TR:Agnew Meadows to Silver Lake, May 2014 Days 1-3
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:59 am
Finally getting close to catching up on Trip Reports!
Another drought year and another early start. Headed south on May 18 and arrived at Markskor’s on the 19th after visiting my uncle in Reno and doing some exploring around the little Walker River after being blown out of my planned fishing at k lake. The original plan was for markskor and I to hike from Dana Meadows to Agnew via Parker Pass, Alger Lakes, Lost Lakes, Thousand Island, Garnet and down to Agnew. This plan was busted in two ways. First Mark was having dental work done which eliminated him from a backcountry trip. Second HST posts indicated significant snow and Alger Lakes still quite frozen. Plan B became a solo trip starting from Agnew Meadow and ending at Silver Lake with Mark driving me down to Agnew meadows as soon as the Road opened and picking me up at the Silver Lake TH. Being old and lazy I opted to wait until Friday of Memorial day weekend when the road was opened rather than starting from the ski area and hiking up to Minaret Summit and down,
At 3 pm on friday the gate was opened at Minaret Summit, mark and I were about the 5th car in line. There was still debris in the road and as we drove thru the Agnew Meadow Campground it was still showing the effects of the windstorm of 18 months earlier. Finding my way to what I remembered as the optimal departure point I said my goodby to Mark and told him that I would call if I could and that the one morning I sent an OK message on my Spot Locator would be the day I would exit. (I try to send an OK message every night but I am somewhat unreliable so no one gets concerned if I miss a message).
My hike was quite short that day, just down to the river trail split then camped near the bridge that crosses the San Joaquin before the trail heads up to Shadow Lake and the PCT. I had camped at exactly the same site a couple of years earlier the same day I left Bend by catching the last shuttle down then hiking through the campground to about the same starting point as this year. Two significant things happened this first night. First I discovered that I had left my cellphone in the car which meant that I would be unable to update mark other than with my spot locator. Then, the next morning I discovered that a little critter had chewed on a few things, including a shoulder strap on my pack and my little camera bag attached to the shoulder strap. Nothing fatal and I guess it adds character to my gear! Day 2 began cold but the steep climb up to Shadow Lake soon warmed me up. Shadow was beautiful with a single camper camped next to the shoreline despite the 300 ft. restriction. The first snow was encountered a switchback or two up the PCT heading north. A little later I did my thing and headed off trail to sample the fishing in a couple of lakes. The first lake had mostly 12” rainbows gathered in the outlet in a spawning mode. There were still fish cruising the main lake, including one that appeared to be at least 19” long that I eventually hooked and lost on a fly and bubble when the line broke at the bubble. As I was packed up to leave the fish cruised by, the bubble not even dragging to its tail. My leader had been short, about 18 inches, the fly was in the corner of the rainbows mouth so I had clear confirmation that, again, I had lost the big one! Moving on to the next lake involved a bit of up hill then a traverse of a steep, forested, snow covered, north east slope. Reaching the next lake I found a suitable site on the rocky ridge that separated the lake from the San Joaquin Canyon. My kitchen had outstanding views of San Joaquin Ridge. After dinner I managed to catch and release a few 9-10 rainbows. Day 3 was a layover dedicated to fishing and exploring. Due to extensive soft snowbanks on the s and sw shorelines movement was slow. On the w. shoreline I managed a couple of 11 inch rainbows for dinner. Returning to camp I cleaned the fish and stashed them in a snowbank and then went exploring to figure out how I was going to escape from this hole in the rock. Across the outlet to the n was about a 50 high large rock outcropping steeply sloping into the lake. I found that the water in the lake was only crotch deep at the base of the rock and with my crocs was able to wade around the rock to a chute that could be negotiated with one bouldering move at the top. It was a little nasty dropping down the other side but after that the way was clear to the n. end of the lake and a user trail.
Dinner that night was a bust the flesh of the fish was so mushy that I spit it out--completely uneatable. Never experienced that in the backcountry before. To be continued
Mike
Another drought year and another early start. Headed south on May 18 and arrived at Markskor’s on the 19th after visiting my uncle in Reno and doing some exploring around the little Walker River after being blown out of my planned fishing at k lake. The original plan was for markskor and I to hike from Dana Meadows to Agnew via Parker Pass, Alger Lakes, Lost Lakes, Thousand Island, Garnet and down to Agnew. This plan was busted in two ways. First Mark was having dental work done which eliminated him from a backcountry trip. Second HST posts indicated significant snow and Alger Lakes still quite frozen. Plan B became a solo trip starting from Agnew Meadow and ending at Silver Lake with Mark driving me down to Agnew meadows as soon as the Road opened and picking me up at the Silver Lake TH. Being old and lazy I opted to wait until Friday of Memorial day weekend when the road was opened rather than starting from the ski area and hiking up to Minaret Summit and down,
At 3 pm on friday the gate was opened at Minaret Summit, mark and I were about the 5th car in line. There was still debris in the road and as we drove thru the Agnew Meadow Campground it was still showing the effects of the windstorm of 18 months earlier. Finding my way to what I remembered as the optimal departure point I said my goodby to Mark and told him that I would call if I could and that the one morning I sent an OK message on my Spot Locator would be the day I would exit. (I try to send an OK message every night but I am somewhat unreliable so no one gets concerned if I miss a message).
My hike was quite short that day, just down to the river trail split then camped near the bridge that crosses the San Joaquin before the trail heads up to Shadow Lake and the PCT. I had camped at exactly the same site a couple of years earlier the same day I left Bend by catching the last shuttle down then hiking through the campground to about the same starting point as this year. Two significant things happened this first night. First I discovered that I had left my cellphone in the car which meant that I would be unable to update mark other than with my spot locator. Then, the next morning I discovered that a little critter had chewed on a few things, including a shoulder strap on my pack and my little camera bag attached to the shoulder strap. Nothing fatal and I guess it adds character to my gear! Day 2 began cold but the steep climb up to Shadow Lake soon warmed me up. Shadow was beautiful with a single camper camped next to the shoreline despite the 300 ft. restriction. The first snow was encountered a switchback or two up the PCT heading north. A little later I did my thing and headed off trail to sample the fishing in a couple of lakes. The first lake had mostly 12” rainbows gathered in the outlet in a spawning mode. There were still fish cruising the main lake, including one that appeared to be at least 19” long that I eventually hooked and lost on a fly and bubble when the line broke at the bubble. As I was packed up to leave the fish cruised by, the bubble not even dragging to its tail. My leader had been short, about 18 inches, the fly was in the corner of the rainbows mouth so I had clear confirmation that, again, I had lost the big one! Moving on to the next lake involved a bit of up hill then a traverse of a steep, forested, snow covered, north east slope. Reaching the next lake I found a suitable site on the rocky ridge that separated the lake from the San Joaquin Canyon. My kitchen had outstanding views of San Joaquin Ridge. After dinner I managed to catch and release a few 9-10 rainbows. Day 3 was a layover dedicated to fishing and exploring. Due to extensive soft snowbanks on the s and sw shorelines movement was slow. On the w. shoreline I managed a couple of 11 inch rainbows for dinner. Returning to camp I cleaned the fish and stashed them in a snowbank and then went exploring to figure out how I was going to escape from this hole in the rock. Across the outlet to the n was about a 50 high large rock outcropping steeply sloping into the lake. I found that the water in the lake was only crotch deep at the base of the rock and with my crocs was able to wade around the rock to a chute that could be negotiated with one bouldering move at the top. It was a little nasty dropping down the other side but after that the way was clear to the n. end of the lake and a user trail.
Dinner that night was a bust the flesh of the fish was so mushy that I spit it out--completely uneatable. Never experienced that in the backcountry before. To be continued
Mike