Ansel Adams Wilderness

34.5 miles of hiking • 5750' elevation gain • 2 nights

A great holiday weekend trip. I made the 7.5 hour drive down from Grants Pass Friday night and got in to the Mammoth campground around 1am.

Day 1: 10 miles, 2750’

Saturday morning I learned that the Reds Meadow shuttle just started that weekend, so I parked at Mammoth Mountain and took the required shuttle down to Agnew Meadows. I had a permit for the high trail, which was basically snow free, and took that to Thousand Island Lake, which was not so snow free, but was melted out on the north side. After a brief trip up towards Island Pass, I made camp, dinner, and watched the sunset from my tent.

Animal count: several marmots, chipmunks, an assortment of birds, two large white hares, and the sounds of several noisy grouse.

Day 2: 17 miles, 1750’

Sunday had me traveling down to Garnet Lake and beyond, only to find that each south side pass was entirely covered in snow, which made for some intermittent slow going. After going up several snow fields, I made my way down to Ediza lake, which was really beautiful, if not a little crowded on the holiday weekend because it is easily day-hikable. I was hoping to do a little more milage and get in to some of the lesser-visited lakes, but they would have required a lot of soft-snow travel, which wasn’t in the cards for the weekend.

After visiting Ediza, I made my way down to Shadow lake and decided to head down to the river trail to visit the PCT and see something different—the other option was the section of the JMT down to Reds Meadow that is a bit dusty and not very interesting. I made camp along the river and watched a large brown black bear eating his dinner until I decided to stake out my territory and let him know I was there and shouldn’t be bothered while sleeping. Fortunately, he didn’t decide to cross the river during the night.

Animal count: more birds, chipmunks, marmots, 2 pikas, a quail, several stellar jays, lots of butterflies, some chickarees, the sound of an owl using its sonar, and one large bear.

Day 3: 7.5 miles, 1250’

This last day was a little more of the PCT, visiting the section that was completely wiped out by blowdown 2-3 years back. I made my way towards Reds Meadow, made a brief detour to Rainbow Falls, and then hung out at the Reds Meadow store until the bus came. I was back at the car by 1p and back home by 9:30—not bad timing, even if it’s a little longish for a drive.

One thing that always amazes me is the variety and quantity of wildlife in the Sierras when compared to Oregon, Washington or even Northern California. This weekend was nonstop bird chirping, chipmunk scampering, and marmot peeking. I’m looking forward to heading back down to the Sierras later this summer, when the lakes are melted out and the fishing is good.