Minarets Loop
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Julie and I just got back from a short trip to the Minarets with our friend Galen. After a shuttle ride from the Mammoth Mountain Main Lodge to Agnew Meadows, we were on the trail by around 9:30am.
After passing through Agnew Meadows, we began the gentle descent down to the Middle Fork San Joaquin River. Shortly after passing Olaine Lake, we made a left at the trail junction, heading up about 600 feet towards Shadow Lake. We took short break near the outlet of the lake and got a glimpse of what the next few days had in store for us.
View from Shadow LakeAt the west end of the lake, we briefly connected with the John Muir Trail before splitting off onto the trail up to Ediza Lake. I was hoping to make it to the lake before stopping for lunch, but we were getting pretty hungry, so we stopped along the creek on the way up to the lake.
Leftover pizza – Yum!Shortly after lunch, we arrived at the lake and made our way around to the other end. We found a relatively secluded spot to set up camp above the southwestern shore of the lake.
Arriving at Ediza LakeThere was plenty of daylight left, so I headed up to check out Iceberg Lake. When I arrived, I was surprised to see that there was only one group of people around and they were heading up to Cecile Lake.
Iceberg Lake
Trail to Cecile Lake from Iceberg LakeAfter I got back, it was just about time for dinner. There was a perfect spot to eat just a short walk from camp on a granite bench overlooking Ediza Lake.
Ediza Lake view near campThe next morning I was awake pretty early, so I wandered around and took a few more photos while waiting for the others to rise.
Camp from above
The Minarets, Mt Ritter and Banner PeakThe destination for the day was Thousand Island Lake. As we were getting ready to head out, someone that was camping close by approached us to see if we had seen his son’s pair of boots that had disappeared. I’m not sure if they ended up finding the boots, but fortunately they were on the final day of their 8 day trip and his son did have camp shoes he could hike out in. Not too long after he left, I was reorganizing the bear canister and noticed there were 3 thumbtacks that somehow ended up in our bag of dehydrated pasta sauce. We couldn’t make any sense of it. The only explanation that we could think of was that some punk(s) were going around and messing with people’s stuff. Hopefully that’s not the case, but I still can’t think of any other explanation.
After breakfast we finally hit the trail. On the way out went back up to Iceberg Lake so Julie and Galen could check it out. Once again, there was nobody else there so we spent a little time relaxing there before continuing on.
Heading up to Iceberg Lake
Group Shot at Iceberg Lake
Wildflowers at Iceberg LakeNot surprisingly, once we got back to the JMT the trail was pretty busy. Once we got to Garnet Lake we stopped for lunch just north of the foot bridge on the eastern end. As we were sitting there, a couple of strange looking fellows approached – it was Andrew F. and Manfred K. hiking the JMT. It was about 1:30pm and they were about 16 miles into their day, while we had only hiked about 6 miles so far. We chatted with them for a bit and then they were off to Reds Meadow with cheeseburgers on their minds.
Garnet LakeAfter lunch we left the JMT and the crowds as we hiked along the northern shore of the Garnet Lake and over the saddle to the west end of Thousand Island Lake.
Use trail on north side of Garnet Lake
Saddle between Garnet Lake and Thousand Island Lake
View of Thousand Island Lake from saddleOnce we got to the western end of Thousand Island Lake there was no reason to continue any further. We were near the base of Banner Peak and the shores of one of the most popular lakes in the Sierra, yet there was nobody else around.
Banner Peak from west end of Thousand Island Lake
Camp at nightThe next morning I got up to try to take some sunrise pictures and then fell back asleep on a granite slab until Julie and Galen emerged from the tent.
Sunrise on Banner PeakOnce we finally got moving, we hiked along the north shore of Thousand Island Lake before connecting with the High Trail/PCT.
Banner Peak from the north shore of Thousand Island LakeThe High Trail route back to Agnew Meadows was the perfect way to end the trip as we enjoyed sweeping views of the Minarets, Mt Ritter and Banner Peak for much of the way.
Thanks for sharing Chris. You got some nice shots on that trip. I was in that area earlier this year for the first time and I took the opposite shot you took from Iceberg Lake looking up towards Cecile Lake. I came from the other direction on a day hike, I stopped to have lunch at Cecile and took a shot look down at Iceberg. I can see that I need to finish that loop someday.
Iceberg LakeYour story about the back-country hooligans is discouraging. It would be a shame if someone mistook them for a marauding bear and was carrying bear spray.
It's beautiful out there (2006).
That descent to Iceberg Lake from the south is sketchy on hard snow!
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