TR Rush Creek, Agnew, 1000 Island, Garnet Lake Loop 10/17-10/21

[shredhiker]

I've been looking at old reports for trip planning here for a while, thought I'd finally share one.

I try to make it out to the Sierra at least once a year, and the historic snow pack forced me to rethink my summer plans. I'd blocked off a week in October to squeeze in my last big hike of the year, and wasn't sure if I'd head to Colorado, Utah, or somewhere on the JMT. Around mid-August I found a great deal on a flight to Fresno, and at the time grabbed a permit starting from Yosemite Valley, not knowing how October weather would look I figured that would be a safe bet. I really had my eye on the high country though, and as the time grew closer conditions were looking ideal. I was scheduled to fly in the morning of October 17, and Yosemite doesn't allow overnight parking on Tioga Road past the 15th, so that meant I'd have to venture outside the park, which led me to my start from the Rush Creek Trailhead. I did a little research on routes, and had a general idea where I wanted to go, but decided not to commit to anything too specific.


Day 1: This was a long travel day in my usual fashion. I woke up at 3am east coast time for my 5:30 flight. Everything went smoothly, I landed on time and was in my rental car right around 10am west coast time. I had about a 5 hour drive to my trailhead, 3 hours of that was traveling through Yosemite which was always a treat. As I got to tunnel view I noticed the valley was full of smoke, I'd remembered reading they'd be doing controlled burns that week, and the effects were much heavier than I'd have thought. I could actually feel the heat from the flames as I drove up out of Yosemite Valley, and the haze was quite thick when I made it to Olmsted Point & Tenaya Lake. I was hoping this wouldn't be an issue in the area I was headed.

Once I exited the park and made my way down 395, the smoke was barely visible, and I was quite relieved as I enjoyed the rest of the drive. The fall colors around June Lake were absolutely gorgeous, full of aspens as vibrant as any I've seen. It was hard not to stop for photos, but I needed to get my hike started if I didn't want to walk in the dark. I made it to the trailhead around 3:45, with the goal of making the 2 mile & 1300' climb up to Agnew Lake, and grabbing the first piece of flat ground I came across that would let me access the lake. The trail starts with a nicely graded uphill section that runs parallel to the road for maybe a mile & a half, then as you get a look at Horsetail Falls the switchbacks up toward the dam begin. Finding my way south across the dam area was a bit tricky, most hikers stay north going through that section. I made it to camp around 5:45, with just enough time to set up and have dinner before it got dark. After such a long day, falling asleep wasn't difficult.


Day 2: It wasn't my intention to sleep in past 10am, but that's exactly what happened. The view of Agnew Lake was impressive though, and I was on my way around 11:30. My tentative plan for the day was head toward Thousand Island Lake, which was only a few miles but included a steep 1400' climb that I would begin immediately. The views looking back toward Mono Lake were exceptional, as I made my way across Spooky Meadow. I stopped at Clark Lakes for lunch, then eventually made my way to Thousand Island Lake around 5pm, and had camp set up around 6. Scenery was fantastic pretty much the entire day and despite my pack being 35 lbs, I was getting around quite well.

I knew days would be short during this trip, with sunset being around 6:20, and it being totally dark just past 7. I wish I'd dug a little deeper into fire restrictions as they weren't allowed in many of the places I wanted to camp, which made the long nights much longer. I did manage to crawl out of my tent around 11pm though, to a brilliant sky overhead. I've been wanting to try some night sky photography since I'd gotten my Sony Alpha earlier this year, and never managed to do so. I threw my layers back on, grabbed the camera & tripod, found a rock to sit on looking toward the lake, and sat out in the cold for an hour taking 30 second exposures.


Day 3: My initial thought was that I would take the JMT headed north, and veer off up to the seldom visited Davis Lakes area for the night. Looking at the map that morning, I saw I'd be getting on the trail pretty close to Emerald & Ruby Lake, which seemed like it would be worth the relatively flat 1/2 mile detour. I stopped for lunch at Ruby Lake, and something about the terrain called to me to go a little further. It looked like there'd be a nice view of Garnet Lake ahead, and that would be my cue to turn around for the day...

One look over Garnet Lake, and I absolutely knew I was going to drop down there to camp for the night. That would make for a very short day 3 and a much longer day 4 than I'd wanted, but I planned short & flexible days for situations just like this. I made the descent down to Garnet Lake and had found a spot to camp by 1:30. I opted to jump in the lake for a bit to rinse off, and lasted all of about 15 seconds. I filtered some water, stashed my uneaten snacks into the bear canister, and spent the afternoon walking up & down the lake shore. There was one couple camped on the opposite side of the lake, but no other people around that I could see. I had dinner fairly early, and had some whiskey with a cigar as the sun set on Banner Peak & Mt Ritter.

Day 4: I woke up around 8am, after another long 13 hours of darkness. I knew I had a lot of ground to cover, and started my hike out around 9:30. The initial climb up from the lake wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, and every switchback offered a fantastic view. It took no time at all to make it back up to Ruby & Emerald Lake, and backtracking my way to Thousand Island Lake was beautiful and pleasant. The climb up toward Island Pass was slightly more difficult, but still not terrible, and I couldn't help but to turn around and admire the view looking over Thousand Island Lake every few minutes.

Grey clouds were moving overhead as I made it up to the small unnamed lakes at the pass, not ominous enough to be worried, but enough to keep an eye on. I stopped for lunch at one of the lakes and felt a few light rain drops which let me know it was time to get moving. The next two hours I spent hiking under cloud cover, with some occasional light rain and even some hale. I kept moving, never needing to put my rain gear on, and was back under clear skies soon enough. As the JMT got near rush creek, I was in the trees for the first time on this trip. The forest was open & pleasant, with the occasional giant tree the Sierra are known for. I got off the main trail heading west, following Rush Creek toward Waugh Lake as I started looking for a campsite. I found a nice spot off trail down through the woods, where there was a nice little valley as the creek came out of the woods and into the lake. I couldn't see Waugh Lake, but it appeared to be just around the bend and would be a nice way to start off the next day.


Day 5: This was my last day of the trip. I started my hike out around 9:30. I had about 8 miles to make it back to the trailhead, most of it headed downhill. I was shocked that overnight temps never really got as cold as expected on this trip, and it was pleasantly warm every day. As I began my hike along Waugh Lake, it wouldn't take long to discover it was completely dry, at one point I could see all the way up to the Gem Lake dam was nothing but a dry lake bed. That was a bit of a bummer as I'd been looking forward to seeing another beautiful Sierra Lake, but the only water present was Rush Creek barely trickling through the big open valley. The scenery shifted to more of a high dessert type of landscape as I got back toward Gem Lake, and I started to see aspens once again, being surprised I hadn't seen any since the drive in. I took my time making my way along Gem Lake, doing my best to enjoy my final afternoon in this spectacular wilderness.

Being a Saturday, I was surprised to see only a few people on the trail as I got closer to the roads. As much as I hated that the trip was nearly over, the views looking down across June Lake on the last mile were beautiful, and I couldn't help but envy the couple of kayakers I saw out on the lake. I'd booked a room at a hostel in Mammoth Lakes for the night, and was looking forward to visiting the area for the first time, but not as much as the cheeseburger that had been on my brain for the past few days. I made it back to the car around 3:30, enjoyed the remaining drive around the June Lake Loop, and a nice evening in Mammoth Lakes.

I made my way out early the next morning, enjoying the drive through Yosemite as I headed back toward Fresno for the flight home...

Day 1:

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Day 2:

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Day 3:

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[shredhiker]

Day 4:

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Day 5:

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[SSSdave]

The long long October night hours gets so old backpacking stuck inside one's tent, that long ago decided only to car camp by mid September. So much more to do inside a well lit vehicle with a warm sleeping setup. Especially food, reading material, smartphone, and maps for planning following day's activities. Very easy late September into October to either freely disperse camp or NF/BLM camp all along the Eastern Sierra

You also discovered aspen groves are down at trailhead and lower Sierra east elevations with mainly just yellow willow leave areas above. That even makes it easier to go with a car camping trip from early October onward.

You'll appreciate some of these late August A6000 photos from my Agnew Meadows to Clark Lakes to Thousand Island 6 day backpack. Note, I just received a new A6700.

https://www.davidsenesac.com/2023_Trip_ ... 023-6.html

UD03889-03969-3x1vy.jpg

[kpeter]

Thank you for the report! What a wonderful journey through some classic Sierra terrain. I've never been in that area in autumn, and the colors in your photography show a very different landscape than I am used to seeing. Really interesting. Thank you for sharing!

[shredhiker]

The long long October night hours gets so old backpacking stuck inside one's tent, that long ago decided only to car camp by mid September. So much more to do inside a well lit vehicle with a warm sleeping setup. Especially food, reading material, smartphone, and maps for planning following day's activities. Very easy late September into October to either freely disperse camp or NF/BLM camp all along the Eastern Sierra

You also discovered aspen groves are down at trailhead and lower Sierra east elevations with mainly just yellow willow leave areas above. That even makes it easier to go with a car camping trip from early October onward.

You'll appreciate some of these late August A6000 photos from my Agnew Meadows to Clark Lakes to Thousand Island 6 day backpack. Note, I just received a new A6700.

https://www.davidsenesac.com/2023_Trip_ ... 023-6.html

UD03889-03969-3x1vy.jpg

Unfortunately I've grown fond of the excitement that comes with being in the mountains in October, despite the super long nights. As much as I'm typically a fan of disconnecting and enjoying being out int he wild though, I think for trips like this I'm going to have to come up with some form of keeping myself entertained for those hours I can't sleep.

The aspens all around June Lake were absolutely brilliant, I really wish I'd had one more day to spend driving around there.

How do you like the 6700? I've only had the 6300 for about 6 months now, after years of shooting on an ancient canon platform. It was a bit of a learning curve initially, but it's been a fantastic setup for backpacking so far.

[The Other Tom]

Thanks for the trip report and pics. This is a beautiful area of the Sierra.
As an aside, I, too, live in the east and have to fly to get to the Sierra. I used to fly into Fresno but have switched to Reno. It makes those east side trips much easier, IMO.

[shredhiker]

Thanks for the trip report and pics. This is a beautiful area of the Sierra.
As an aside, I, too, live in the east and have to fly to get to the Sierra. I used to fly into Fresno but have switched to Reno. It makes those east side trips much easier, IMO.

I'm leaning pretty strongly toward doing that on my next trip actually. This is the second consecutive year I tried to plan a Yosemite trip & wound up making a long drive to the eastern side of the range.

I'm actually in the upstate myself, do you usually fly from GSP, and has it gone pretty smoothly the last few years?

[giantbrookie]

What a terrific trip and photos. I can feel the crispness of the fall air in your photos. Whereas you have to deal with those long nights the crowds have diminished in those popular areas and the huge amount of horse manure one usually has to deal with going out of Rush Creek has not had much fresh and recent addition (if any). Your opening travel day is epic. I have these crazy academic travel days where I end up doing a lot following a red eye or sometimes "double" red eye flight(s), but I've never had a travel day where I've followed the flight with a long drive and a backpacking entry.

By the way, although I live here in CA (in both Fresno and SF Bay area) I have a lot of friends that travel out here from points east, so here are some additional travel ideas (in addition to those of the Other Tom). For east side destinations as noted by The Other Tom, Reno is the best choice, easily. Reno is also the best for most northern Sierra Nevada destinations, including Desolation Wilderness and Lakes Basin (Sierra Buttes area). For west side Desolation Wilderness entry, such as Loon Lake, Van Vleck, or Wrights Lake, it is sort of 50/50, whether Reno is better than Sacramento which is certainly an option for northern west flank trips, such as western Emigrant Wilderness stuff (say Crabtree/Gianelli, whereas Kennedy Meadows is 50/50 Sacramento-Reno). For western flank southern Sierra, such as western Yosemite entry & western Ansel Adams Wilderness by CA highway 49 (and, with a bit of cleverness Yosemite west side CA120 entry), W John Muir Wilderness, Kaiser Wilderness, Dinkey Lakes Wilderness, and west Seki entry, then Fresno is the better choice. The bottom line is that Reno, Fresno, and Sacramento give you some options in terms of flights, depending where you want to go in the Sierra.

[The Other Tom]

I'm actually in the upstate myself, do you usually fly from GSP, and has it gone pretty smoothly the last few years?

Yes, I fly out of GSP. I haven't gone to the Sierra in the last few years, but I used to fly SW to Chicago, and then on to Reno. It was a fast and good connection. I've also used AA through Dallas.