Having asked for advice last year for a trip to Bench Canyon, I should have posted a report to share what turned out to be a great trip, despite my not reaching the destination. So apologies for posting this trip report a year late.
This was my first backpack trip in two years. I had been asked by my daughter to meet with the wedding coordinator at the Double Eagle Resort in June Lake, and I thought since I was going all the way there from the Bay Area, I might as well plan a trip from the Rush Creek trailhead, one of the few east side trailheads I had not started from in my 30+ years of backpacking in the Sierra Nevada. (The wedding was last month, at Double Eagle.)
My trip got off to a very late start on the first day, due to an unexpectedly long conference call for my work and a longer than anticipated meeting and tour with the wedding coordinator. By the time I hit the trail it was almost 2pm. I had hoped to reach Thousand Island Lake, but made it only to the far side of Gem Lake when it started to drizzle and I decided to camp. My pace had noticeably diminished since my last trip two years previously. Having turned age 60 probably had something to do with that.
By the time I reached Thousand Island Lake the next day, it was already clouding up.
A short time later it started raining, a cold wind driven rain that lasted the entire way to North Glacier Pass. By this time I realized that my destination of Bench Canyon was probably out of reach, given that I had no flexibility to extend the trip a day or two given obligations back home. Nevertheless, I descended a few hundred feet past Lake Catherine, camped, and contemplated what to do.
The next morning was beautiful and sunny, but I knew I could not take a chance on going out even further from the trailhead, the weather again turning to rain in the afternoon, and my getting slowed down to the point I would not return on time. So I turned around. Lake Catherine had not completely thawed even though it was the end of August.
The question was, where to go now? I could have just meandered around Thousand Island Lake, but I have always been drawn to exploring more isolated places. So I pulled out the map to see what options there might be. Eventually I spotted a little flat spot with a very small pond on the ridge on the south side of Garnet Lake, and I decided to go see what was there. I passed by a couple of small lakes just west of Thousand Island Lake, and I lounged by one of them for a couple hours. It was warm enough for a delightful swim.
A couple hours later I was on the other side of Garnet Lake, and it had very quickly clouded up. I knew I had made the right decision about not continuing to Bench Canyon, as it looked like it was stormy that direction.
By the time I had scrambled up to the little flat area on the ridge, it was almost dark and had started to drizzle. So I found a flat spot among the rocks and pulled out the bivy sack.
The next morning I walked the 50 yards or so to the little pond. What a gem of a spot!
The view of Banner and Ritter from the ridge is not bad either.
I had thought that maybe I would try to traverse over to the Nydiver Lakes, which I have never visited, and return via Shadow Creek, but decided just to sit and take in the beauty of this idyllic spot for the morning. All sense of disappointment at not being able to reach my original destination had vanished. Walking around the little pond, I came across a semicircle of rocks so perfectly arranged to form a planting area, it was amazing to think that it was a purely natural formation.
As had been the pattern every day, it very quickly started to cloud over. Sitting by the little pond, every once in a while I would glance up at the sky hoping to see that the clouds were thinning. All of a sudden... what happened to the sun??!!
I had forgotten that it was the day of the solar eclipse! The thin cloud layer was just perfect for looking at the partially eclipsed sun with the naked eye. I realized that everything was just slightly darker than I would have expected from just the thin cloud cover alone, though who knows if I would have noticed it had I not looked up and seen the eclipse.
After a while I knew I needed to get going, so I headed down the ridge toward Garnet Lake. Fortunately the clouds had started to dissipate rather than continuing to build as they had done the previous two days.
That last evening of the trip I camped up the ridge just west of the Clark Lakes. It was a beautiful spot from which to watch the changing light at sunrise the next morning on Ritter and Banner, which from this perspective form an especially aesthetically pleasing composition.
Driving up Tioga Pass that afternoon, there was the most torrential downpour I have ever experienced in the Sierra Nevada. Many cars were pulled over because of the poor visibility. By the time I reached Tuolumne Meadows it had slowed to a steady rain, but that didn't deter the many tourists who were out snapping pictures anyway!
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