JMT // Day 4

Lyell Canyon → Thousand Island Lake

12 miles  

We woke up in the meadow by the rumbling creek, we saw many deer and enjoyed the chilly morning. Our tents were wet with the morning dew so we tried to shake them out and waiting until the sun rose a little to try and evaporate some of the moisture. Shortly after oats and coffee, we began our climb up to Donahue Pass.

It was a long climb, the pass was over 10,000 ft of elevation which made me nervous about elevation sickness but it was a beautiful climb, unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  We made our way up the switchbacks, to a stunning alpine lake. Getting our first taste of a mountain pass, seeing the crystal clear water and the feeling of accomplishment helped inspire me to keep going.

There were patches of snow maybe 30 ft long that we had to navigate around, but it wasn’t anything too crazy. We felt safe. We heard from some north-bound (NOBO) hikers that at Muir Pass there’s 6 miles of snow to navigate on either side of the pass. At the top of Donahue Pass we could see an endless, snow-covered, mountain range.We had our first marmot sightings; cute and fat little critters searching for unattended food.  What a feeling it was to make it to the top. My phone started beeping and buzzing, the first signal we’ve had since the Yosemite’s welcome center. I called my mom and Rod (the bf) to update them on how things are going before moving on and once again losing service. Our goal was to make it to Thousand Island Lake which we weren’t sure we’d be able to accomplish. About 4 miles short of the lake, I started feeling ill again, this time Marc did too; headache, tummy discomfort, nausea and lots of gas, but we kept going. We took a long break and proceeded very slowly up to Thousand Island Lake.

We found the most amazing campsite that I’ve ever seen, nestled in the rocks,  with a spectacular view of the lake and overlooking Banner Mountain.

The mosquitos swarmed in clouds around us, happy we brought deet and picaridin and I had a head net, but the mosquitoes were relentless. We started feeling better after eating dinner and relaxing a bit.

Again we played some music to boost morale, and had a little dance party. Being silly always seems to lift our spirits. We stayed up to watch the sun set and watched the colors light up Banner, it was magnificent. The mosquitoes, we discovered, have a bedtime and most of them disappear as the sun goes down, so we stayed up to watch the stars come out.