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Day 2: Thousand Island Lake

August 18, 2005. Today we hiked to Thousand Island Lake in the Ansel Adams Wilderness via Rush Creek and the Clark Lakes. Starting from Silver Lake the ascent is 3000 ft. across 7 miles (one way) to 10,000 ft., though there is quite a bit of additional up and down going over the pass. None of my photos come close to doing the location justice. If not the grandest locale during this entire trip (that distinction belongs to the Palisade Glacier), Thousand Island Lake was certainly the most gorgeous. It would be great to camp here and then ascend Banner the next day.

Rush Creek Trail

[Morning above Silver Lake]
Morning above Silver Lake: A sign post on the trail as we started our ascent to Agnew Lake.
[Views From the Trail]
[Views From the Trail (1)][Views From the Trail (2)][Views From the Trail (3)]
Views From the Trail: My Dad and Genny climbing stairs to the pass. (1) One of several small water falls. (2) Maybe we can take the trolley next time. (3) Waterfall below the first small dam on Rush Creek.
[Agnew Lake]
[Agnew Lake (1)][Agnew Lake (2)][Agnew Lake (3)]
Agnew Lake: Still early enough for a reflection. (1) Hiking up switch backs next to the lake. (2) The Gem Lake dam above Agnew Lake. (3) A long trickling waterfall flowing down from the dam.

Thousand Island Lake

[View to the North West]
[View to the North West (1)][View to the North West (2)][View to the North West (3)][View to the North West (4)]
View to the North West: A panoramic view just over the pass. (1) Heading toward Banner. (2) Resting at a fork in the trail. (3) A mushroom. (4) I like mushrooms.
[Approaching the Lake]
[Approaching the Lake (1)][Approaching the Lake (2)][Approaching the Lake (3)]
Approaching the Lake: One of many gorgeous panoramas of the outflow of Thousand Island Lake. (1) One more panorama while we take a break. (2) Banner Peak, matching the location of an advertisement photo. (3) Genny, me, and Banner.
[Thousand Island Lake]
[Thousand Island Lake (1)][Thousand Island Lake (2)][Thousand Island Lake (3)][Thousand Island Lake (4)]
Thousand Island Lake: The lake with Banner, Ritter, Davis, Electra, and Rodger in the background. A horse troupe is passing, and there is a lone campsite with a blue tent on the right. (1) See all the islands. (2) That lonely campsite. (3) Lunch and then a long break. (4) That's me.

The Long Hike Back

[Sun Set from Silver Lake]
Sun Set from Silver Lake: 14 miles. Back to June Lake.

Go to Day 3.

Last modified: Wed Oct 25 23:39:06 CDT 2006