John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 14 – Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake
Guitar Lake Sunset

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 14 – Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake

Our second to last day on the John Muir Trail. Boo! After yesterday’s big day over Forester Pass, today was a relatively easy day from Tyndall Creek to Guitar Lake. There were no real steep ups or down – the trail was rolling and gently graded through this stretch. The day’s highlight was Big Horn Plateau, a large, barren, flat area a couple of miles beyond our campsite. Unfortunately the smoke once again interfered with the views, but it was still impressive.

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John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 9 – Rosemarie Meadow to Piute Creek Bridge

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 9 – Rosemarie Meadow to Piute Creek Bridge

View from Selden Pass
View from Selden Pass

Another beautiful day on the trail today, starting off with a climb to Selden Pass that took us by the stunning Marie Lake. I regretted not making it all the way to Marie for camp the night before, but it was a bit windy up there so at least it wasn’t a perfect spot.
The climb to Selden was easy, as was the descent past Heart and Sallie Keys Lakes. The lakes in here were beautiful – I wish we’d been able to camp around there, but the schedule just didn’t work out. Next time. A couple of miles beyond Sallie Keys the trail spit us out onto a steep hillside covered in manzanita. I swear that the temperature instantly jumped 20 degrees. As we went down the long, never ending switchbacks I found myself desperately longing for the next small spot of shade. Unfortunately, as the trail descended to Muir Trail Ranch it just got dustier, sunnier, and hotter.
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John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 4 – Red's Meadow to Deer Creek

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 4 – Red's Meadow to Deer Creek

Reds Meadow
Red’s Meadow

It was a lovely, relaxing day. We had heard horror stories about the long, hot climb out of Red’s Meadow, so we decided to plan a half day of hiking and only hike 7 miles to Deer Creek. We stuffed ourselves with an amazing breakfast at the Red’s cafe and didn’t bother getting on the trail until 10:30 am. We took our time and were happy to find that the reports of the trail were greatly exaggerated.

The first mile or two climbs gently through the remnants of the 1992 Rainbow Fire. I can imagine that on a really hot day the sun would be intense without the shade, but I found it to be a scenic hike through gentle terrain and enjoyed it. The trail then climbs through the shade between the Red Cones, two volcanic cinder cone peaks just south of Mammoth Mountain. A short while later, after meandering through the unburnt woods, we found ourselves at the nice little babbling Deer Creek.

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John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 3 – Garnet Lake to Red's Meadow

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 3 – Garnet Lake to Red's Meadow

Banner/Ritter from Garnet
Banner/Ritter from Garnet

I was actually looking forward to an early morning wake-up call this day since I was eager to see sunrise over Mt Ritter and Banner Peak. I wasn’t disappointed as I sipped my coffee and sat on a boulder to watch the peaks glow orange as the sun rose. After nature’s morning entertainment I quickly packed up so that I could rejoin the rest of the group and form the plan for the day.

Andrea’s ankle was swollen and bruised so Mary (new trailname: Dr Bono) carefully taped it up so that she could make the hike to Red’s Meadow, 13-16 miles away (depending on the route chosen, heh). I was feeling good so it was determined that I would run ahead and secure a campsite and get things figured out at Red’s.

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John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 2 – Donohue and Island Passes, Thousand Island Lake, and camp at Garnet Lake

John Muir Trail, 2007: Day 2 – Donohue and Island Passes, Thousand Island Lake, and camp at Garnet Lake

Banner and Ritter
Banner and Ritter

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’.

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