Backpacking Ansel Adams Wilderness/Garnet-Thousand Island LK via River/Shadow Creek Trail/#JMT/#PCT

Backpacking Ansel Adams Wilderness/Garnet-Thousand Island LK via River/Shadow Creek Trail/#JMT/#PCT

Inyo National Forest :
A 2N3D Backpacking trip to Ansel Adams Wilderness, 6/29-7/1/2025
Garnet Lake/Thousand Island Lake via Shadow Creek/River Trail/JMT/PCT

Total
Distance – 26 mi+
Gain – 5000’+
Route Type – Loop (Starkweather Lake Trail – PCT – Shadow Creek Trail – River Trail – Garnet Lake Cut off – Garnet Lake – Thousand island Lake – Garnet Lake – Shadow Creek Trail – PCT – Starkweather Lake Trail)
Difficulty – Hard
Day – 3
Permit – Required
Campfire Permit – Required
Bear Canister – Required
Alltrails : River Trail, Thousand Island Lake, Garnet Lake, and Shadow Lake Loop
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/river-trail-thousand-island-lake-garnet-lake-and-shadow-lake-loop?u=i&sh=l16y40
🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️Our alternative route : Starkweather Lake Trail – PCT – Shadow Creek Trail – River Trail – Garnet Lake Cut off – Garnet Lake – Thousand island Lake – Garnet Lake – Shadow Creek Trail – PCT – Starkweather Lake Trail) :
FYI : We hiked an additional 5 miles round trip because the Shadow Creek/River trailhead was closed due to Reds meadow Road reconstruction (minaret Road) and also instead of going directly to Thousand Island Lake from the River Trail, we took the cut off trail to Garnet Lake and then visited Thousand Island Lk as a day hike.

FYI : Please check out the USDA forest service site for Reds Meadow Road Reconstruction update ✔️📣- https://www.fs.usda.gov/r05/inyo/newsroom/releases/reds-meadow-road-reconstruction-update

Ansel Adams Wilderness 🔎👀
“The Ansel Adams Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada of California, United States. The wilderness spans 231,533 acres (93,698 ha); 33.9% of the territory lies in the Inyo National Forest, 65.8% is in the Sierra National Forest, and the remaining 0.3% covers nearly all of Devils Postpile National Monument. Yosemite National Park lies to the north and northwest, while the John Muir Wilderness lies to the south.

History
The wilderness was established as part of the original Wilderness Act in 1964 as the Minarets Wilderness. The 109,500-acre (44,300 ha) Minarets Wilderness was created by enlarging and renaming the Mount Dana-Minarets Primitive Area.

In 1984, after his death, the area was expanded and renamed in memory of Ansel Adams, well-known environmentalist and nature photographer who is famous for his black-and-white landscape photographs of the Sierra Nevada.

Geography and geology
The Ansel Adams wilderness spans in elevation from 3,500 to 13,157 feet (1,067 to 4,010 m), forming the northern end of the High Sierra.

The centerpiece of the Ansel Adams wilderness is the Ritter Range, which includes dark metavolcanic glaciated mountains such as Mount Ritter, Banner Peak, and The Minarets.

Immediately to the east of the Ritter Range is the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River, which contains Devils Postpile, a series of basaltic columns that were revealed and smoothed by glacier action. The Middle Fork originates from Thousand Island Lake, at the foot of Banner Peak, one of the largest backcountry lakes in the Sierra.

To the east of the Middle Fork canyon is the true Sierra Crest, which, at roughly 10,000 feet (3,000 m) of elevation is lower than the Ritter Range. This relatively low region of the Crest allows winter storms through and cause large amounts of snowfall on Mammoth Mountain, which sits in the gap. The gap also allows migration of plants and animals across the Sierra Crest.

To the west of the Ritter Range lies the canyon of the North Fork of the San Joaquin, a relatively remote and unvisited high-country area. The southern part of the wilderness contains the 3,000 feet (900 m) deep canyon of the main San Joaquin River, which flows out of the Sierra Nevada to California’s Central Valley”._Wikipedia_

Thousand Island Lake ✔️🔎
“Thousand Island Lake is a large alpine lake in the Sierra Nevada, within the Ansel Adams Wilderness in eastern Madera County, California.
The lake is named for the many small rocky islands that dot its surface. Theodore Solomons probably established the ‘Thousand Island’ name, as this appears on his 1896 map. John Muir called it by “Islet Lake.”

Geography
The lake is within the boundaries of the Ansel Adams Wilderness of the Sierra National Forest and Inyo National Forest. Thousand Island Lake sits at the base of Banner Peak in the Ritter Range. It is the source of the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin River, which flows southeast, and then west, into the San Joaquin Valley. The lake is a glacial tarn, formed in the bottom of a cirque when a glacier retreated.

Access
Thousand Island Lake is accessible from several hiking routes :
High Trail or River Trail: from Agnew Meadows trailhead (Inyo National Forest) – on road to Devils Postpile National Monument in Mammoth Lakes area
John Muir Trail
Pacific Crest Trail
Sierra High Route ” _Wikipedia_

🔔SUBSCRIBE for Free
https://www.youtube.com/c/BeCCaWhere2GoNext

📱FOLLOW: Instagram for Free
Becca Where2gonext
https://www.instagram.com/becca_where2gonext/