High Sierra Topix

Day 1: Reds Meadow to Minaret Lake

After planning to hike in from Mammoth to the Devil's Postpile area, the road opened the day before our planned trip. It was a grand turn of events that saved us a day and allowed us to do a side trip on day 1 up to Minaret Lake before continuing on JMT north. The JMT portion of the trail before the Minaret creek split was very well maintained with the trail mostly cleared of debris. There was one moderate water crossing where JMT crosses Minaret creek. The bridge had washed to the side and we could not find any alternative crossing upstream. The crossing was at a wide part of the creek, making the speed of the water manageable. The water was mid-thigh to hip deep and the most significant crossing of the trip. Shortly after the crossing, we took the split toward Minaret lake. The trail conditions deteriorated rapidly, with many tress down across the trail. We ran into a couple of crews that were working on clearing the trails. There were several flooded, swampy areas that had moderate mosquito activity.

Minaret creek was still raging and quite a sight to see. The last half mile before Minaret lake had some patchy snow, with some snowfields towards the top being ~100 yards in length with some snow bridges over the creek. The partially frozen Minaret lake looked spectacular. Day 2: Minaret Creek to Rosalie Lake

We hiked back down Minaret Creek and joined up with JMT. It was a decent climb up toward Gladys lake. Similar to Minaret creek, the flat areas toward the top of the ridge line were swampy and filled with mosquitoes. Exhausted, we made the decent down to Rosalie Lake where we camped for the evening. The lake water was chilly but the refreshing swim was worth it. Although clear when we called it a day, a thunderstorm rolled through in the middle of the night, sending us scrambling to get our packs in our tents. Day 3: Rosalie Lake to Waugh Lake Area

Day 3 was our most difficult day of the trip with the common theme: traverse down the ridge to the lake, hike around the lake, ascend the next ridge, repeat. As we travel further north, the views became more spectacular. The traverse down to Garnet Lake, Thousand Island lake, and Island Pass all had spotty snow with some steeper sections and a lot of water runoff sporadically spaced across the face. Route finding was straightforward and not a problem. We ran into a couple groups that warned us that Shadow Lake, Garnet Lake, and Thousand Island Lake had E. coli, but everyone else we talked to didn't seem to know about it. We played it safe (although a water filter takes care of it) and did not swim or refill water at any of these lakes.

Shadow Lake Garnet Lake Bridge Garnet Lake with a small thunderstorm blowing in Thousand Island Lake

Day 4: Waugh Lake Area to Tuolumne Meadows

We were on the trail by 7 in hopes to tackle Donahue Pass while the snow still had some firmness. We quickly hit snow and some tricky steam crossing. Unfortunately, we saw several instances of footsteps of hikers who opted to hike upstream of the crossing on the snow that was still forming a bridge across the streams. Luckily for us, the creeks wee low in the morning and there were rocks to skip across most of the time. We had one area where we got creative and hucked our backpacks across the stream so we could jump the gap without the packs on.

When we started the main ascent toward the pass, that trail was a bit hard to follow because of the patchy snow combined with mostly granite. The snow actually aided in getting back on track because we were able to see the main path carved into the snow from a distance. There were a couple paths to choose from but toward the top where the path became completely snow covered, it was more obvious which the main path was. There were many spots where a hole was punched through a sun cup and there was significant running water underneath the snow pack. Proceed with caution.
It was nice doing the climb in the morning, with fresh legs. The top has line of site to mammoth so we made a couple phone calls before getting chased off the mountain by an incoming storms.
The descent had more snow coverage but a very defined pathway. Once down to patchy snow, there are a couple creek crossings that were slightly sketchy. Once again, I was glad to be there mid-morning when the water was low. Unfortunately, we both fully submerged a boot on the most treacherous crossing. We took a break to dry them out.
We traversed down into Lyell Canyon and were amazed with the greenery and calmness. It was a long haul down to Tuolumne Meadows.
We ran into a couple about 6 miles from Tuolumne Meadows that were lost and looking for the parking lot where there car was parked. They provided us with the quote of the trip: "How far until the John Muir Trail ends?" We gave them water and they proceeded to follow us all the way to the visitor center.

Thanks for the nice trip report! Amazing how much snow is still there. I've done many trips in this area, always in August of "normal" years, and never had any snow on or near the trail.
-Phil

That's a great quote, haha.

Thank you! Very thorough description. Also stunned at how much snow is still there! I'm considering a trip the last week of August and hoping that the snow will be off the trails and the streams will be more manageable.

Hi Tmesko,

Welcome to HST!
Thank you for the wonderful, first TR and photo posting! Really like the Lyell Canyon meadow shot.