John Muir Trail Trip Report

Day 6


September 12, 2010

Emerald Lake to
Trinity Lakes


9.5 miles





Day 6 Profile
JMT Day 6

Nevada Falls
MapSource
Day 6
Google Maps Terrain
Up at 7:00 am
I slept in this morning! Hiking by 8:30. What a glorious, sunny day!! It was 32 degrees for a low last night. 

This was a 'many lakes' day. Starting at Emerald, I passed Ruby Lake, Garnet Lake, Shawdow Lake, Rosalie Lake, Gladys Lake, and finally Trinity Lakes. Garnet Lake was my favorite. The trail takes you along the shore of Garnet for quite a ways, and it seemed that there were no end of great spots to get amazing photos. This was one of my favorite days on the trail. The scenery was spectacular.

Emerald Lake
  Emerald Lake
Ruby Lake
  Ruby Lake
Garnet Lake
Garnet Lake in the distance


As you cross the bridge at the outlet to Garnet Lake the trail has a junction. To the left is the Altha Lake trail. Unfortunately this trail junction is not marked. I didn't see that the JMT veered to the right and curved around Garnet Lake and so I headed left. About .25 miles later I realized that the trail I was on was not correct. There was no way stock could navigate the trail I was on, and it was poorly marked. After you have been on the JMT for a while, you get the feel for it, and this didn't feel right. I headed back to Garnet Lake and found the JMT again. It did allow me to capture a nice photo of Garnet Lake and the bridge, so it was not a complete waste of time!


Garnet Lake
Garnet Lake
  Garnet Lake
Garnet Lake and bridge from the Altha Lake trail detour

I spent most of the day today thinking about my daughters wedding in a few weeks. So many conflicting thoughts and feelings... Hope, fear, loss, gain, excitement... I sat at a waterfall near the Ediza Lake junction and wrote down what I had been thinking about all day. It helped bring some closure for me. What a wonderful day to be reflective and think deep thoughts

I took a short detour at the Shadow Lake junction to search for (and find!) a geoacache that had been placed by Shadow Lake. In it were those hand warmers in packets!! Yay! I grabbed them and will make good use of them. I made camp on a small hill above Trinity Lakes. Nice large site, and off the trail enough to be secluded. There were a lot of short ascents and descents to get through all the lakes today, but no serious climbs. I went for a swim in the lake, and it was nice to rinse off the trail dust, but Trinity is a marshy pond sort of lake and not my favorite.

GC1EB2F
Geocache near Shadow Lake
Rocky trail
This is wny I switched back to boots for this trail
Marmot near Garnet Lake
Marmot near Garnet Lake

Tomorrow I will have only 7 miles to go, and all downhill. I am really looking forward to the shower at Reds Meadow! I expect to have most of the day tomorrow to rest and recharge. Today was another day of not eating much. Hopefully the cusine at Reds is tempting enough to get my appetite going again so I can recharge. I'm starting to worry that I will hit a physical 'wall' if I don't start consuming more calories.

JMT
Climbing above Garnet Lake
Trinity Lake
Trinity Lake


Day 6 camp
Day 6 campsite above Trinity Lake
Once again, I am the only person in sight or sound. Since I knew this trail was so popular, I didn't know if I would really get any moments alone, especially at camp each night. In my day to day life, moments alone are rare, and time to reflect and be still, even more rare. If I did manage to find myself alone for several nights, I was wondering how I would respond to the total solitude. Some folks just are not comfortable being TOTALLY alone. I am finding it more than just refreshing. It is almost a healing process.




Day 7



Videos from Day 6

JMT Day 6
Marmot
Day 6
Shadow Lake
Morning of day 6
  4MB
Marmot
8MB

Garnet Lake
4MB

Shadow Lake
3MB

Rosalie Lake
Gladys Lake
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Rosalie Lake
4 MB
Gladys Lake
1MB

Day 6 views
5MB
Day 6 camp
7MB

Additional pictures from Day 6

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Garnet Lake bridge
View from Altha lake trail
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