Thousand Island Lake(Click image to view full size) Banner Peak above Thousand Island Lake We reached an intersection near the lake's outlet stream, then started climbing up toward much smaller Emerald Lake. After less than 100 feet of climbing, we stopped near the lake to rest. Also, it looked like rain was threatening so we started to put on our rain gear, though again it would get too hot and we'd end up taking most of it off. I think that's the last time we made the mistake of putting on our rain gear prematurely. We started to see some day hikers here, as well, perhaps coming from theAfter our break we climbed another 60 feet to the less appealing Ruby Lake. As we walked high above the edge of the lake, we could hear distant thunder, though it still wasn't raining where we were. to the southeastern end of the lake, we passed two women who apparently weren't sure whether they should camp here or climb up to Garnet Lake. Just as we started

to climb, another woman came scampering downhill, saying she heard thunder two miles away and was going to wait it out. I discussed the trade-offs with my wife and we decided to keep going. lagunitas backpack no telling if the lightning was getting closer or further away, or iftyk backpack waiting would be worse than going ahead. bmcc backpackI figured if we were going to do it, though, we'd want to get up and over this 200 foot climb as fast as possible, before anyI told this to the boys, but perhaps I should have been more clear about what I meant. Jared took off, racing uphill, and that was the last we saw of him for a really long time. We made short work of the climb, then started to descend to Garnet Lake.

expected the kids to stop shortly thereafter, but they just kept going. was no danger from lightning now, but instead we started to worry about where our kidsI passed one use trail and was worried that Jared might have taken it andBut he is pretty good about following the trail (better thanJean and I frantically descended as fast as we could (which is definitely not as fast as the kids), finally re-joining the kids near Garnet Lake's outlet stream a half hour later. Mount Ritter and Banner Peak above Garnet Lake Eastern end of Garnet Lake We took the bridge over the outlet stream, then made the mistake of turning left instead of right (there's no sign here). I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking, but we descended this rocky gully toward the Altha Lake trail for about 10 minutes before reaching the bottom, realizing we'd gone the wrong way, then retracing our steps. This was the only wrong turn we took on the JMT. To make it worse, by the time we returned to Garnet Lake, it started to sprinkle.

And then as we started to climb away from Garnet Lake, it started to rain. we were not in the best of moods as we climbed another 400 feet up out of the Garnet Lake basin before starting a descent to Shadow Creek. Near the top of the climb there was a small pond, but no good camping sites. were lots of groups heading in the opposite direction, probably looking to camp at Garnet Lake or Thousand Island Lake tonight. We now started a long descent, first on rocky trail but eventually on good footing. It's about 1000 of descent to ShadowThe rain let up later in the day, though it was never really a problem. At Shadow Creek, we saw a few campers here, but we decided to keep going. Shadow Creek was running well, with some impressive cascades visible from theAs we continued to descend, we found a great-looking campsite along the creek, but we found a small note saying the area was being restored, and I remembered from my book that camping wasn't allowed at Shadow Lake or from there to the

So we kept going. We continued to descend to Shadow Lake. There are some campsites here, but theyApparently camping is prohibited within 300 feet of Shadow Lake, so I'm not even sure if these were legal sites or not (they were a bit far from the water, so they might have been). Just as we were about to climb to Rosalie Lake, we met two hikers coming down from there. I asked them about camping and they said there was a use trail above the lake that led down to some great sites that were still available. We now had a steep 650 foot climb up to Rosalie Lake at the end of a long day, but we just gritted our teeth and did it. When we reached the top we saw a solo hiker who seemed disappointed when I mentioned the camping restrictions, but I assured him he could find good sites near the Ediza Lake junction. We found the use trail on the right and were soon at a great, isolated site at Rosalie Lake. after 7pm, giving us a little time to enjoy some great views of the lake during dinner.

Day 4 of the 2010 Sierra Challenge was probably the easiest of the ten days, an outing to Volcanic Ridge in the Ansel Adams Wilderness between Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite National Park. Judging by its location on the map I expected it to have the finest views available of the Minarets, and in this we were not of nearly twenty folks for a Monday morning, the largest we've had in ten years for a weekday. Turns out that easy peaks are quite popular - imagine that. It was just after 6a before we got away from the Agnew Meadows TH. group hung together for the easy downhill walk to the San Joaquin River and over it heading up to Shadow Lake. Once over the bridge the hike becomes a steady uphill gradient as it climbs the western slopes out of the river canyon. By the time we reached group had splintered into the usual smaller pockets as folks found their ownI was traveling along with - the Young & the Restless crowd - somewhere near the front of the lineup.

Not long after passing the junction with the JMT, I looked for a place to start the cross-country. Others that were in front of us continued up the trail towards Ediza Lake while my three companions followed me across and then southwest towards our summit. It was just before 8a when we left the trail and it would take us an hour and a half to reach Volcanic Ridge's highpoint. Along the way we found some surprisingly and a picturesque in a high alpine setting. We had some fun to the lake and then to mix things up. I had initially hoped to reach both the highpoint and the lower about a mile away, but the terrain between them looked a bit torturous so I gave it up early. up we scrambled broken , slabs and , finally topping out just before 9:30a. As expected, the views were spectacular. stood out strongly to the south, the tallest of an impressive array of pinnacles stretching to . Further away to rose , two

of the most recognizable summits in the range. Donohue Peak, Blacktop, Koip, Parker and Wood, much of the route we had traveled dated to 2003 though were much olderThe first entry included a note from a 12yr-old girl, Carolyn Coates, who had reached the summit with her dad. Sort of made us all feel a little weak. Only a few minutes behind us in reaching the summit was a small family comprising Mom, Dad, and son. They were camped to the south at Minaret Lakes and had come up for an early morning climb. We quickly found that one parent was fluent in Russian and Vitaliy struck up a conversation in their native tongue. Along with Daria from Lithuania, we had representatives from four states of Union atop Volcanic Ridge this morning. Vitaliy dubbed it the Soviet Union Reunion, getting a laugh from everyone. With the help of our new friends we took a few summit shots of our at the summit. half an hour at the top waiting for others to arrive, but we saw no one (more

than a dozen would reach the summit over the next few hours after we left). There were not many other summits in the area that I hadn't climbed other than the hairier of the Minarets north of Eichorn Minaret. But the map showed a Red Top Mtn some three miles to the southeast that looked like it might make a goodThe three others were game to join me, so around 10a we set off down the south side of Volcanic Ridge. This was a much easier route, probably the most straightforward way to reach the summit. A wide scree bowl funneled down to sand and talus, eventually leading to , , and then . We found the Minaret Lakes Trail on the north side of the lake, following itA young backpacker was just , a roll of toilet paper in one hand, evedently just heading back to camp after doing his business (see comment at end of this page). There were a handful of others camping around the lake but we didn't stop to talk with any of them. We were on the trail

less than fifteen minutes before striking off cross-country to the south. Its not clear that my choice of routes to Red Top was the best. It may have been better to stay on the trail for another mile, then head cross-country when the peak is due south. I was trying to save the additional loss of elevation, but we ran intoStill, the route wasn't bad and there were stretches of beautiful that were quite striking. traversed southeast along the base of the long ridgeline connecting Red Top to the Minarets, eventually ending up in north of the peak. I was moving at a pretty steady clip ahead of the others, not really concerned whether they were keeping up or not. Between the three of them they kept up a banter that was mixed parts of bravado, sarcasm and nonsense, some of it even humorous to an old guy like me. But for the most part I didn't really care to play in their conversation and would have been just as happy to lose them as

to keep them along. In this manner we made our way in a stretched-out line to the summit of Red Top. We used the left side of the bowl to climb steep, loose dirt slopes up to the NE Ridge, and from there to the summit. Some of the 7.5' maps have the location of Red Top misplaced to the next lower summit northeast of the true summit (including the topo map used to display the route we took). at noon, about 2.5hrs after leaving Volcanic Ridge. top is rounded and somewhat flat, covered in talus with a few trees, but mostlyWe found a MacLeod/Lilley register under a small cairn to which we added our nearby in a tiny film cannister, but the contents were largely unreadable. small register had the name of the summit as BanRit Peak, but the name didn'tThere are views of Banner and Ritter and Volcanic Ridge to , the Minarets to , Iron Mtn to dominated the views to the east. We stayed another half hour on this summit eating lunch before packing up to head down.

By now I was ready for some solo time, so I wasted little time in ditching the others during the descent of Red Top's East Slopes. The scree was a bit large for good boot skiing, but I bombed down as quick as I could without waiting for the others to catch up. Once down to the base of the peak I was back in forest and headed in a more or less easterly direction. I didn't have a map of the area with me since I hadn't planned on this route ahead of time, but I figured at the very least I would intersect the JMT/PCT just before hitting the San Joaquin through the forest only half an hour from the summit. was on his way down to Johnston Meadow via a trail that leads to the Beck Lakes area and other places south of Red Top. I was unaware of this trail and considered myself lucky to find it. I started following the trail, but since it seemed to lead north and northeast instead of towards Devils Postpile I decided to go back to the cross-country tack I'd been using.

It was really pretty easy cross-country through open forest and down a series of slopes devoid of significant cliffs but steep enough to drop about 3,000ft in less than 3 miles. Less than an hour after leaving Red Top's summit I reached the of Devils Postpile NM. Two minutes later I was on minutes from the trailhead. Even before heading across the bridge over the I began coming across a number of hikers out for a stroll to Minaret Falls and other locations. The trail east of the bridge was loaded with heading to see the main feature of the National Monument, the hexegonal basalt columns. I got lucky in finding a bus pulling up just as I reached the Ranger Station. Twenty minutes later I was back at the parking lot for 2p. I had to wait around for Adam to return since we had driven together in my car to the trailhead. The three of them showed up about 45 minutes later, only half an hour behind me in reaching the Devils Postpile TH.