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| Backpack | 23.75 Miles |
4,100 AEG |
| | Backpack | 23.75 Miles | 14 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.64 mph |
| 4,100 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Paul and I made a 3 day counter clockwise loop hike out of Shadow, Ediza, Iceberg, Cecile, and Minaret Lakes on August 16th, 2012. We had previously spent the past several nights camping at the Twin Lakes Campground in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. We got up early so as to get to the trailhead before the gate closed at 7:00 am requiring us to take the shuttle bus. This way we could have the flexibility of having our vehicle at the trailhead. At 7:30 we pushed off from the overnight parking at the Devil's Postpile Trailhead and went north on the John Muir Trail.
Day 1
I hadn't been back packing for a couple of years and my arthritic hip had been giving me some trouble the last couple of hiking and ski seasons. I wasn't ready for the discomfort I experienced when I began lugging my 42 pound pack. I really wished I owned stock in Ibuprofen. In retrospect I should have performed a warm up overnighter backpacking trip but I didn't think it would be that big of a deal but it sure was. Magnifying my difficulties was the fact that the first few miles up the John Muir Trail out of the river valley are pretty steep. I was really sucking wind and having difficulty finding a comfortable stride for the first couple of hours. I was even thinking about a "Plan B" with a shorter overnight trip. But I adjusted my stride a bit and eventually settled into a more comfortable, although slower, gait.
The trail was in great shape after the wind storm clean up and we met lots of interesting people coming down the trail having spent the night at various different lakes and destinations. I didn't want to slow Paul down who was training for a triathlon so he went on ahead shortly after we pasted the intersection for Minaret Lake. I figured we'd meet up at Gladys Lake. Gladys Lake was roughly at the 7 mile mark and it took me 4 hours so my overall pace wasn't bad. This was a pretty lake but nothing like Rosalie Lake which was just over the next saddle. I took a quick break here for a bite to eat before heading over Rosalie's saddle for the descent down to Shadow Lake. Paul was waiting for me at the top of the switchbacks. This was a steep descent down to Shadow Lake, especially at the top. If one were to trip over a tree root I think you'd tumble a hundred feet unless you could grab a tree. Our original plan had been to camp along the inlet to Shadow Creek. However, I was pretty fatigued and wanted to be sure to tackle the climb to Cecile Lake and the descent to Minaret Lake with fresh legs. I was now hoping to make it all the way to Ediza Lake on day one. We took a break for a couple of hours on the creek just below the turn off to Ediza Lake. This was at the 10.3 mile mark. We'd climbed roughly 2,500 feet in 6.25 hours.
After taking a bath in the creek and eating a bit we headed, up the trail to Ediza for the last 2 miles. This is a really pretty stretch with an especially picturesque creek crossing just below the Ediza Lake outlet. Ediza Lake is a beautiful lake nestled in between the canyon walls. It is also a popular place as there were roughly a dozen tents camped out along its western bank when we arrived at 6:00. We were too tired to fish so we just made dinner and went to bed. That first day was 12.3 miles with 2,800 feet of AEG in 7 3/4 hours. I was beat. But hopefully a goods night rest and a shorter day tomorrow would aid me in getting up and over the pass to Minaret Lake.
Day 2
We had a good breakfast and were on our way by 8:00 up the trail to Iceberg Lake. I was really glad that we knocked out the extra distance yesterday because the climbing began in earnest on the route up to Iceberg. My hip felt much better, (better backpacking through chemistry), and I was feeling pretty fresh. We got up to the lake in 50 minutes. As we looked across the lake, the south wall we had to climb up to Cecile Lake was completely devoid of snow which should make the traverse and climb easier and safer. (The thought of falling and sliding 500 feet down into the lake had been bothering me the previous weeks.) But make no mistake, this climb over the talus was difficult and very slow going. There were occasional cairns to show the best route but every once and a while you'd get above or below the designated path and have to scramble around to get back on track. Footing was bad as there was quite a bit of scree which resulted in some slippage and disco flaying. I found it best to NOT have my hands inside the loops of my hiking poles as this tended to throw me off balance when a pole got stuck and I had to make a couple of quick steps. It took me a full hour to reach the saddle above Cecile where Paul was waiting. A husband and wife where also there resting so they shared the route with us over to the south end of Cecile Lake. This section was no picnic either as it was a constant scramble up and around boulders just like the climb up from Iceberg. This traverse was just missing the exposure of the previous leg.
Once we got to the east side of Cecile Lake the real fun started. I knew to head up the rise to the left, (there's a small cairn there and the trail clearly branches off), and around the small pond in search of the class 2 scramble down to Minaret Lake. We looked down at a couple of the potential "routes" and were just scratching our heads. Nothing looked like an easy scramble. We finally selected the gully/drainage furthest to the right and made our way down. This was a little precarious at first. Rather than down climb it, we initially traversed across a rock face which put us in a better position to come back across and below the initial chute. I wasn't too comfortable doing that move with a pack on so I lowered my pack down to Paul which helped tremendously. I was just really careful placing my feet and picked my way down and over that first 15 feet. We then scrambled down to a second chute which was a little further to our right and much easier. As I look at my GPS "bread crumb" trail I downloaded to my topo map, our route was a straight line south from the pond down to creek above the "r" in Minaret. Here we intersected the main trail down to the lake itself. This leg was just 3.75 miles with 1,100 feet of AEG and took us 3.5 hours.
We found a bomb of a camp site on the island between the two sections of the lake. We cleaned up and lounged most of the day. Paul did some side exploration while I read a book. The water was very deep on the north side of this island and we experienced some good fishing in the evening. In the space of an hour and a quarter, we caught a dozen trout. All were little guys in the 9 to 10 inch range but fun to catch nevertheless. Most were Brook Trout with a few Golden Trout.
Day 3
This was the get out of town day. We got up early and were on the trail by 6:45 with thoughts of cold beers and cheeseburgers dancing through our heads. After climbing over the saddle and down to Minaret Creek, this trail was all down hill. There is one section where the trail looks back up at the creek as it cascades down several waterfalls which must be really spectacular during the early summer run off. We stopped a few times along the way but this day was pretty uneventful. We covered the final 7.7 miles in 3.25 hours with just 200 feet of AEG which was a nice change. All told, the trip came in at 23,75 miles with 4,100 feet of AEG in 14.5 hours. We rewarded ourselves with $5 showers at the Mammoth Inn by the shuttle station and then walked over to Yodler's for beers and burgers. |
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