Thousand Island Lake
Camp Review
The campsite at Thousand Island Lake was a five-star site with protection from the winds and a tree above the tent that provided additional warmth.
The ground was almost perfectly flat and hard-packed.
It wasn’t difficult to put the tent stakes in, but they held well—just the ideal conditions for stakes.
When we first set up our tent, there was only one other camper in sight, but by the end of the night, we had a couple of neighbors. Still, they were quiet and we were able to easily fall asleep.
The view of Banner Peak was gorgeous.
Even though we had neighbors, we had plenty of space to cook and eat away from our tent.
Hike Review
I backpacked to Thousand Island Lake last year but ended up camping at a different lake.
Last year, I started on the Rush Creek Trail near Silver Lake while this year, Cassie and I started on the Pacific Crest Trail from Agnew Meadows. Agnew Meadows sits 1,100 feet higher than Silver Lake, which meant that the hike was that much easier.
The views were incredible as the Pacific Crest Trail had unimpeded views of Shadow Lake (with Shadow Creek) and various peaks such as Banner Peak, Mount Ritter, and the Minarets. Much prettier than via Rush Creek.
We hiked the Pacific Crest Trail up to Thousand Island Lake on the first day. On the second, we hiked the John Muir Trail and Shadow Creek Trail back to Agnew Meadow.
All the trails were single-track trails that had about 25% tree coverage, which meant that even though it was hot, there was shade to be found before too long.
There was plenty of water on the trail, especially the Pacific Crest Trail due to the rains that had fallen a few days before this hike. We could have carried a single bottle of water and we would have been fine.
There was a lot of horse and donkey manure on all three trails.
The trails didn’t have a ton of people on them, probably because we hiked up on Sunday and came back down on Monday.
What I Learned
Cassie’s backpack was apparently about 15 pounds and mine was 20 pounds—without water. I’m not sure how accurate the $3 scale is though. If the scale is accurate, it is the lightest pack I’ve ever carried backpacking.
We learned that Cassie needs to eat more calories during the day. Because the night before she had overeaten, she had eaten less than 500 calories on the first day. She felt fine until we swam at Thousand Island Lake. The cold swim made her lips turn blue and she had to put on 3 layers of clothes to get her core temperature to a comfortable state. In the future, we will make sure she gets more calories during the day so that she doesn’t run out of energy.
We worried about the rain forecast as it looked like we’d have a 30% chance of rain after 11 AM on both days. Instead of rain, we only had humid conditions, which meant that I was overheated for much of the hike with none of the relief a cool rain would have brought.
Cassie carried a few feminine hygiene products and while she didn’t need them, she helped a fellow hiker who did. Given how happy it made this fellow hiker, we want to carry a few pads and tampons in all our future hikes to help others.
I packed just the right amount of things except for sleeping clothes. I totally forgot them and while I didn’t get into trouble, it would have been more comfortable with a top and bottom underlayer.
On the second day, we were told by a ranger that the bus ride from Agnew Meadows to Mammoth Lodge was canceled as the road was closed for construction. This meant that we would potentially have to hike an extra 6 miles and 1200 feet of elevation gain. We had packed two extra bags of dehydrated food, but given that we ate more than planned the first night and second morning, it would have been nice to have extra energy bars. It would have been nice to have electrolyte mix and hot chocolate too.
I tried cold soaking for the first time with a six-grain breakfast dehydrated meal. The instructions asked for hot water for 20 minutes, but instead, we put in cold water and ate it about 2 hours later. The meal ended up being perfectly hydrated and I now understand why cold soaking is so popular with thru hikers.
Cassie carried a Sawyer Squeeze Mini and the waterflow was so low that she wasn’t drinking enough water. I think we’ll get her a regular Sawyer Squeeze in the future (we don’t need another one as we can share mine, but it’s good to have a backup for such an essential item).
At Thousand Island Lake, I finally dove without doing a belly flop. For me, the secret was rotating my body more than what I thought was needed. Now, after the first lucky dive, the next one wasn’t so smooth, but it was still better than before. I can’t wait to practice more and get confident at different heights.
At Agnew Meadows (actually, on the way down from Shadow Creek), I had two bars of solid LTE signal (Verizon). It was so weird having cell signal in the wilderness, but I guessed that it was due to Mammoth being a big ski resort and there being some strong towers in tall places. It was great having the signal to confirm the canceled bus schedule and to look up when the Mexican restaurant was closing (and that we would make it before closing time).
It was my first time sharing my two-person Nemo tent and it went swimmingly well. The sleeping pads bumped up against each other in a way where they perfectly fit on the floor of the tent. We had to store our gear in the vestibule, but this ten has a large one, so everything just worked.
I used the Merlin Bird ID app to identify the various birds that we heard on the hike. It was interesting that with elevation gain came different birds and different sounds! We identified 5 different birds throughout the two days.
I had one of the best tasting dehydrated meals ever, which was the Chicken Tikka Masala meal from Mountain House. It could have used a bit more rice, but the sauce itself was flavorful and tasty. Given that there is extra sauce, I am now fantasizing about bringing some extra tortilla to fill in as naan the next time we have this meal.
What Happened?
21.2 miles, 13 hrs 13 mins, 3894 ft of ascent (over two days)
I was initially planning on taking Cassie rock-climbing around Mammoth Lakes but with just a week to go, I happened to be on recreation.org and found reservations for the High Trail from Agnew Meadow available. This is a reservation that usually gets booked up six months in advance, so I was extremely excited that perhaps I’d be able to take Cassie to one of the most sought-after backpacking destinations in California. I gave Cassie the choice of either going backpacking to one of the most beautiful lakes I had been to or rock-climbing a beautiful alpine route and after some consideration, settled on the former. I immediately grabbed the reservation before anyone else could take it.
On the day of the hike, woke up late and decided on a lazy start. We stopped by a Subway to grab sandwiches for lunch on the trail and drove to Mammoth Lodge. We parked a quarter mile away (at the backpacker’s parking area, which is beyond parking area B) and walked to the bus stop where we were told that the bus ticket was sold at the Mammoth Resort ticket window and would cost $15 per person. We bought the ticket, got on the bus, and after 20 minutes arrived at Agnew Meadows.
I assumed that the bus would stop and would wait to let everyone off. Instead, as soon as we stood up and took a step towards the door, the bus started moving! We loudly asked if the bus driver could stop and he did, while complaining that we did not tell him or pull the bus stop cable. We got off while apologizing and that’s how we started our backpacking hike.
The Pacific Crest Trail started with some switchbacks and quick elevation gain. But because we were well rested, the miles and elevation came easy. We were enamored by the sounds of birds, the burbling of the creek, and the rustle of the tree leaves. Soon, we left the protective canopy of the trees and we decided to have lunch before the forecast rains disintegrated our sandwich.
After lunch, we hiked in good spirits as the trail was a well-designed one—the elevation gain came at a slow and steady pace. We crossed over multiple small streams and enjoyed the water, which we poured over ourselves to keep cool. Miles flowed by and we kept gawking at the magnificent views to the west.
In the late afternoon, we made it to Thousand Island Lake and it was more beautiful than I had remembered—we were both tired from the hike, but we found our spirits buoyed by scenery. Excitedly, we found a campsite and made it down to the lake for a quick dunk in the water. The water was cold, but after about 30 seconds, I started to feel great. Unfortunately for Cassie, she was cold when she got in and it only got colder for her. After a few minutes, she went out as I jumped in and out of the water a few times.
We got out and dried ourselves before heading back to our tent. We put on a sweater layer and started boiling water for our dehydrated meals. I was feeling pretty good, but my concern for Cassie grew as Cassie was extra tired and her lips were blue. After filling the food bags with boiling water, I made Cassie hold the food bags against her stomach, which I hoped would help her increase her body temperature.
After we ate our meal, we quickly brushed our teeth and retreated to our tent to warm up. I ended up journaling while Cassie promptly fell asleep after threatening to go pee. After an hour or two, Cassie woke up and made good on her promise of a bathroom break. When she came back, we talked a bit and listened to a few songs before she fell asleep again. It took me a while to fall asleep and the last time I looked at my watch, it was 2 AM.
On Monday, I woke up with a headache and was feeling a tired—on the other hand, Cassie woke up feeling fully refreshed. We cleaned up the tent together and ate a small breakfast before hiking south on the John Muir Trail.
As we stepped on to the John Muir Trail, a hiker walked up to us and asked if we had a pad. Luckily, Cassie had packed a pad and a liner (just in case) and the hiker was so happy that Cassie was able to give her both products. The hiker walked away with a huge smile then came back to Cassie and offered her a snack as a thank you.
Somewhere before Shadow Lake, we had the encounter with a ranger, where we got bad news about the bus back to Mammoth Lodge being cancelled. This totally put me in a desperate mood. Because we had consumed some extra food the night before, I was worried about how many calories we had remaining and how many Cassie would need for the day. And given how tired I felt, adding 6 miles and 1200 ft elevation to a 12-mile hike with 1500 ft elevation gain just seemed no bueno. I hurried and stressed to the point where I didn’t appreciate the beautiful views that the trail afforded us—I was just focused on getting back to Agnew Meadows and Mammoth Lodge as fast as possible.
When we did get to Agnew Meadows, we found ourselves at the empty bus stop and we quickly ate the last calories we had on us (a cold-soaked cereal bag mixed with peanut butter and the chocolate oat balls that the hiker at Thousand Island Lake gave to Cassie). We saw a construction worker who confirmed that the bus was indeed canceled, but then said that the road was open to hikers. This was great news to us as the road was only 4 miles long with 900 feet of elevation gain (a 25% reduction in length and elevation). We quickly started hiking up after informing a few fellow hikers (who arrived at the bus stop without knowing about the closed road) of the plan. My mood was markedly better since the shorter road had a much gentler gradient and I was sure Cassie and I could hike it easily.
A quarter mile up the road, we ran into another construction worker who was adamant that the road was closed and that hikers could not run through it. He said that there were drill machines and dynamite, so we definitely could not walk up the road! I was exasperated and told him that we really did not want to hike the long way around. He then said that in about 45 minutes, there was a car convoy that would drive up to the Minaret Vista and that it would only be another mile back down to Mammoth Lodge. He told us to wait for the convoy at the bus stop and that we could probably hitch hike. Walking back to the bus stop, I was all smiles. Instead of the three-plus hour slog of a hike, we could catch a hitch and we would be back in our car in about an hour and a half. Maybe we would make it home before midnight!
When we came back to the bus stop, the three hikers were still there. I asked them if they wanted to hear the good or the bad news first. They asked for the bad news (the road was closed and we could not hike that) but the good news (we could hitchhike on the convoy) cheered them up as much as it did us. After about 30 minutes, some cars started lining up and we ended up getting a ride from a different construction worker.
Our driver was this Latin fellow named Adonis and he was awfully nice in giving us a ride and making good conversation with our oldest hiker who was a chatty lady. He dropped us off at the Minaret Vista, where Cassie and I hiked the last two miles (all downhill) back to the car.
We changed into more comfortable clothes and made it to El Charro Taqueria in Mammoth Lakes, where I enjoyed a delicious carne asada burrito with a Mexican Coke, while Cassie devoured a chicken salad tostada bowl. Finally feeling full, we drove home with big smiles on our faces after dealing with a stressful day of hiking and witnessing the beauty that is the High Sierras.