way along Hwy 120 through Tuolumne Meadows. We looked for the Kid, but didn't spot her... she was probably multiple pitches up already, climbing something hard in just her approach shoes.
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Tenaya Lake casts
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How cute do I have to look for you to let me swim?
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So many PCT hikers to chase
After stopping for second breakfast at Whoa Nellie Deli (because really, who can drive past there without stopping?!), we meandered down to Mammoth to pick up our permit. With the whole afternoon and early evening to kill, we played Mammoth tourist, including taking in the views from Minaret Vista, relaxing at Horseshoe Lake, and eating an absurd amount of food and drinking some delicious brews at Mammoth Mountain Brewery.
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Minaret Vista gave a great preview of where we were headed over the next 3 days. Banner Peak is on the far right. Thousand Island Lake, our first night's destination, sits to the right of Banner's base, below the visible snowfields. From Thousand Island Lake, we planned to then travel back across the base of the Ritter Range via the John Muir Trail toward the Minarets, and to camp at Ediza Lake on night two.
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Minaret Vista also provided some pretty perspectives of Mammoth Mountain
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Pre-hike exercise at Horseshoe Lake
We decided to spend Friday night at Agnew Meadows Campground, which was adjacent to our starting point at Agnew Meadows Trailhead. Using this trailhead is a bit of hassle. It lies within Devil's Postpile National Monument, and the access road is closed to personal car travel daily from 7 am-7 pm to avoid congestion, meaning if we missed the morning drive-in cutoff, we'd have to waste time dealing with the shuttle bus. So, we opted to drive in the night before to avoid the shuttle shenanigans, and to make sure we got a parking spot at the relatively small trailhead parking area.
Although pretty, Agnew Meadows Campground was an absolute mosquito armageddon. We were really wishing we had prepped our packs at any point during our mosquito-free afternoon. Head nets, long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and DEET made the final packing possible, but man, it was ugly. We retreated to the back of the truck very quickly. One perk of the buggy conditions was that there was only one other campsite occupied, so we were able to quickly drift off to sleep to the accompanying mosquito white noise outside.
We got an early start on Saturday, hitting the trail at about 7:30 am. Less than 15 minutes of walking along the High Trail/PCT got us to the Wilderness boundary. We also broke out of the forest quickly, which gave a minor reprieve from the flying vampires.
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Yay! Wilderness!
The High Trail gives spectacular views almost immediately, which makes the initial switchbacks totally worth it.
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Climbing the switchbacks along the High Trail/PCT, with Banner and Ritter in the distance
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Great down-canyon views of the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River and Devil's Postpile National Monument
These sweeping vistas remained plentiful as we progressed, making for a very scenic day. We were very happy with our trail choice, given that the other option involved staying low down in the canyon on the forested River Trail, which had to have been very buggy and not nearly as scenic. We also appreciated being able to gain a lot of our elevation early with fresh legs, and then enjoying spectacular views along a rolling trail. All the seasonal creeks were flowing well, too, which made keeping our little black dog cool and hydrated a breeze.
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Snack break views: Shadow Lake and the Minarets. Ediza Lake lies further up this basin. The Shadow Lake Trail (our exit trail), switchbacks down to the right of the falls into the Middle Fork San Joaquin canyon.
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Looking up drainage. Our route continues contouring, with gradual uphill, before cutting across the upper drainage to head toward Thousand Island Lake.
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I'd much rather be up here, with these views, than down there in that canyon!
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Finn maintained a solid lead throughout the day. He would occasionally wait for us at stream crossings, where he took the chance to drink and soak. The only other times we really were close to him were on switchbacks. We hypothesize that the only people who could match the border collie pace would be Tricia or Bear Bait Alex.
After a quick dip back into the buggy forest, and tough last climb in the heat of the day past Badger Lakes, we got our first up-close views of Banner Peak. Brian started hiking faster, as he's prone to do when 1) he sees something exciting and wants to get there first, and/or 2) there's a promise of food, fishing, and relaxing ahead.
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Major climbs are over, and look, there's Banner!
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Snow patch cool-down
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Finn was all for stopping here. It was very, very pretty, but we decided we should actually get to the lake before dropping packs.
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Leaving me in the dust, but that's ok, the views are too nice to hike quickly anyway
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Thousand Island Lake! Backpacking is fun!
Thousand Island Lake really is a stunner. Brian and I have been to a lot of places in the Sierra, but this is one of our new favorites.
There were enough mosquitoes by the lake to prevent us from shedding clothes and swimming, but with the afternoon breeze, we were able to eat a late lunch and soak our feet while the dog frolicked.
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We spent the afternoon lounging in the shade up on the granite slabs well away from the lake to escape the bugs and the sun. It was hard to motivate to walk uphill at the end of our day, but man, it made a world of difference in terms of bug exposure.
We rallied for a late afternoon exploratory jaunt to the lake outlet. I admired wildflowers and different lake viewpoints. Finn charged up and down remnant snowbanks, threw himself off boulders into the water, and generally acted as though we hadn't just walked 10 miles with packs on. Brian braved the waterside skeeters to land a couple of beautiful fish, including some small brook trout, a 12" rainbow trout, and 16" rainbow trout.
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Why don't we do this every day?!?!
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Worth bringing the pole for sure!
We enjoyed watching the evening light show on Banner and the lake transition from aquamarine to a sharp metallic grey with twilight.
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The skeeters were pretty heavy, so we ate in the tent. But the views definitely continued all the way to sunset.
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Looking toward the outlet of Thousand Island Lake from camp
We rose early on Sunday for the famed alpenglow on Banner Peak. It lived up to the hype!
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We snoozed for a bit longer after the light show was over, and then enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with almost no mosquitoes. We rolled out of camp a little after 9 am, now following the John Muir Trail south. We passed several smaller lakes and climbed over the 10,000 ft mark, and then dropped down to and around Garnet Lake.
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Garnet Lake, not too shabby!
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On leash briefly to avoid a high-stakes marmot chase
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Traversing around the south shore of Garnet Lake
Our climb back up from Garnet Lake to another 10,000+ ft pass went quickly, what with lake views to admire, wildflowers to oggle at, and snow patches to play in.
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Why are you humans so slow?!
On the climb, we noticed a bit of smoke drifting into the basin from the Lions Fire to the south. As we crested the pass and looked south toward the Minarets and Ediza Lake, however, the smoke looked significantly thicker. And it only continued to get worse as we hiked on thanks to an unfavorable wind change. We learned later that the fire had entered a very dense red fir forest with significant ground fuels, leading to the heavy smoke. We were a little bummed that the smoke was obscuring our views of the Minarets, but we were really just grateful that we had enjoyed a full day and a half of clear, smoke-free conditions.
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Smoky skies
We were also hearing very marginal reports about the mosquitoes at Ediza Lake, our planned destination for the evening. They were described variably as "horrendous", "so awful", "terrible", and "atrocious", and judging from bite marks around shirt cuffs and necklines, we were ready to believe our fellow hikers. We were also told that the trail was in bad condition, and that accessing the camping area required some significant talus scrambling, which was not ideal for the doggo. Faced with the trifecta of mosquitoes, potential camping issues, and a high likelihood of a very smoky evening with minimal (if any) scenic views, we decided to hike out early. We were definitely a little bummed, but hope to return when conditions are more favorable.
The smoke conditions continued to deteriorate on our hike out, so we were ok with our decision. We exited via the Shadow Lake Trail, which departs from the JMT and follows Shadow Creek as it drops past Shadow Lake and down to join the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River. We had viewed this trail from across the canyon on our hike in the day before, so it was fun to complete the loop and switchback down the canyonside. We reflected on how brutal the Shadow Lake Trail would be to climb in the heat - we were stoked to be hiking down this trail instead of up, and were very happy with our overall route choice. I know Shadow Lake is a popular day hike from Mammoth, and is often recommended as the first night out if you do the loop we did in reverse, but ugh! So much uphill!
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Shadow Creek cascading down to join the Middle Fork San Joaquin
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Smoke-obscured views down canyon towards Red's Meadow and Devil's Postpile
We had some last minute excitement to end the trip. Minutes after dropping our packs at the truck, a very large coyote trotted by about 100 feet away from us. Finn immediately blasted after it. But miracle of all miracles, he actually stopped chasing and came when he was called! I'd love to say it's our superior dog training, but I think Finn must have been tired enough from the trip for the chase to not seem worth it. The coyote had stopped a little further on and was making quite a racket calling its pack mates... he's a scrapper, but I don't think Finn would have won that fight. Laughing from adrenaline, we chucked Finn in the truck and skedaddled back to Mammoth for beers and post-trip carne asada queso waffle fries at the brewery (yes, as delicious as they sound).
We would 10/10 recommend this loop to anyone looking for a short backpacking trip. But maybe wait until later in the year to avoid the skeets :)
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Excellent, excellent trip report!
The photos of Banner (evening and morning) are wonderful. The next step is, of course, to climb it.
And BTW, in answer to your inquiry: "How many bars will a Brian man eat, if a Brian man must eat bars?" Everyone here immediately agreed that the answer is obvious: All of them.
:P ;)
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Great story and pics! It was almost like being there, I started itching and thinking 'bout how to lock bear canisters so Brian wouldn't eat all the food.
We hypothesize that the only people who could match the border collie pace would be Tricia or Bear Bait Alex.
Exactly and add Noal to that list.
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Very nice
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Brian and I were pretty glad we hadn't hauled in ice axes, crampons, and the other necessary equipment for climbing Banner this time of year. But maybe in the future.
REI was sold out of a Brian-proof bear can... we suffered a Snickers shortage as a result
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oh man awesome pix! We did that hike a while back with ana and the mosquitoes were so bad, i tucked her face into my mosquito net. Glad u guys r getting out!! trout looks yummy
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We did that hike a while back with ana and the mosquitoes were so bad, i tucked her face into my mosquito net.
Oh man, brutal! Finn didn't seem too bothered by them except for during the dusk/dawn swarms. I think I was more bothered watching him get swarmed.
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Very cool trip, good humor/entertaining and nicely written.
I was hoping for a picture of garnets at Garnet Lake.
The Minarets are meta volcanic rock, so it would not be unusual to find garnets forming at medium to higher grades as an indicator of change in some of the rocks. Of course garnets can be a variety of colors - most commonly a deep red or sometimes green, so I suppose they could have been describing a green-colored water when they named the lake :sleep: :sleep: :sleep: :sleep: :sleep: :sleep: :sleep:
I also see rôche moutonnée in that one classic pic with the Minarets in the background.
What? Don't remember what those are from your intro geology course? Get in line with the rest of the sheep :lol:
What a great reflection in the perfectly still water - nice! :thumbup: :biggrin:
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Oh man, brutal! Finn didn't seem too bothered by them except for during the dusk/dawn swarms. I think I was more bothered watching him get swarmed.
Gimme ticks over mosquitos any time.
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Wow I now see the smoke Brian mentioned. Worth it
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Great photos! Great adventure! That High Trail is the best of the best. I'm curious whether or not you ran into many other folks?
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Wow, wow, wow!!
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I'm curious whether or not you ran into many other folks?
It's a quite popular area for both day hikers and backpackers. But I thought it absorbed the crowds really well!
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...I thought it absorbed the crowds really well!
Yeah, a separate island for each backpacking party ;)
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Wow, lovely!