R02 TR: An eccentric loop around Mt. Lyell Aug 2021

[cgundersen]

In early July I noticed that the High trail out of Agnew meadow had a few slots available on August 3rd which only could have been due to a cancellation (there had been no availability for advance reservations on any popular trails for weeks). So, I rolled the dice and in the lead up to Aug. 3rd, the Sierra went through a couple weeks of wild monsoonal weather that's been documented in other TRs. Our plan was to repeat a high loop around Mt. Lyell that my wife and I had done back in 2007, but toss in a couple more days to enjoy the scenery in what is a spectacular area. The other goal was to quell a mini-obsession I've had with a bizarrely attractive pothole lake in the upper reaches of the Lewis creek drainage. It had been a beguiling powder blue back in 2007, but remained frozen over in 2019 when I repeated the loop with a pal from the East coast. Well, because of how conditions evolved, we missed out on this lake, but if you are fond of mushrooms, well on that count we scored mightily.

Day 1: Whether it’s your first or 50th time taking the high trail out of Agnew meadow, it remains a perfect way to start a backpacking trip in the Sierra. The grade is mild and a lot of the initial elevation gain occurs in the first mile. We stayed in Mammoth the night before to acclimate and rose early to drive to the trailhead before the shuttle starts. Since much of the southern Sierra was just coming off a couple weeks of harrowing monsoonal weather and the immediate forecast was for a sustained period of high pressure, we felt doubly lucky. Triply lucky when there were several parking slots immediately adjacent to the trailhead. A couple more groups rolled in as we were saddling up, and the excitement of getting into the mountains was palpable.

The flower blooms that I associate with early season trips on the high route had run their course, but there were still great displays at every spring and creek crossing the trail (and there was good flow in most springs in spite of the drought). We ran into a half dozen groups heading back to Agnew, and some of them had tall tales of the deluges/lightning/thunder they’d endured. We got to Thousand Island Lake for lunch, and in spite of the fact that there must be a thousand photos of Banner on HST, I’m going to add one more just to give the early flavor of what we were walking into. A bit of a surprise is that just one other party passed while we were eating lunch, and very few tents dotted that huge, scenic lake (normally, it is a zoo). Another bonus is that we had planned to go no further than the tarns of Island Pass plateau on day 1 of what was scheduled to be an 11 day trip. Another harbinger of things to come is that we had “rescued” a few Boletus edulis mushrooms (porcini) before lunch and after settling down in mid-afternoon, we went in search of more. I’m pretty sure the monsoonal rains had helped these wonderful fungi to appear a bit earlier than I’m accustomed to. So, by the time we got ready to erect the tent, I’d set out about a pounds worth of porcini to dry. Unlike trout which are hard to take home, dried porcini store marvelously and we use them for cooking on the trail and the rest of the year. Of course, there are worms and rodents that often get to the porcini before we do, so one needs to be a bit selective (unless you like worms and the added protein). With the Perseid showers on the horizon, we were also looking forward to nighttime fireworks and were not disappointed. On this eve and many more during the trip, the shooting stars were amazing. In addition, Saturn was a monster in the southern sky, easily as bright as any planet I’ve seen.

Banner from Island pass plateau

Boletus edulis grandedulis

Day 2: The relative peace of day 1 gave way to the usual steady flow of through hikers on the JMT. With the stunning blue skies and moderate temps, the prevailing mood was excellent, and most of the folk we encountered were as thrilled with the conditions/scenery as we were. The one thing that kept delaying our progress was having to drop packs for mushroom foraging. Conservatively, I’d guess that I added 3 lbs of porcini to my already heavy pack by the time we reached Donohue pass. This is hardly a complaint: not only is the foraging fun (OK, maybe not as fun as hooking a lunker trout, but close), but the culinary payoff is profound. As soon as we reached the creek crossing below Donohue, we left the trail to head up into Lyell canyon. Our goal had been to reach some of the lakes in the Maclure creek drainage, but we changed plans first because the canyon was sufficiently gorgeous that it was tough to pass up, and second because I wanted to off-load the mushrooms, clean them up and let them dry a bit. The alpenglow that evening was as good as we experienced the whole trip (for reasons that’ll become clear, soon).

View from Donohue into Lyell canyon

Looking up Lyell canyon after leaving the JMT

Last light on the walls of Lyell canyon

Day3: Our original plan had been to reach the cluster of 5 un-named lakes on the plateau between Simmons peak and the ridgeline that features Amelia Earhart peak. We whiffed. Maybe an hour after starting out, we decided that one of the Maclure Lakes (that had been our original target the day before) merited what essentially was a rest day. It would also let me get the mushrooms crispy dry and we could reduce the mass in our packs a bit more. In spite of the proximity to Tuolumne , the entire plateau below Simmons/Maclure appeared to be deserted. After the steady traffic on the JMT, it was nice to hit the off-trail tranquility!

Morning light on the glacial moraine

Glacial particulates in day 3 lake of the Maclure chain

Fading light on Lyell and its cousins

Day 4: Just as we were sitting down for breakfast, my wife noticed some strange, wispy clouds way overhead. We ignored them for a while, but a quick stroll after breakfast revealed the source. Off in the direction of Mono Lake was an ominous brew that had wildfire written in BOLD. Orange-brown plumes were marring the horizon and the wisps were turning into solid tendrils. At this stage, we thought that maybe this was a local phenomenon and that if we got further west, maybe we’d be OK (ie., avoid the smoke). Well, instead of going the direct route in the direction of the 5 lakes we were aiming for the day before, we climbed up to Maclure lake which we reached around lunchtime. By then, the air quality had dropped precipitously and particulates marred the distant views. Unexpectedly, as we were packing up from lunch, a group of 4 backpackers showed up having just come over Russell pass (from Hutching creek basin). We thought briefly about carving off a huge chunk of our planned route and doing Russell, but then dismissed the idea. Another time……instead, we traversed from Maclure to the lake on the east side of Simmons peak and camped there rather than schlepping all the way to the 5-lake cluster. In part, this was dictated by the rapidly deteriorating air quality. The morning’s wispy clouds had given way to smoke bad enough to obscure the cross-canyon Kuna crest. Obviously, whatever was burning was not just a minor fire!

Maclure lake and the saddle of Russell pass

[cgundersen]

Well, my first shot at this TR lacked captions for the photos, but I'll post more and fix that later.........


Day 5 : The morning’s air quality was still sketchy to the point that we debated aborting the trip. On the other hand the skies to the south and west looked reasonably blue, so they served as our clarion call. We packed up and traversed over to the lightly traveled 5 lake basin below the Amelia Earhart ridge. In years past there was a substantial rockpile scattered around a prospector’s dig west of the northmost lake, but the deep hole (at least 20 ft) has since been filled in. Whom does one thank for that? Still, the geology in that area is enticing, and someday we’ll actually spend some time poking around that area.

Ridge leading to Ireland basin

View toward Lyell from the Ireland ridge

Ireland lake from Amelia Earhart ridge

To get over the ridge separating us from Ireland Lake, we scrambled up the sandy hillside that harbors scattered vegetation all the way to the ridgeline. Unfortunately, the views from the ridge were hugely affected by the smoke (on clear days, you can see all the way up to the Matterhorn), so we nabbed a couple quick photos and started the descent. Our goal was to work our way across the gentle, wide-open, grassy plateau above Ireland and then drop down into the upper reaches of Lewis creek basin (almost due west). This Ireland-Lewis descent looks a bit sketchy on topo maps, but having been there a couple years ago with my east coast pal (a follow up to the 2007 trip with my wife), I was pretty confident that it was still a go. Yes, it’s slow and tedious, but the talus is more stable than one often encounters in this area. Mostly, it takes patience, and we were very patient! The upper Lewis creek area looked about as undisturbed as it had back on our original visit, but sadly, the smoke blunted the alpenglow that illuminated Simmons on past visits. Our clothing was beginning to get that campfire smell without ever having seen a campfire.

Lewis creek basin from Ireland basin

Looking up at Ireland Lewis ridge

Day 6: The dilemma: do we stick with the original plan to spend a long day hopping talus and a tricky, loose ridge to work our way into Hutching creek basin, or do we go for plan B (a possible traverse from Lewis creek basin into Florence lake basin) or plan C: bail out to the trail and loop all the way around to the Lyell Fork of the Merced (LFM). The rapid increase in smoke levels pushed us toward plan B or C. We simply were not keen to engage in a day of high exertion in thick particulates. We could already feel the effects of the smoke (itchy eyes and nose and harder breathing), let alone the impact on the views. By the time we passed Gallison Lake, the distant views were increasingly circumscribed and an early lunch at Bernice was in a smoky haze. This was turning out to be the worst day yet for air quality. Not wanting the challenge of traversing over to Florence basin, we took the trail from Bernice down to the main trail and started the anti-clockwise loop toward the LFM. Being back at elevations where porcini had been abundant, we were surprised to find very few mushrooms on this leg to the trip. And, those that we did see generally were not boletus, but still charming (see photo). There were darn few folk, too. Aside from 2 wildlife biologists in upper Lewis creek basin, we did not see another soul till about 4pm that afternoon. Was it the smoke keeping folk away? It was not clear. We camped at the last creek one hits before reaching the crossing of the LFM, and it was not till the next morning that we really realized that the views we’d missed the entire day before were en face panoramas of the Clark range. Well, it was nice to get a brief glimpse!

more fungi!

Clark range

Day 7: In general, the smoke levels were not nearly as bad today as they’d been the day before.
We left the trail just before the LFM to saunter across those stunning beds of polished granite that have won kudos in many prior TRs. This approach has iconic views (slightly smoky for us) up the LFM that have won accolades on past TRs, and it's still gorgeous country even in the haze. Our target was the lake immediately below Ansel Adams peak. We’d camped there a couple times before, and if it’s not a fitting memorial to Mr. Adams, well, all I can say is check it out and form your own opinion. There’s a great sandy beach and swimming/cleaning up after the sticky climb was one of the trip’s highlights. And, of course, we’d managed to collect another 4-5lbs of porcini on the way up, so it was mushroom drying time. As I was beginning to chop up our stash, we were visited by two guys from San Diego who certainly looked dismayed that we’d snagged the prime camping spot. But after chatting for a half hour, they overcame their disappointment and motored on to the next lake up the basin (we saw their tent the next morning; thanks Dan & Greg!). About 15 min after they passed through, a lone hiker showed up and was heading for Sluggo pass. In a matter of minutes, we’d encountered more people than we’d seen the entire day before on trail. It was a bit odd, but comforting to see folk getting deep into the Sierra.

The iconic LFM

water art

abstract grass

Meditation on a log

mushrooms drying

Day 8: This was supposed to be an easy day of moseying into the upper reaches of the Lyell fork basin, but with the heat and smoke, it seemed to take much longer than anticipated. It was probably mid-afternoon before we reached the shore of the uppermost lake and called it quits in the shadow of Rodgers Peak. We had a head-on view of Rodgers pass, our day 9 nemesis. But most other sight lines were dreadfully hazy, and we were happy to bed down early for the next morning’s assault on Rodgers.

[cgundersen]

These photos are for the preceding days:

The lake below Ansel Adams peak

evening light on Rodgers peak

smoke in upper LFM viewed from Rodgers pass

Day 9: On the trip with my buddy two years ago, we found that you can stay on solid ground about 2/3rds of the way up Rodgers and we reprised that route. It’s also helpful that most of that approach is punctuated by trickling spring water (!) which supports great bursts of yellow monkey flowers. With these distractions, the climbing went smoothly and we reached the Rodgers ridge with very few dislodged boulders. For how loose this whole hillside is, this is not an idle boast; I think it’s more testimony to the fact that we’re pretty scrawny. Still, the poor air quality blunted the thrill of reaching the ridge. Plus, in one of the oddest sensory experiences of my time in the Sierra, there was a distinct odor of skunk at the Rodgers ridge. Yes, skunk. Up there? Not a lot of biology up there! Next, was the long and somewhat ornery descent to the lower Marie Lakes. Around the time we got down to the first lake below the pass, the sky behind us was getting darker quickly, and it was looking like we were going to see the first rain of the trip. We hoofed it down to the second big lake in the Marie chain and got the tent pitched about 10 minutes before the first rain drops. The rain lasted no more than 20 minutes and helped clear the air in our immediate vicinity, but it did not change the big (smoky) picture.

Uppermost Marie lake from Rodgers pass

Day 10: This was supposed to be another freebie day to explore new terrain in the shadow of Ritter-Banner and the Minarets. In the end, we spent most of our time looking for mushrooms and made it no further than the general environs of Thousand Island Lake. And, once again, it clouded over near dinnertime, so I had to scoop up all those carefully chopped mushrooms and try to keep them from getting wetter (and heavier). In the end, as had been the case repeatedly through the trip, I loaded the mushrooms into my mosquito netting and let them dry while dangling off the back of my pack. Sadly, the rain did not do much to improve the distant views, so another day’s photography mostly recorded dense haze.

Hazy skies and Banner

Day 11: Heading out via the High trail. I’ve frequently hiked in via the High trail only to exit via the River trail or the Shadow Lake trail . But going back out via the High trail is scenic and inspiring even in the smoky conditions we were experiencing, and I think it will be the default choice in the future. Again, the trail was not terribly busy (smoke dampening folks’ plans?), and the trailhead parking lot had a couple spaces when we exited.

Random observations: We did not see a single large (non-human) mammal. Where are the deer, elk, coyotes, bears? Even scats were rare. We heard plenty of marmots but saw relatively few. Pika were surprisingly abundant (but furtive). No eagles/hawks, but a few turkey vultures, ravens and crows. Very few lakes had fish, but we definitely compensated with fungi. We were pleasantly surprised that shooting stars still penetrate the smoky skies, and the milky way seemed to be about as milky as it should be. That area gets a lot of plane traffic, and just about every day we were treated to a noisy helicopter dragging a large orb about 50 ft below its undercarriage (air sampling?). Still, it’s as close to wilderness as we’re going to get in CA! And compared with last year, we were just glad to be back in the mountains!

[Wandering Daisy]

I was out during the same time and fortunately did not encounter much smoke, but did get hit by more monsoonal rain activity. Speaking of mushrooms I ran across one that was as big as a Mexican hat! And looked like one too. I have noticed a lot of mushrooms this year, earlier than usual.

Too bad you had to miss Hutchings creek- it is one of my favorite places.

[balzaccom]

Nice! We also saw tons of mushrooms at the west end of Gibbs Lake last week---but even though my wife is a chef, we do not know enough to confidently pick them in the wild--with a few obvious exceptions. Most of the ones we saw looked like amanitas---red caps with white spots...sigh

[wildhiker]

A nice loop around Mt Lyell! I enjoy cross-country hiking in that area, too, but I'm a bit less adventuresome than you. I was in the Cathedral Range, including Ireland Lake and Maclure Creek areas just a few days before your trip and encountered a lot of rain and thunder, but thankfully, no smoke! And I only saw one other person (at a distance) in 5 days of cross-country hiking. By the way, in clear weather, from Amelia Earhart Pass (the one on the ridge between Ireland Lake and Maclure Creek), you can see much farther than Matterhorn Peak. Tower Peak is quite obvious, and the north boundary ridge of the Park to the west is also visible.
-Phil

[oddtiger]

Thanks for the TR! We also saw/foraged tons of mushrooms this year, especially when I backpacked with my daughters on shorter routes.


On the way to Tyee lakes, Mia's catch:

and on the way climbing Red Slate Mountain (Laura's first 13er/register):

[giantbrookie]

That is indeed a really cool loop around Lyell with some fun off trail travel through terrific alpine scenery. I really need to start studying mushrooms so that I can safely pick them. Looking at those mushrooms spread out to dry makes me hungry as much as a looking at a fillet of orange-meated trout.

[cgundersen]

I'll chime in on some of the comments:
Daisy: yes, I belatedly annotated the TR I'd submitted a couple years ago when my buddy and I got a bit more time to enjoy Hutching basin, and that was one of the goals of this trip, namely to get back there. Oh well, maybe next time? It was a tough call and I'd still like to spend time in the upper reaches of that basin! I'm looking forward to a more-detailed report from Erutan who did get over Sluggo around the same time we were up there. As for the sombrero-sized mushroom, I have no doubts. The big one pictured above actually had escaped worms/varmints, so it's now in the cupboard. There were other huge specimens that were full of worms, so we passed. The beauties oddtiger posted look like they had escaped those depredations.
Balzac: My wife and I are good for about 3 or 4 species (Boletus, Chanterelles, Morels and oyster mushrooms). But even with the boletes, one needs to be cautious, because the ones that turn blue-green when you break them are mildly toxic. And, curiously, boletes and amanita tend to grow in the same conditions, but they are so distinctively different that it's hard to get confused.
Phil: yes, your fondness for that area has been clear from your past report(s). I'm a neophyte with respect to the peaks at the northern boundary of Yosemite (I did one trip out of Twin Lakes about 10 years ago and that's it), so I'm pretty poor at identifying the prominent protuberances that fill out the horizon from above Ireland. If/when I next get back there, I'm hoping for better visibility and more time to key in on what I'm seeing. Also, I'll look forward to your latest TR (Or maybe I missed it; I'll check).
John: if we ever overlap at a HST meet up, I'll share my mushrooms in exchange for a bit of trout!
Cameron

[windknot]

Great report! Count me as another jealous of your mushroom harvest (and identification skills). I'm only confident in identifying chanterelles, and much more recently morels.