Permit: Pickup at Tuolumne Meadows after 8 a.m. on August 29th.
Shuttle:East Sierra Shuttle Service -- Paul is reliable and knows the area really well & had a new Toyota MiniVan -- nice ride!!!!!
Start: Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite Ntl Park
End: Vermillion Valley Resort People along the trail: It was fun to hike with others doing the John Muir Trail and here their stories. There were many moments of solitude on the trail but at the main camping area there seemed to always be 3-5 groups with about 10 hikers.
Description:
Thursday -- We Left Phoenix early a.m. on the 28th and drive Bishop. Bill's niece's husband shuttled Bill to the South Lake Trailhead and left our car where we had planned to exit after 10 days. We spent the night in the Best Western (clean and convenient).
Friday -- The next morning East Sierra Shuttle picked us up and drove us to Tuolumne Meadows. We got there just after 7 a.m. Nothing opened until 8 a.m. We waited at the store/dinner until they opened, got breakfast and then hopped on the shuttle at 8:20 am that took us less than a mile to the wilderness permit station. We waited in line for our permit for about 45 minutes. Finally we were on the trail about 9:45 am. The weather was perfect -- not a cloud in the sky. The first 9 miles we hiked up Lyell Canyon -- pretty flat -- always within view of the Tuolumne River. The last mile we climbed up to our campsite at mile 932. It was a popular spot right next to the river.
Saturday -- The next morning we arose early and headed up towards Donahue Pass. It was a pretty hike along a stream and passing several mountain lakes. We could see the glaciers to the right of Donahue Pass -- which was about the only snow we saw. We stayed pretty high until Island Pass where we descended to Thousand Island Lake (a large lake dotted with granite islands). High winds were reported for that evening so we decided to detour the PCT (a high exposed trail) and take the "River Trail" which followed the valley floor where it rejoins the PCT at Agnew Meadows. We camped at the outlet of Olaine Lake -- which was pretty, but stagnant and didn't have very good water. The lake water tasted OK after we filtered it. We had 2 other groups camp in the same area that night. I'm guessing we did 15 miles Thursday.
Sunday -- We arose early and hiked a quick 10 miles to Red's Meadow. There were several river crossings with impressive bridges and a large area with blown down trees. A severe wind gust blew them down a couple of years ago...it makes you appreciate the danger weather can easily create. Red's meadow was nice and relaxing. We had a cabin where we showered and relaxed. We ate lunch and dinner at their restaurant -- very good. We also learned about the Trans Sierra Highway which was supposed to cross the Sierra from Fresno and exit at Red's Meadow -- this was stopped by Ronald Reagan (CA Governor) and Richard Nixon (US President). We also got our resupply package...we had so much we threw away 1/2 of the food.
Monday -- We got an early start and headed out -- it wasn't very cold until we got to Mammoth Pass Trail where the temperature seemed to drop about 20 degrees. It warmed up throughout the day and became rather warm in the afternoon. About 2 pm we arrived at Purple Lake where we jumped in and swam. It was nice to rinse off but more importantly we cooled down. Although the temperature wasn't that hot with the sun it definitely wore on you in the afternoon. We continued to down to Tully Hole and set up camp. We had passed a number of hikers during the day and chatted with most of them. One of them was a single 31 lady (Kim) who was a solo hiker but didn't like camping alone. She stopped at our campsite and asked if she could camp with us. We said yes. Within the next 45 minutes we had another 6 campers next to us too (I think they all wanted to be next to Kim). It was fun to talk with the others and hear of their hikes. We hiked 17 miles this day.
Tuesday -- We were feeling really proud of ourselves after doing a big day on Monday and feeling refreshed. We were excited to get to Vermillion Ranch Resort and pick up another resupply package and sleep in a real bed. Kim joined us and we were on the trail by 6 am just before the sun was coming up. We cruised to the top of Silver Pass and started down. About half was down my right calf cramped up. It wasn't extremely painful but limited by range of motion and definitely made hiking unenjoyable. Rob & Bill were encouraging but we all knew this was not good for our 10 day hike. It didn't take long for us to agree that we'd exit at Vermillion Valley Resort (VVR) and come back next year to finish the last 5 days. We finally arrived at the spur going to Edison Lake to catch their boat shuttle. We got to the shuttle pickup location and because the lake was low we had to hike across the lake bed to the new shore line -- which was a mile away on what seemed like a desert. VVR was great -- the boat shuttle picked us up within 30 minutes, the food was great, the room was great, and they had a shuttle which took us to the Fresno Airport where we rented a car the next morning.
Wednesday -- Ate a delicious breakfast at VVR and then got in the shuttle with 3 other hikers that were bailing out too. From VVR, as the crow flies, we were 16 miles from Red's Meadow and 25 miles from South Lake where our car was parked. By car it would take us over 7 hours and 420 miles to get back to the car. It started with with the shuttle to the Fresno Airport -- a very scenic 100 mile drive that took 3 hours. Most of it was a single lane paved road winding along the mountainside. Cost - $60/person. We rented a car at the airport, drove 5 hours south through Bakersfield, east to Mohave, and then north to Bishop and onto South Lake where we picked up the car. We stopped and ate dinner at the Bishop Creek Resort which is an old time log cabin style lodge -- very cool. Their menu consisted of gourmet pizzas & burgers. Very good food. After dinner we drove south to the Independence Inn and spent the night -- a great affordable & clean hotel.
The next morning we ate at Jenny's in Independence -- another fave -- and then drove to Ridgecrest, CA where we returned the rental car and then continued back to Phoenix.
Getting Breakfast at the Tuolumne Store.
The Permit
The hikers at the wilderness permit station
Finally on the trail.
There were several warn trails between the
Wilderness Permit Station and the Tuolumne Lodge.
The Tuolumne River.
The Tuolumne River.
The Tuolumne River.
The Tuolumne River.
The Tuolumne River.
A view back where we hiked in from --
Lyell Canyon & the Tuolumne River.
A view of mountain lakes fed by the glaciers.
Donahue Pass is to the left (not in the photo).
Ascending Donahue Pass.
Ascending Donahue Pass.
Ascending Donahue Pass.
Ascending Donahue Pass.
Donahue Pass!!!!
A dog with sunglasses!!! Now I've seen everything!!!
Thousand Island Lake
Olaine Lake -- Campsite #2.
Day 3
A bridge over the middle fork of the San Joaquin River.
Trees blown over by wind gusts (2 years prior) near Red's Meadow.
Blown over trees near Red's Meadow.
Vegging at Red's Meadow.
Day 4.
A bridge made by volunteers.
A view up the canyon we've been hiking along for the past 3 days.
Purple Lake.
Near Silver Pass -- with our tag-along Kim.
Silver Pass.
Traversing the dry lake bed of Edison lake toward the boat shuttle pick up.
Waiting for the boat shuttle.
Chalk board outside of the Vermillion Valley Resort Restaurant.
