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base topo map copyright by Wildflower Productions
View the overall trip map Select (non-pano) Views from this trip View other panoramas in this Park Go forward to JMT2
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Aug 17 -- Many lakes -- Tully Hole -- Lighting up the night The sixth day of hiking and my muscles were finally getting a little less stiff in the morning. After breakfast I said I'd be shooting more panos today so for everyone to go ahead of me. I took my time getting packed up. The campsite was yet another black hole to climb out of. I went very slowly at first to warm up, and came to a nice spot amongst a giant boulder field with a view of Cascade Valley and of the outlet of Duck Lake. I was highly tempted to take a detour over to Duck Lake as I'd seen pictures of it but the climb looked a little too much for my energy level.
As I packed up, a group of old guys went by headed towards Reds. Continuing along the ridge, it was slow going with no externally driven pace to keep up with. I came to another viewsome spot just before dropping into Purple Lake canyon.
As I finished shooting this, some people came along and pointed at a meadow down in Cascade and asked me if that was Red's Meadow. I told them Reds was another 20 miles or so (and 90 degrees from where they were pointing). On the way down, I saw a woman sitting on the trail and eating cherries. I stopped, and she turned out to be a forest service employee doing trail maintenance. She asked for my permit. I said the guy ahead of me had it. She said a group ahead of me had said I had the permit. She started writing down names. It looked ugly. Then she suddenly realized which group I was with, and everything was OK. For the next mile or so I saw the results of her handiwork making little cutouts, but it looked like it would all get washed away in one good thunderstorm. Down at Purple Lake, I shot a pano of the lake, refilled my water from a stream, ate some snacks, and enjoyed a few moments without the 57 pound monkey. A guy in tights and a parachute pack went zooming down the trail southwards .
The hike out of this canyon didn't look easy, and it wasn't. I slogged along at a very slow pace. Gradually the view got better and better. The trail ascended into a weird pass next to a huge rock monolith. I kept looking for a better place to shoot a pano there and never shot anything there. I rested a bit at the top, and started downwards to Virginia Lake. I got to the meadow dropping into the lake, and shot this scene. I think it would have been better at the water's edge. There were some guys fishing here who seemed to have ridden horses in here.
I continued on the trail but was somewhat confused which trail was the right one. I kicked myself for not having a map, but I seemed to have picked the right trail. On the other side of the lake, I was struck by the scenic view and shot another pano. A guy and his son were fishing on a rock in this scene.
It was here that the guy in tights and a parachute pack came trotting by again. He was trucking and I never saw him again. The stretch from Virginia Lake to the beginning of the descent to Tully Hole passed like a blur. Suddenly I was looking down into a beautiful valley. The descent into Tully Hole was quite dramatic. I waited until a fair amount of view between trees had opened up:
Then a few hundred feet lower this much better view emerged.
I raced down into Tully Hole hoping to catch up with my companions, but when I reached the beautiful meadow there, no one was there. I waded through the grass to get to the streamside. I refilled my water and ate some snacks to the peaceful sound of the stream. It was such a great spot I could have been lulled into a nap for hours. Oddly someone had left several sheets of crinkled notepaper here--most of the time the backcountry has been completely free of litter. Climbing back up to the trail through the thick grass from the idyllic spot seemed particularly difficult. I reexamined the campsite under a large tree, and headed down the trail. Knowing that by the end of the day I had to go uphill for quite a ways, yet the trail was continuing to lose elevation was a bit disappointing. Mostly I missed the company of my three companions, which usually lightened my spirits regardless of the discomforts of any particular stretch. After crossing a large bridge, I rested briefly and switched into running shoes. I then and came to a trail turnoff with no useful sign, and guessed that the right direction to go was left. I was really kicking myself for not carrying a map. Next I passed a campsite with a guy who seemed to be making a very fancy dinner. The trail headed up what looked like a tremendous upslope that reminded me of the great slide segment of Aptos Creek trail at Nisene Marks. It was very slow going with no views to reward each zigzag. I met some trail workers and asked them where such and such was. They guy didn't know what I was referring to, so he asked me where I was trying to go. I mentioned my friends, and he said they are up ahead. Another guy said they were quite a ways ahead. I stopped to filter water and my filter hose broke. I fixed it and had a snack and turned uptrail. I didn't know what time it was other than guessing from the sun, and didn't know how far I had to go. This sense of not knowing where I was relative to my three companions was debilitating. The sun was just starting to disappear behind the high ridge of this canyon, and I felt from guesswork that I had two miles to go. Then I turned a corner and saw Zach walking in the stream. David was cooling his feet as well. It was quite a relief to realize I was home for the night. Our campsite seemed to have as many ants as mosquitoes. I set up my tent footprint and within minutes various large black ants were exploring it. Susan rested and read her book. I commented how the approach we were in reminded me of the approach to Mt. Whitney, where glaciers had left deposits which formed steppes in the canyons. Later we decided to make a fire since we were lower than 9600 feet. This enlivened our evening considerably. It even turned out to be functional as we heated some water on the convenient firegrill and temporarily had two "stoves" again. I had a freeze dried Mexican omelet or scramble which took forever to make and didn't come out that well. At least it was edible though. Like most nights, we didn't stay up that late.
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