1000 I Lake camp via John Muir Trail
10.6 mi
Distance
5 hrs 34 min
Time
terrain
2,028 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a difficult one way trail in Yosemite National Park.
This trail goes by Island Pass, Donohue Pass, and Lyell Fork.
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
Public Tracks
2018 JMT DAY 3 - Thousand Island Lake to Lyell Canyon
Day 3 was our longest and hardest hike. We knew it was going to be tough and got out of camp at 5:45am to get a start on the day. We hade 11.5 miles to trek and ascend Donahue Pass at 11,100 feet. The morning sunrise on Mount Ritter was spectacular! The photo does not give it justice. We climbed a couple hundred feet over Island pass (not much of a pass) and descended into Rush Creek before tackling Donahue Pass. It was here where me met our heaviest infestation of mosquitoes. There were clouds of them and they were huge! I had to put on my head net when we stopped for water to ascend the pass. The climb to the pass wasn't that bad. It slowly ascended up to a series of beautiful meadows ending in a spectacular one at the foot of Donahue Pass where we ate lunch and filled our water bottles again. Going up to the meadow, I spotted a woman breast feeding an infant. She brought an infant up here! We were 35 miles from the nearest road! Some people just have shit for brains. The hike up to the pass wasn't that tough and the view back into the meadow/valley was breathtaking. Once on top, I got a cell signal and called my wife and brother via FaceTime. Very cool! At this point, we only had a 3.5 mile hike to camp and thought it would be a piece of cake. Boy were we wrong! That last 3.5 miles were over steep jagged rock with sometimes 1.5 foot steps. It continued and continued and continued. I also ran out of water about a mile from our campsite. I was going so slow Amie got frustrated with me. I finally got into camp and all I could do was just rest on the ground for about 45 minutes before setting up my tent. We had lot's of company at that camp site. There was also a very fast and COLD running river very close to camp. I then ate and went to bed. I slept like a rock!