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Aug 14 -- Passing the big pass -- deja vu no more -- shooting stars

We eat our respective breakfasts after a chilly night. A fair amount of condensation built up inside some of my tent surfaces. We all have some kind of hot drink and a different kind of breakfast for each. Everyone waits for me to get packed up. It's not a good feeling, like I am some kind of sluggard. However we separate into two groups going into the 3.6 miles up Donahue Pass. While David is up ahead, the three of us stop at a meadow and filter some water, and I took a few minutes to capture this scene.

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We speculated which way the trail went to get to the pass from our sheltered perspective. Climbing up the rest of the way didn't take too long, but perhaps longer than what was "budgeted" since we were scheduled to get in the vicinity of Shadow Lake today. The snowpack that was here last time was gone and it was simply a rocky trail all the way to the 11000+ foot high point. Reaching the pass is first big accomplishment of the day at 1400 feet of elevation gain.

We all reached the official pass at about the same time. At the top, I rested, ate some snacks, and took my camera over to a nearby hill to capture a view not only of the pass but down Lyell Canyon:

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Zach scribbled out a large "Hi Mom" on the back of his maps for a snapshot to send home. He then climbed over to a slightly higher hill nearby which offered a better view of some very jagged peaks to the northeast. Within 10 minutes I regretted not following him over there, since I had my camera gear assembled and plenty of film and we ended up waiting a couple minutes for him to come down anyway.

We changed order leaving the pass since I had to reapply some moleskin on my foot, and I trailed everyone by a short distance (a few hundred feet). Within ten minutes a pack train came up to where I was waiting off the trail and stopped to perform some sort of bubble sort on their mounts in a narrow trail passageway. I had to wait for about 15 minutes while they reorganized. I didn't want to move around them for fear of spooking the horses. This meant I was now 20 or more minutes behind everyone, which for some reason made me feel extra miserable. My pack was pressing the 57 monkey pounds down on muscles sore from yesterday's miles. The sun was burning down with extra intensity in the thin air and I started getting a bit burned. To top it off, I was running out of water and my left foot was starting to hurt. I got down off the exposed descent and reached a tributary of Rush Creek and had to stop to filter water as I was out and very thirsty. It was a very pleasant rest on some lush green grass.

I had high hopes about the stretch of landscape between here and Thousand Island Lake. Last time I was here, I shot a spontaneous photo of snowy Ritter/Banner peaks towering over a reflecting lakelet of water with vibrant meadows all around using a Rollei 35S camera, and it was one of my favorite photos. I expected I'd take a panorama at that same spot. Unfortunately three things happened: this was a dry spring or an early, hot summer so none of the conditions were the same as before. I was getting tired and so didn't have a lot of energy for taking my pack on and off frequently to get out my camera gear. Lastly everyone was trucking along since we were running a bit late to get 15 miles to Shadow lake. So I didn't feel I could spend a lot of time shooting panos in this beautiful stretch.

We passed the trail turnoffs for Marie Lakes on the right, then Waugh Lake on the left (for some reason I thought we were going to walk by this lake -- perhaps I did on the last trip). It began to be disconcerting that I didn't have a map to foresee these kinds of developments. Then the fun began.

We started climbing again, 600' up Island Pass. Lots of false tops, and finally we got to the pass and took a long break along the trail. I extracted my bear canister and ate more snacks. It quickly became clear that having to get snacks out of the bear canister was a poor setup. No snacks for bears, but many times not for me either.

Along the trail I spotted a lake which was too beautiful not to shoot. Half way through my shoot (and cursing the wind which was making it very tough to hold the camera steady on the monopod) I noticed a group a people setting up camp on the opposite shore who seemed to be watching me. I watched them back for a little while, but gave up quickly and moved on.

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The trail then descended to Thousand Island Lake. Or should have. The trail did not approach the lake where I remembered it. Sure enough, on old maps you can see the old trail went down to the lakeshore much more directly. Although I have a great time whether hiking alone or with friends, on this trip I felt that hiking with the group was generally more enjoyable.

At the lake we filtered water here despite it's marginal quality--the water was frothing up soapy along the lakeshore, and then looking into the water you could see someone's pasta dinner floating around. However the overall view was beautiful. I switched from wearing boots to running shoes. Unfortunately we were now clearly not going to make it to Shadow Lake before midnight and had to take the next available lake. We had expected a cakewalk to Garnet Lake, but we endured a very torturous climb out of this area and into the Ruby/Emerald Lakes area. It's not labeled a pass on the map but it should be.

As we came down the other side of the nonexistent pass, I scoped out Garnet Lake and I felt there was very little campable territory there. Coming down the steep trail my sleeping bag and then my clothing stuffsack fell off my pack! We regrouped at Garnet lake and since the rocky, narrow campsites there were all full, we headed around to the far side of the lake in near darkness. We stopped in the first place that was half decent, then moved 100 feet to a slightly better, multi-level condominium site. I had to rearrange some rocks to get a level area for my tent. Setting up camp in the dark was pretty bad but we were lucky to have a campsite at all. I had gone without water for an hour and was completely parched. We set up our eating area away from the sleeping areas and then discovered David and Susan's stove was not working. Luckily my stove was still fine and we made all our dinners on it.

There was the greatest moonrise that night. I sat up for a long while after everyone went to bed and watched the moon slowly illuminate more and more of the lake and Ritter/Banner. There were still a few wondrous shooting stars from the Perseid meteor showers, which had peaked on August 12th. It was a very mystical moment.

As I was going to sleep in my tent, I heard some noises like something or one brushing against my tent. I called out. David answered. I never did find out what it was.