Completed! July 27-29, 2011: John Muir Trail (JMT) Segment: Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park to Agnew Meadows in Mammoth

Banner Peak and 1,000 Island Lake

This hike joined the John Muir Trail in the Tuolumne Meadows area of Yosemite National Park.  The journey headed south for 29 miles to Agnew Meadows near Mammoth Lakes.

After a two hour bus ride from Mammoth Mtn, the YARTS bus dropped us off at the General Store in Tuolumne Mdws. Soon we had our permits and hopped a ride west on the park shuttle to the Cathedral Lakes trail head.  We then began a leisurely walk along the historical part of the JMT near Parson's Lodge where John Muir held the first Sierra Club meetings.

Lyell Creek

Continuing east the trail brought us back to the Wilderness Permit Office where we had stowed our backpacks.  Mike and I shouldered our 40lb packs and headed towards Lyell Canyon, the hike had finally begun.  The first day on the trail was a gentle climb up Lyell Canyon along the banks of Lyell Creek. The creeks were running full and the sky was clear and calm.

NPS Trail Crew Camp near Kuna Creek

Day two started at 730am under a clear sky.  We saw smoke filtering up through the trees from a trail crew's camp near cascading Kuna Creek.  As we began our climb up the trail we met several young men and women repairing the trail and thanked them for their hard work.  The morning climb kept us in the shade of a beautiful forest and soon a well built footbridge carried us across the Maclure Creek tributary.  Shortly, we emerged at a small lake at 10,200'.  This marked the end of the treeline and required a wet foot crossing near the fast moving lake outlet. We filled our water and continued up through a muddy and snow covered trail.  We encountered a first set of snow fields and then got our first view of the final section to the top of the pass.  It would be one last, long steep snow field to reach the pass.  We reached the top at noon for a well deserved break. 

Mike climbs the final Snow Field up to Donahue Pass

Donohue Pass is at the southeast border of Yosemite National Park. To the south, the JMT enters the Ansel Adams Wilderness Area. As we continued south, the snow fields were brutally slow under a baking sun. One mile took about 70 minutes of careful walking over a melting crust of unstable snow that hid ankle bending boulders below.  We were now glad to be on solid but wet ground as we reached the lower elevations.  Beautiful small lakes led us passed Rush Creek and soon to our Day 2 campsite near the trail to Davis Lakes. 

Camp 2

While camped, we came up with a plan that would change our destination from Reds Mdw to Agnew Mdw.  We would leave the JMT at 1,000 Island Lake and finish a day early.

Outlet from 1,000 Island Lake leads to the River Trail

Day 3 was also a beautiful day.  On the trail at 730am, we began a 550' climb to the top of Island Pass.  Stunning views in all directions greeted us from the  top.  At 945am we left the JMT and joined the River Trail that would take us down to the San Joaquin river and back to the Mammoth Mtn shuttle bus at Agnew Mdws.  The forest on this trail is stunning. Lots of shade, water access, and a wide variety of flowers and plant life. The trail splits one last time approaching Agnew.  The Reds Mdw trail stays low near the river and the turnoff to Agnew Mdws slaps you with a steep climb of 400' over 1 mile. A 20 minute walk along the dirt road brought us to the paved Minaret Summit Road. There the shuttle bus full of backpackers picked us up for the stinky ride to the  Mammoth Mtn Inn where our car was waiting and our journey ended.

SLIDE SHOW: Click Here  updated
VIDEOS:





 

DETAILS:

Team: Mike, Dave

Miles: 29

Day 1:  10.6 Miles. Elevation: +  800,  -  400 (33 min/mi pace)

Day 2:    8.2 Miles. Elevation: +2300,  -1500 (70 min/mi pace)

Day 3:  10.2 Miles. Elevation: +  900,  -2300 (42 min/mi pace)

TOOLKIT

• MAPS of this trail (Printable JPEG format) updated

• GOOGLE EARTH view of Trail  updated

• SPOT Locator Page

• Contacts:
• Yosemite 
• USFS INYO National Forest
• Mono County Sheriff  Dispatch (760) 932-7549
• INYO County Sheriff Dispatch (760) 878-0383