Thousand Island Lake as a day hike from Agnew Meadows via the river trail?

[onerinconhill]

Has anyone done this in a day before? I was thinking Garnet (my previous thread) but it looks like if you take the river trail out and back it's less distance and elevation gain. The mileage is definitely high which is my only concern (when I did Ediza lake it ended up being 15 miles even though alltrails shows 13, so I'm assuming the 15 for the river trail to Thousand Island that they have isn't accurate either).

[davidsheridan]

It really depends on your fitness level. If you have never hiked that long before, do a test hike locally of similar distance.

Also, will you be acclimated? If not, your body might tell you that you aren't going to make it. Listen to your body.

If you are fit, get an early start, pre-dawn, it is doable. Be prepared to spend the entire daylight hours hiking. Listen to your body. Wrap your toes in Lueko tape, and put some vaseline on your feet to prevent blisters. Drink lots, eat a lot!!

You should also consider taking the High Trail on 1 way yo make it a loop. The High trail has great views of the Minarets.

[onerinconhill]

It really depends on your fitness level. If you have never hiked that long before, do a test hike locally of similar distance.

Also, will you be acclimated? If not, your body might tell you that you aren't going to make it. Listen to your body.

If you are fit, get an early start, pre-dawn, it is doable. Be prepared to spend the entire daylight hours hiking. Listen to your body. Wrap your toes in Lueko tape, and put some vaseline on your feet to prevent blisters. Drink lots, eat a lot!!

You should also consider taking the High Trail on 1 way yo make it a loop. The High trail has great views of the Minarets.

I haven't had a problem with acclimation when I've done similar hikes (Temple Crag to the third lake, Ediza Lake) but the distance is what I was concerned about (most I've hiked is the 15 mile Ediza Lake) so I was curious if anyone had personal experience with the river trail in a single day as it seems like a pretty steady incline opposed to the Ediza Lake trail which has massive switchback portions.

[SSSdave]

https://www.trailrunproject.com/trail/7 ... sland-lake

There are fit trail running enthusiasts that do those kind of long distance endurance challenges all the time and some ultra light backpackers hike 15 to 20 miles per day, especially PCT hikers. But that doesn't mean because some can that an average person can without becoming over-stressed. Although there is a mix of Sierra Nevada trail users herein, the majority of us are backpackers. A few here regularly do 15 miles a day up thousands of vertical feet. Most here don't do long routes because such is not an enjoyable experience to specific persons which is why most are out here for experience and not for challenge, especially mileage. Most backpackers carrying usual weights on average do less than 10 miles a day with many half that. Look at any Sierra Nevada hiking guide books and one will find the majority of backpacking and hiking trail days are less than 10 miles.

Fishermen without much experience are likely to do such hikes and then are disappointed because trout are not often active mid day. Asking as you have is a reasonable question however individual answers won't have much value because as others have already related it depends on the individual. However one can state the majority would not find day hiking all the way to Garnet or Thousand Island Lakes and back a pleasant experience. Not just because of the time and effort but also because most of these destinations are far more enjoyable early or late in the day camped near thus not mid day that day hiking arrival is limited to.

[c9h13no3]

It really depends

it depends on the individual

Yeah, no one can make this call for you, @onerinconhill. Everyone's threshold for what is too much hiking is different. And it changes based on the conditions (altitude, snow, weather, how you're feeling that day).

If you've been to Ediza, this will be a bit longer. If you could've hiked for 2 more hours and enjoyed it after Ediza, then you'll probably enjoy going to Thousand Island.

[Wandering Daisy]

Call Inyo Forest Mammoth office to get the latest on the road. I have a permit 6/9-15 and they told me that the road likely will be closed. There was some road damage last year and their construction priority is the roads up in the lakes basin (George Lake and such). They estimated late June or early July when the road would be open. They generally do not want to get people's hopes up so give pessimistic estimates. I am planning on hiking down the road, an extra 3 miles each way.

[onerinconhill]

Call Inyo Forest Mammoth office to get the latest on the road. I have a permit 6/9-15 and they told me that the road likely will be closed. There was some road damage last year and their construction priority is the roads up in the lakes basin (George Lake and such). They estimated late June or early July when the road would be open. They generally do not want to get people's hopes up so give pessimistic estimates. I am planning on hiking down the road, an extra 3 miles each way.

This hike would likely be early August so that's fine, but I am thinking it might just be a bit too much distance. On the other hand I've been wanting to do Minaret lake, so it seems like that one is much more doable in a single day (although the mileage seems similar from what I see on alltrails?)

[grampy]

I use Gaia mapping; I plotted your route to Minaret Lake with both apps (Gaia and AllTrails) and got almost identical mileage. However, using Gaia, I got about 440 more total elevation gain (on the round trip) vs AllTrails. Note that your AllTrails data shows someone’s actual track, but the tracking points are created from their phone’s GPS data (which isn’t 100% accurate). On Gaia, I got +2554’ and -325’ for the one-way trip, so adding these would give plus (and minus) 2879’ for round trip; compare that to your AllTrails track.
But this is all academic - just consider ALL calculations of mileage and elevation gain (using a computer app OR paper maps) to be merely approximations of what you’ll actually experience.

Just ask yourself if a +- 400’ error (or an extra 2 miles, or whatever) would convince you to choose a different trip. Hopefully, you’ll shrug off the uncertainty and just go have a nice hike.

[oddtiger]

I did river trail->Garnet lake->Thousand Island lake->high trail loop last July as day hike out of Agnew Meadow. The river trail to Garnet Lake part is a bit steep and other than that, it's not bad at all. The parking might be a bit challenge, but you should be able to find a spot early morning. I started at 5:30am, and fished 3 lakes along this route and did a side trip walking along south shore of Thousand island lake, returned to my car around 5pm. My pace for this hike was kind of fast with 2.5-3mph when moving. Trail condition is pretty good except for the session finding the way up Garnet. Fishing were great along the way, and I saw a snake in Thousand Island Lake!

[brianA]

Random thoughts about your post. First of all, the Ediza climbs are a lot harder than the climb to T.I. Seems to me a couple more miles of easier climbing would be similar to your effort to Ediza.

Second, the hike from T.I. to Shadow Lake is incredible. You pass several lakes, Emerald, Ruby, Garnet. The view from the top of the pass overlooking Garnet is stunning. If you're going all the way to T.I., why not train up a little more and do a big loop?

Lastly, while you can get lucky and get a glassy lake at noon, it's unlikely as the one gentleman pointed out. There's something to be said for a backpack trip. Spend a couple of nights, and day hike around the area. The photography can be unbelievable if you spend the night. Here are some examples.