30 min
Trails
Map

Donohue Pass
to
Reds Meadows
MAP

Resupply

North
Tuolumne
Meadows

South
Reds
Meadow

Sierra
Weather

North
Yosemite
Weather

Short Segment

At Thousand Island Lake we find three routes down to the trailheads at Agnew Meadows and Reds Meadow. The PCT runs down the barren East Flank of the Canyon, the River Trail follows the soft, forest shaded route down the center of the canyon, while the John Muir Trail finds its way through the glacially sculpted granite carved into the Western Wall of the Canyon under the crowing Ritter Range rising above.

I prefer the latter, which is also the longest and hardest of our three hiking options from Thousand Island Lake to the Shuttle to Mammoth Lakes.

Here's the different trails, and their different miles from Thousand Island Lake to their respective trailheads.

Maps
NORTH

The reason this short section of the trail deserves its own page is that it begins with a great flat shelf of terrain surrounding Island Pass that wraps around the North and Western Shores of Thousand Island Lake accessing the scrambing approaches to the backsides of Banner and Ritter Peaks.

Backpacker Resources
and
Hiker Information

Lakg the Tahoe to Yosemite Trail.

Comments

Island Pass
10203
feet of elevation

Maps & Miles
NORTH

30 min Map
Central Yosemite

Island Pass
Ansel Adams Wilderness

SOUTH

OF

17.36 miles
South of Tuolumne Meadows Post Office-Store-Grill

4.76 miles
South of the Yosemite Wilderness Boundary at Donohue Pass

Island Pass
Ansel Adams Wilderness

Down the John Muir Trail
TO

1.72 miles
Thousand Island Lake trail junction.

2.24 miles
SE corner of Emerald Lake.

2.59 miles
Ruby Lake outlet creek.

3.81 miles
Garnet Lake footbridge-trail junction.

16.89 miles
South to Reds Meadow
JMT ROUTE

Page Index

We just crossed Island Pass.
Now, we're looking North across Island Pass at Donohue Peak and Koip Crest.

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Southbound
through
Island Pass
on the
John Muir Trail

The Layout South

Three Routes
to
Agnew & Reds
Meadows
Coming across Island Pass the combined routes of the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails proceed rather directly to the Easternmost shore of Thousand Island Lake. On the Eastern shore of Thousand Island Lake we encounter the "triple trail junction," where the PCT breaks off onto the volcanic Eastern wall of the Canyon of the Middle Fork of the San Joquine, the JMT continues South through the granite terrain of the Western wall under the Minerets, while a few feet down the PCT we find the River Trail turning South to split the difference between the PCT on the East flank and the JMT on the West, by following the course of the San J river down the center of the canyon.

Local Color
But I suggest we consider at least spending at least one evening in proximity to Island Pass, if not two. Staying overnight allows us to soak in more of the environment than just hiking quickly through allows, but, spending two nights here allows us a long day of scrambling to explore the surrounding terrain.

Soak it Up
Our resupply points in Tuolumne Meadows and Reds Meadow are closely-spaced, making it quite easy to carry the extra food to support a full day of scrambling and exploration here.

Campsites on Island Pass
Crossing Island Pass a little scouting to our Left and Right, the East and West along our Southbound trail reveals more than one lake on both sides of the trail, each with a wonderful close-in environment in and around our campsite, with each site offering stunning views of the surrounding terrain.

East
Hiking maybe a hundred and thirty yards South of Island Pass the John Muir Trail takes a quick jog to the Right and then the Left under a mound of nearby granite sheltering a campsite. Looking East beyond that campsite, the observant will notice a natural channel cut into the boulders and terrain holding a very faint use trail tracking East. About a hundred and fifty yards down that faint, broken use trail is a fine campsite, and exceptional campsite, nestled into a perfect formation of boulders overlooking a sweet, sweet lake with the Koip Crest running up to the Sierra Crestline.

This site has a flat granite floor with fine sand, a sandy annex for sleeping, beautiful granite boulders wrapping around the site providing perfect seating, cooking, and leaning facilities, with excellent sun and wind protection.

That's my favorite camp to the East of Island Pass

Maps & Miles

Page Index

After breaking off to the East from a jog in the JMT just South of Island Pass, we make our way a couple of hundred yards East to the East end on a little lake to our North.

We find our last steps to our custom campsite by passing through the rock channel above, down to my custom little camp Southeast of Island Pass, with our view of the lake to our North from our campsite below.

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View to the Northwest from my favorite Island Pass campsite off to the Southeast of Island Pass.

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Note my position of recline, enjoying the view to our Southwest from my favorite Island Pass campsite, the one to the Southeast of Island Pass.

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View from my campsite at one of my nearby kick-back spots, being that formation of rock & tree in the center, where I can sit, drink coffee, and observe.

Now, to get a better look at our surrounding terrain, we're going to take a little "scouting" hike as directly as we can towards the Ritter-Banner Massif, finding the best path to our Southwest from our camp to reach to top of the low rise we see ahead.

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Hiking Southwest from our campsite to the top of the rise beyond it we come to a small lake clearly reflecting the beauty of Ritter and Banner.

This location is just a few hundred yards off the John Muir Trail to the Southeast of Island Pass.

Wandering around up here is very rewarding!

These campsites are located on the kinda-flat plateau, being an eleveated shelf of terrain starting on the South side of Island Pass and wrapping around the north & West shores of Thousand Island Lake.

Hiking a bit further South will bring us onto the descent down to Thousand Island Lake.

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Hiking to the campsites Southeast of Island Pass involved hiking a couple of hundred yards to find the very faint use trail leading East at the jog in the trail. We can see a couple of the lakes to the Southwest of Island Pass

Maps & Miles

Page Index

Alternative Routes
3 Ways Down

The John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails run all the way South from Tuolumne Meadows to Mount Whitney. Except this one upcoming segement of trail, which we are now encountering as we come to the trail junction on the end of Thousand Island Lake. The PCT forks off to our East to continue South through the volcanic terrain characterizing the East Flank of the Canyon, the JMT continues South throught he convoluted granites of the West Flank of the Canyon, while the River Route splits the difference in the center of the canyon betweem the two, accompanying the Middle Fork of the San Jouquin under nice forest cover on soft, river-bottom soils. That makes a difference if your feet are hurting.

Which trail do we take?

Which one have you not seen before? If none, I'd take the John Muir Trail because of its superior beauty. After taking the JMT a couple of times I explored the other two routes.

We're also considering differences between these trails, not only in mileage, but in every aspect of "trail reality," from the nature of the surfaces (hard, soft, and medium), the surrounding terrain & cover (fully exposed to forest-covered), and the differing character of different types of hikers we encounter on each trail (JMT, PCT, & local hikers). Other considerations to add to these calculations are distance & time, how we are feeling, and where we are resupplying.

If we are resupplying at Reds we are hiking to Reds, regardless of which trail we selected. We can hike into either trailhead, if we are shuttling into Mammoth Lakes to resupply.

Writing this guide has caused me to both use the package service out of Reds Meadow, while also taking the Shuttle to Mammoth for resupply, to check out both worlds. This way I keep up with how Reds is working and how things are going in Mammoth Lakes.

River Route
The River Routes has the softest trails, great riverside forest cover, and lots of local hikers working this easiest route up to Thousand Island Lake.

PCT
The PCT is barren and exposed crossing volcanic terrain. I hiked this route once and see absolutely no reason to hike it again, as the other two routes are much more interesting.
The good thing about this route down the PCT is that it gives us an excellent view to our West across the canyon at the route of the JMT running through the granite terrain along the base of the Minarets run along the Sierra Crestline, which is running North-South above the Western shore of the Middle San Jouquin's canyon here.

JMT
The JMT is exposed, crosses hard granite terrain, but offers more cover under tree and terrain than the PCT. The main difference is the JMT explores a convoluted line of trail along the top of the canyon running past a series of classic High Sierra lakes, all wedged into the glacially-carved nooks and crannies cut into the massive granite Western wall of the canyon.
Our route South on the JMT follows along this convoluted Western rim of the Canyon Wall of the Milddle Fork of the San Jouquin, sitting just above the massive canyon and just below the final precipitious rise of the Ritter Range to take up its run along the Sierra Crestline.

It's a nice position to be in.

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SIDE ROUTEs

8.76 ft

Island Pass
10203
feet of elevation

Maps & Miles
NORTH

30 min Map
Central Yosemite

Island Pass
Ansel Adams Wilderness

SOUTH

(NOT DONE)

OF

XX.36 miles
South of Tuolumne Meadows Post Office-Store-Grill

XX.76 miles
South of the Yosemite Wilderness Boundary at Donohue Pass

Island Pass
Ansel Adams Wilderness

Down the John Muir Trail
TO

X.72 miles
Thousand Island Lake trail junction.

X.24 miles
SE corner of Emerald Lake.

X.59 miles
Ruby Lake outlet creek.

X.81 miles
Garnet Lake footbridge-trail junction.

16.89 miles
South to Reds Meadow
JMT ROUTE

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Central & South Yosemite Hiking Map
30 minute topo hiking map

Ansel Adams Wilderness
Inyo National Forest
30 Minute topo hiking map

Miles and Elevations
Tuolumne Meadows to Reds Meadow
MILES and ELEVATIONS

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SIDE ROUTE
To Waugh Lake

Island Pass
10203
feet of elevation

Maps & Miles
NORTH

30 min Map
Central Yosemite

Island Pass
Ansel Adams Wilderness

SOUTH

(NOT DONE)

OF

XX.36 miles
South of Tuolumne Meadows Post Office-Store-Grill

XX.76 miles
South of the Yosemite Wilderness Boundary at Donohue Pass

Island Pass
Ansel Adams Wilderness

Down the John Muir Trail
TO

X.72 miles
Thousand Island Lake trail junction.

X.24 miles
SE corner of Emerald Lake.

X.59 miles
Ruby Lake outlet creek.

X.81 miles
Garnet Lake footbridge-trail junction.

16.89 miles
South to Reds Meadow
JMT ROUTE

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A Campsite

South Flank of Donohue Pass
to the
Two Lakes
under
The Sierra Crestline
just a bit off the
John Muir Trail

Maps & Miles

Page Index

Central & South Yosemite Hiking Map
30 minute topo hiking map

Ansel Adams Wilderness
Inyo National Forest
30 Minute topo hiking map

Miles and Elevations
Tuolumne Meadows to Reds Meadow
MILES and ELEVATIONS

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Maps & Miles

Page Index

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Central & South Yosemite Hiking Map
30 minute topo hiking map

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R Peak

F Lake Loop Junction

Mileage

1.86 miles from the Raymond Lake junction South to Raymond Canyon.

3.68 miles from the Raymond Lake junction South to Pennsylvania Creek.

Crossing
The Heart of Yosemite

Down!

WE make our way South, either down along one of the Rims or the Shores of the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River, then down our respective Canyon Wall to Reds or Agnew Meadows, depending on where our plans called for us to spend the evening.

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Backpacking Trail Guide

PCT-TYT North

Glen Aulin
to
Tuolumne Meadows

Backpacking Trail Guide

JMT South

Tn