[Sadie's Driver]

OK, OK, I'm a little tardy getting these photos up - I probably have way too many pictures, but it's such a gorgeous area, one gets a bit carried away. Let's start from the beginning - "Someone" was having a birthday . . .

One birthday boy celebrating #70

No, not him - he turned 70 this year . . . this guy is just a kid by comparison!

Birthday Boy with his Red Velvet Cake (complete with candle!)

So, a quick flight from Seattle to Sacramento (1.5 hours) early on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 9; a not-so-quick drive from Sacramento to Mammoth Lakes (4.5 hours) and grabbing the shuttle from Mammoth down to Devil's Postpile (30 mins). Our permit said that we had reservations for Fern Lake, which actually is kinda' on the southern end of the Ansel Adams Wilderness. We would cover a whole lot of territory - much more than we did in 2012 (that was the same year Opus did the PCT and we met him in Mammoth Lakes - but a lot of the access to the Wilderness was closed because of horrible storm in November 2011 - the evidence of the blowdown was all around. I am going to let the pictures to the talking . . . here is our route by day: Day 1 - Aug. 9 Destination: Fern Lake Mileage: 6 Gain: 1500' Weather: Good - unseasonably coolish Bugs: Almost none!

Ha, they're smiling now!

Some of the blowdown from 2011

Once on the trail, we could have gone anywhere, but were good hikers and went to Fern Lake as we were told

As we start into the Ansel Adams Wilderness - lots of blowdown from the storm of November 2011 (closed the access to Devils Postpile in 2012

Dinner? Amazing 'shrooms

Losing light as we head into Fern Lake

Fixing dinner at Fern Lake

Full Moon above Fern Lake

Day 2 - Aug. 10 (Birthday!) Destination: Minaret Lake (initially - ended up at Lake Cecile) Mileage: ~10 Gain: 2300' Weather: Lovely We got a reasonable start - a bit cool in the morning - not bad. Our destination, Minaret Lake, would be a long one, IF we decided to stay on trail (we would have to go back almost to Devil's Postpile - for about 14 miles or so. So, we took a look at the map and it appeared that there could be a route that could knock off about 5-6 miles. It would have us leave the trail near Lost Dog Lake and make our way cross-country to Minaret Creek and hop on the Minaret Lake trail. An easy decision. We though we were pretty clever - and like no one had ever thought of this route before! However, not long after we passed Lost Dog Lake, we started to see cairns. Darn, not so clever after all. We did lose them and made our own way past Wet Spot and then to the creek. Easy enough to get to Minaret Lake from here. We took a long, relaxing break - laying in the sun on that wonderful granite rock. The first people we saw was at Minaret Lake - up until then, it seemed like we had the place to ourselves!

Barren compared to the heavily forested area around Fern Lake

Heading up toward King Creek

A real change in scenery as we head up the King Creek drainage

Nice little waterfall on King Creek - with lovely little yellow flowers

King Creek

We would leave the official trail not long after this sign

Coming up on Lost Dog Lake

Lost Dog Lake - didn't find any

What? We weren't the first ones to use this route?

The wet spot

Our cross-country route to save some mileage

The Minarets ahead of us - spectacular

On the way to Minaret Lake

Minaret Lake

We debated about staying at Minaret Lake or pressing on to Lake Cecile. Barry had seen a Google Earth Map that showed a bootpath between Minaret and Cecile - although the Tom Harrison map doesn't show it. A group of four were looking for a place to camp, saying that they had just come down from Cecile and that it was "terrifying." Oh great, death-defying scrambling with a full pack! We decided to take the chance and head up to Cecile. It actually wasn't that bad - about 500-600' of very steep gain to get to the tarn by Cecile, but it was doable - even with a 35 lb. pack. And let me tell you, well worth the effort! This was probably my favorite location of the whole Ansel Adams portion of the trip. Absolutely stunning! And, right at the base of the Minarets (we would hear rockfall all night). With a full moon, it was glorious. Highly recommended - although not easy to get to from either Minaret or Iceberg Lakes.

Lake Cecile at the base of the Minarets - absolutely gorgeous

Lake Cecile with bathtub tarn in the lower right hand part of the picture

Looking down on Minaret Lake

Cecile in the morning light

Looking back toward Minaret Lake

Minarets on the west side of Cecile

Beautiful Cecile in the morning sun

We will scramble over LOTS of boulders on the east (right side) of Lake Cecile

Day Three - Aug. 11 Destination: Lake Ediza (and then dayhike to Nydiver Lakes) Mileage: 6 miles Gain: 1200' Weather: Starting to cloud up (still no bugs) While the distance between Cecile and Ediza is about 3 miles - it's a loooong three miles because of all of the boulder hopping (with full packs) and down-climbing around Cecile, down to Iceberg Lake and around Iceberg - once at Iceberg, it's a lovely trail down to Ediza and some pretty country. By the time we got the tent set up, the skies were beginning to look ominous. In fact, that night we had a doozy of a thunder and lightning storm. At one point, I didn't even get to count to three between the thunder and lightning! It was quite the light show. We chose to go ahead and take jaunt from Ediza, up a drainage to the east side of Mt. Ritter and Banner peak and up a ridge to the Nydiver Lakes. We passed a series of tarns that we called the Little Divers and named on for Sadie and one for Gus, because that's where they would have been if they were along. There isn't a trail to the actual Nydiver Lakes - you have to cross country, but they are lovely. We had a great trip and on our way back found these lovely little yellow flowers at the base of Ritter/Banner near a waterfall and tarn. Had never seen anything like them, but they are apparently Primrose Monkey Flowers - look like a cross between an orchid and a snapdragon. Once back at camp and after dinner, we hunkered down for what would be a wild weather night!

The Minarets - lovely to look at. I had no burning urge to climb them! I'll leave that for Sjolseth!

Looking down to Iceberg Lake from the Cecile outlet stream

Actually - not a bad trail . . a bit scrambly

Looking ahead to Iceberg lake from the trail

This is our "route" down from Cecile

The start of the descent from Cecile to Iceberg (below) - cairn by Barry's right hand

Looking up to the Minarets from the outlet of Cecile

This is the "trail" from Cecile Lake down to Iceberg Lake

More of the Iceberg - Ediza trail

The basin below Iceberg Lake - a lovely trail to take down to Ediza

Coming down from Iceberg Lake - Mt. Ritter on the left and Banner Peak on the right in the distance.

Looking down on Lake Ediza

Marmot sun rock

Approaching the upper basin below Ritter and Banner

Little 'Divers I named Sadie and Gus

Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak

Nydivers (looking east)

Looking to upper Garnet Lakes and 1000 Island Lake (looking west from Nydiver Saddle)

Nydiver Lakes looking southeast

Iceberg Lake zoomed in from Nydiver Ridge (looking south from Nydiver Ridge)

1000 Island Lake looking west

Garnet Lake looking north

Nydivers from Nydiver Pass

Coming down the ridge/Nydiver Pass to the western Nydiver lake

Lower Nydiver (to the east)

On the Isthmus between the two Nydiver Lakes

Yellow flowers from a distance

Cluster of yellow flowers

Looks like a cross between an orchid and a snapdragon!

Carpet of yellow flowers at the base of Mt. Ritter/Banner Peak

Clever little cairn as we were coming down from Nydiver Lakes

Day Four - Aug. 12 Destination: Originally, we had thought about Mt. Ritter - but Mt. Ritter and Banner Peak were socked in, and it still was a rather cloudy day, so we opted for a dayhike that would take us down from Ediza to the John Muir Trail (JMT) past several lakes (Ruby, Emerald, Garnet) to 1000 Island Lake. Then we would cross country along the south end of 1000 Island, up and over a saddle to the south end of Garnet and then up to Nydiver Pass above the Nydiver Lakes and back down to camp, much like our route the day before. Mileage: 12 Gain: 2500' Weather: Cloudy and a bit breezy (no bugs!) - cleared off by afternoon

Lake Ediza with low clouds

Shadow Creek

Shadow Creek

Falls coming from Lake Ediza along Shadow Creek

Joining the John Muir Trail (JMT) from Lake Ediza

Walking the JMT between Lake Ediza and Garnet Lake

John Muir Trail (JMT) high above Garnet Lake in the background

Garnet Lake as we were coming down the John Muir Trail from Lake Ediza

Mr/Ms Grouse clucking at us

Bridge cross on the north end of Garnet Lake (John Muir Trail)

Emerald Lake

Lone fisherman at Emerald Lake (on the John Muir Trail)

Junction of John Muir Trail and Pacific Crest Trail at 1000 Island Lake

At the north end of 1000 Island Lake - Banner in the clouds

Looking toward Banner Peak (to the south) from trail along the west side of the lake - lots of people camping

Tent City at 1000 Island Lakes

1000 Island Lake from the southwest side

Looking up towards the route from 1000 Island Lake to Lake Catherine

South end of 1000 Island Lake at the base of Banner Peak (looking to the saddle between 1000 Ils and Garnet)

Garnet Lake looking north

Nydiver

Barry heading up to the Nydiver Pass above Garnet Lakes

Nydiver Lakes - no real trail to them

Falls above Lake Ediza heading toward the Nydiver Lakes

Flowers at Lake Ediza - almost looks like a Tiger Lily, but not quite

Day Five - Aug. 13 Destination: Lake Ediza to Agnew Meadow (and then back to Mammoth Lake for a shower!) Mileage: ~ 6.5 miles - mostly lost elevation (good thing, it was now getting very warm!) We would bid adieu to Ansel Adams - but feeling good because we had covered so much territory and saw so many great places. A few spots I would like to explore a bit more, but we packed a lot in. I loved the trip to Shadow Lake and dropping down from there. Lovely.

Tent sites on the south end of Lake Ediza

Leaving Lake Ediza on 08/13

Classic granite terrain

Terrain from Lake Ediza to Shadow Lake

Shadow Creek falls

Shadow Lake reflections

Tree growing out of a rock!

Shadow Lake

In distance - one of the two Teats

Shadow Lake trail down to the River trail

Mammoth Mountain as seen from the Shadow Lake trail

Beautiful falls from Shadow Lake

Blowdown that simply went right through the stake

Agnew Meadow

2011 blowdown near Agnew Meadow

A shower never felt so good when we were back in Mammoth Lakes. Unfortunately, either carrying a heavy pack for five days or actually sleeping in a real bed did in my shoulder. I barely could sleep that night (and we still had two days left of hiking in Yosemite). Before we headed for the next segment of our adventure (to follow - complete with pics), we stopped at the local Vons (Safeway) so I could find a tennis ball (aerobics instructor swears by it - put between you and a wall and work out the kinks in your shoulder muscles - it does work. I used that thing all the way in the car to Saddlebag Lake) and some heavy-duty Aleve. This story will continue in Yosemite. Fabulous trip.

[Roly Poly]

Too funny! I just got back from the Sierras this evening. I probably stepped over your footprints in the sand.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Wonderful pics and trip! I've poked around all of those lakes on several different trips. Love that area. I continue to believe that the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wildernesses are every bit as good as Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia NP's. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to the rest of your trip.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I camped at Minaret Lake last summer. I thought it was quite a bit easier to get to Cecile from Minaret than it was to descend to Iceberg from Cecile. Also the meadows around Iceberg's outlet is absolutely lovely, your pics bring it all back to my mind.

[Middle E]

Yes, it was a fantastic 5 days of spectacular scenery, mostly good weather, and no bugs! Although we had talked about Mt. Ritter, it became clear that this was never a realistic option given the distance we had to cover, and the weather would have precluded it anyway. But we then had lots of time to visit lots of the lake and ridges, both on and off trail. Oh, and it was my birthday too I don't know how this happens, but my pictures all look about the same as Suzanne's.

Getting higher the terrain opens up

Suzanne on the trail

Lost Dog Lake

Minarets appear ahead

Crossing Minaret Creek

Minarets ahead

Minaret Lake

Looking toward the route up to Cecile Lake

Clyde Minaret (highest) and a tarn

Cecile Lake - home for the night

Circling Cecile Lake

Cecile Lake from the outlet end

Leaving Iceberg Lake

Minarets from below Iceberg Lake

Right below Ritter and Banner

Nydiver Lakes

Primrose Monkeyflower

Looking down on Garnet Lake

Thousand Island Lake

No Island Lake

Looking down on Thousand Island Lake

Garnet Lake

Climbing up to Nydiver pass

Nydiver Lakes

Waterfall

Shadow Creek

Gnarly pine

Cascading Shadow Creek

Agnew Meadows

[Bloated Chipmunk]

Timely report -- we're headed to 1000 Is. Lk. this wknd....

[ree]

What a fabulous bday trip. Love all your pictures. Glad you had fun and enjoyed yourselves. We visited the area a few years ago - hiking from Yosemite to Mammoth. It is gorgeous wandering country. The Sierras are the bestest. (But I know what you mean about the long 3 miles, for sure.) Happy birthday, MiddleE.

[Rich Baldwin]

Nice photos, looks like a fantastic trip

[Sadie's Driver]

[GeoTom]

Yeah, this is a little nicer than Smithbrook Road.

[BarbE]

[Roly Poly]

Where is the Yosemite report?

[puzzlr]

[Sadie's Driver]

[Doppelganger]