High Sierra Topix

Hi,

Just wanted to check if trail to Garnet lake from Devils Postpile is clear of snow yet. I checked online on Inyo NF and Ansel Adams Wilderness website, but couldnt find any concrete info about it.

We plan to do the Garnet lake hike in one day starting around 5am from Devils Postpile. Is it recommended to be done in 1 day?

Any other tips?

Thanks in advance...

No snow. A hike from DPM would be way to long, even from Agnew Meadow it
would be a long 11.2 mile hike via the River Trail.
Please read: http://highsierratopix.com/community/vi ... f=1&t=4205" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks maverick.

Sorry for not providing all details before.

We are ok with class 1 terrain, not experienced with x-country or technical climbing. Would like to avoid river crossing, snow crossing etc unless its absolutely necessary.
Not comfortable with camping outside esp in bear territory.

We have done long day hikes and are pretty comfortable with that (Half Dome, white mountain, Mt Whitney etc).

We are from SF bay area, so probably we are thinking drive to Mammoth Lakes on Friday evening after work, hike on Saturday and drive back on Sunday.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Will you be staying at one of the campsites down near DPM or on Mammoth?

Either way, if you can get a very early start you could hike to Garnet via the
River Trail, then use the trail that goes toward Altna/Garnet which also
follows the outlet creek of Garnet Lake.

This is a less strenuous climb than the Shadow Lake Trail route if one was going
to do this trip clockwise.

From Garnet head down the JMT to Lake Ediza Trail, and go visit beautiful
Lake Ediza (it will be the highlight of your trip), and then to back to Agnew
Meadow via the Shadow Lake Trail, a total of 17.3 Miles.

Get a Tom Harrison Map "Mammoth High Country" Trail Map.

We were planning to stay in Mammoth lake town.

We can even do just Garnet lake and back all by River trail, if that would cut down on mileage.
And do Ediza lake on a separate time. Or do just Ediza lake this time and back all by Shadow creek trail, if Ediza is more scenic than Garnet.
We first had Garnet lake in mind because I have seen a lot of beautiful pictures of Garnet lake. Havent heard about Ediza lake until you mentioned it just now

I found this pretty informative map of the area, in case anyone else is planning to go that side.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOC ... 337626.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another thing,
do we need a permit if we plan to do a day hike?

And found this one more document with distances and some description

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOC ... 412612.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No permit needed. Use the search feature for TR to Ediza, or check out these
photo's to see why it is considered one of the prettiest in the Sierra: https://www.google.com/search?q=lake+ed ... 72&bih=877" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Garnet is good, but Ediza is better, IMO. It will be a full day, but do-able.

rsm333 wrote:Garnet is good, but Ediza is better, IMO. It will be a full day, but do-able.

We're going to do the day hike from Agnew to Garnet via the River trail, then return via the Shadow trail in August.

I've got both the Tom Harris & FS maps with distances, but I've found them to be (slightly to moderately) inaccurate. If you really want to know precise locations & mileages, you might want to check out the Half-mile PCT maps. Half-mile (his trail name) and a few others have hiked the entire PCT loaded with GPS and other telemetry transponders.

While it of course is oriented towards the PCT, significant spur trails used for side-trips, resupplies or alternate routes are also included. That means Mt Whitney, Kearsarge & Bishop passes, and the entire Mammoth/Reds/Agnew area where the JMT & PCT run side-by-side.

You can download the KML file for Google Earth here:
http://www.pctmap.net/google/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think you will be amazed at the amount & degree of data for the Garnet/TI region, including water, campsites, etc.

PS You'll also see the actual physical route of the trail vs the original mappings based on aerial photos & rulers.