[pct-l] Routes from Agnew Meadow to 1000 Island Lake

[reynolds@iLAN.com (Reynolds, WT)]

1-The High Trail-The high trail leaves Agnew Meadow at the pit toilet. It
climbs the ridge and stays there producing views of the Ritter Range along
its entire distance. In the early season, when snow is on the peaks the
views are fantastic. 7 Miles

2-The River Trail-The River trail is reached by taking the PCT South from
Agnew Meadows for a short distance, then taking the actual River trail down
into the canyon. The River Trail stays on the east side of the river until
north of Garnet Lake. There is a bridge across the river at Shadow Creek. It
junctions with the PCT after the PCT descends from the ridge and before the
PCT reaches Thousand Island Lake. You are walking in a lush river canyon, no
views but very nice - 6 miles

3-The John Muir Trail [JMT] leaves the PCT at Mineret Falls and climbs next
to Mineret Creek to Johnson Meadow, then does ridge hopping past several
small lakes to arrive at Shadow lake on Shadow Creek. From Shadow Lake it
follows Shadow Creek, then ridge hops past more small lakes to reach Garnet
Lake [awesome] then over the ridge to Thousand Island. --- 10.5 miles 

note: mileage is from topo! electronic map and is for comparison. Actual
mileage will be more.

The most scenic way IMHO to get from Mammoth to Thousand Island Lake is to
take the River Trail to the bridge at Shadow Creek, then climb next to the
cascading creek [seriously awesome] to Shadow lake [incredible], then take
the JMT past Garnet lake to Thousand Island Lake. The views of the Ritter
Range descending into the Garnet and Thousand Island Lakes are incredible as
you are much closer than the High Trail and are only matched by the view
from Island Pass [one of the best views in the sierra IMHO] --- 7 miles.

I have tried to explain this to Greg many times without success. What do you
expect from a thruhiker turned mountain climber?

Tom