Trans-Sierra Hike (Tuolumne Meadows to Silver Lake) description:
Plan is to park at Rush Creek, carpool back to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite, and hike along the PCT route along Lyell Canyon, over Donohue Pass, (over Island Pass, past Thousand Island Lake), and down to Silver Lake. Note: the hike was modified as there was not enough time in the day to take a trail via Thousand Islan Lake.
We started to hike along the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), which is also the JMT (John Muir Trail) as they share the trail till Mt Whitney. I was told that hundreds of people hike the JMT route in every summer day.
In the earlier portion of the hike, the trail runs along a creek until starting to climb to a pass.
A short video; enjoy the sound of the stream.
Continuously hiking along the creek
Spotted few wild animals (no bears)
Easy part of the hike was almost over
Some nice wild flowers along the trail
Donkey (Mule?) convoy provides transportaion of goods along the trail. They carry heavy loads and walk through the trail (without whining).
A heavenly place before climbing up to the Donohue Pass
Views from the Donohue Pass (Its elevation is 11,066 feet)
We were exiting from the Tuolumne County and entering the Mono County. The scenary became typical Eastern Sierra scenary.
Say Good bye to the PCT/JMT. It would take close to another three weeks to finish the entire JMT. So, not this time, maybe someday.
We were taking the Rush Creek trail to get to the Silver Lake visiting three alpine lakes
Waugh Lake
Gem Lake
Agnew Lake
We have finished the last ascend before the sun is down. From there, it was a long (2.2 miles) continuous descend to the Silver Lake. It was well after 9PM when we finished our hike. It was a very long day (but it was all worth it).
Dara wrote:
Stats for the day are 26.9 miles, 3300 ft up, 4600 ft down, 12h30 hiking time.
