I started the day excited to be on the trail to Lake Superior. I had finished a book this year call "Stopping the Road", a story about the national effort to build the freeway system in the late 50s and early 60 that created the interstate system we have today and the fight to stop I-70 from piercing the heart of the Sierra. Interstate 70 out of Baltimore was to continue through Salt Lake City and through the heart of the Sierra, right through the town of Mammoth down to Fresno. A battle ensued. Many did not want the road cutting the JMT, the longest trail in the US not cut by a road at 220 miles. They saw the Sierra wilderness as a resource all its own and the town of Mammoth Lakes did not want to become a roadside town on an noisy interstate. Plus, the road would be closed by snow six to eight months a year due to its two 9000' passes. The commercial interests of the Central Valley of California saw a way to move there products to a wider market. The battle continued, swinging back and forth until then Governor Ronald Reagan working with the Nixon administration stopped the road. To make sure it was never built the Ansel Adams Wilderness Area was created, closing the corridor the road might have taken. To add dramatic flair to the deed, Governor Reagan, along with an entourage of aides, reporters and security personnel rode on horseback up the same trail Craig and I were on today, to Summit Meadows, about 10 miles in and overlooking the area the road would defile and announced the dismissal of the road. That is why, to this day, the JMT is so beloved, not just for the scenery, but for its remoteness.
I remembered this section of trail as hot, so I advised Craig we rise early and get as far as we could before the heat of the day. We rose at 5:45 am, in the early morning light, quietly packed, then ate the circular Almond Bear Claw pastry we had brought with us from Schat's Bakery in Mammoth.
The trail out of the Reds Meadow campground goes through Devils Postpile National Monument. Craig and I took the high trail on top of the basaltic columns so he could see their glacial polished surfaces. Devils Postpile is "just" another example of basaltic columns, except, after the columns were formed, a glacier ran across the tops and sheared them off level and ground them glassy smooth. Walking on the top is like walking on a giant polished floor of hexagonal basalt. It is pretty unique.
We got on our trail, the Summit Meadows Trail, and followed it for 8 miles, to Superior Lake. My fears of a hot climb were unfounded, clouds flew in front of the sun, driven by a fierce wind we were buffetted by on the ground.
We sat down at the lake for lunch. Above us loomed Nancy Pass, at the top of a steep slope of fine grained boulders, willow, sage brush, white pines and scree.
We finished lunch and started up. It was only about 900 vertical feet up, but every step is earned, some twice, due to sliding back down on the scree.
On top of the pass a great view to the north reveals the jagged range known as the Minarets. Directly below us, the slope fell away vertically, a slope made of crumbling rock and loose talus punctuated by solid rock ribs running down the slope.
We wound down one of the ribs, finding a route off it onto the talus. We then traversed downward and northwest in the direction of Minaret Lake, still hidden by the namesake pinnacle blocking our view, The Minaret. The talus was loose, the rock ribs hid small cliffs that forced us up or down, and the slope went on for what seemed like forever.
We finally reached the end of the talus traverse only to fight 6' high willow bushes lining the stream beds. A short climb up a slope dotted with magnificent red firs and we dropped into a small flat bowl with a dancing stream and some lakelets. We were reading the map to ascertain where we went next, when it struck me, "What's the hurry? Why not just stay here?" Craig agreed. We both were soon unpacking and relaxing. Craig explored the bowl while I vegged. Upon his return, I did a little exploring myself, and found cell service from Mammoth. While out and about the sun dipped below the peaks to the west of our camp. We decided to move to the other side of the bowl, hoping to get more sun. For our effort, we gained about ten minutes.
Pooped, we lay in our sleeping bags, cooked dinner and relaxed. We thought about climbing up to Deadhorse Lake just above us, a half mile and 200' up, to try the fishing there, but we decided to postpone that adventure until first thing in the morning. Our total distance for the day was ten miles, eight on trail and two up and over Nancy Pass. The last two were a b*tch.
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