Knowing we had a long Day 2 ahead of us, we started early with a 5:30 AM wake up call. Hitting the trail shortly after 7 AM I began the climb to Donohue Pass in the cool morning shade. I found the hike to be far easier than expected – I think my prior weekend at altitude helped me quite a bit on these first couple of days. I lingered in some beautiful alpine meadows and got the pass at the time I normally hit the trail, 9:30 AM.
Although it was an enjoyable day, there was a lot of time bled along the way, but starting early kept the day pressure-free. Andrea was feeling the affects of the altitude and took a tumble on the way down from the pass, twisting her ankle – this injury would unfortunately cause her to leave the trail the next day. Anna Marie and I got to Thousand Island lake an hour ahead of the rest of the group and had a windy but nice lunch break. We watched lots and lots of hikers go by, including a bit Boyscout group. Most hikers were coming from Agnew and staying at 1000 Island Lake – not many seemed to be heading South along the JMT towards Garnet, so we thought finding a campsite would be a ‘piece of cake’.
It was actually quite complicated. I decided to go ahead to find a campsite for us that was out of the wind, but when I got to Garnet I found that I had to take a ~1/2 mile use trail around the lake before there were even campsites available. Finding one out of the wind was even more complicated. Although I got to the lake plenty early, I searched for a campsite, and then the rest of my group, for about 90 minutes. We all connected in the evening, but by that point we were all scattered in different campsites around the lake.
I still took time to enjoy myself at Garnet – although the wind was brutal, the views were among the best in the Sierra. Banner and Ritter tower over the western end of the lake. Late in the evening I heard a rumble and saw some dust rising from the left side of the peaks – a rockfall.
This day’s stats:
- Mileage: 11.8 mi
- Ascending: 2431 ft
- Descending: 2366 ft
- Cumulative Mileage: 22.44 mi
- Cumulative Ascending: 3594 ft
- Cumulative Descending: 2539 ft
