Our 2007 John Muir Trail Attempt (Day 4)
Day 3 detailed our journey from Sunrise High Sierra Camp to Tuolumne Meadows.
Day 4: Tuolumne Meadows to Upper Lyell Canyon [Pictures]
Distance: 11 Miles
Elevation Changes: 8,700 - 9,600
We started today well rested having slept in cots with clean clothes on our back and warm, greasy, calorie-rich food in our bellies from yesterday. Moreover, we knew today was going to be an easy day, possible the easiest on the entire trail. The stretch from Tuolumne Meadows to Upper Lyell Canyon is a long, gently uphill trek through some of the most scenic meadows and mountains in the first half of the JMT. Due to our comfort and easy upcoming schedule, we got a bit of a late start, hitting the trail at 6:45 AM.
The hike started with about an hour's hike through a forested area from Tuolumne Meadow to the north end of Lyell Canyon. Lyell Canyon is a long, narrow canyon that stretches about eight miles. It was formed by the Lyell River. The JMT, more or less, follows the banks of the river. There are times when the trail and river separate and are out of view for a short distance, but most of the time the river was 10-30 feet away. It is an especially scenic river: placid in some parts and rapid in others. The following picture is a good representation of Lyell River's more calm sections. Here, too, you can see the shape of the canyon and how the river originates from the rising mountains in the distance.
Lyell River is a popular fishing spot and is readily accessible seeing as it's a few easy miles from Tuolumne Meadows. We saw many trout swimming through the cool waters as we hiked by. However, we didn't see a single person fishing in the river. In fact, we saw fewer people today than in any of the first three days. It was oddly quiet (by Yosemite standards) for some reason.
After about two and a half hours of hiking, we stopped for breakfast alongside the banks of the river. Certain portions of the river have granite banks, offering an ideal spot to sit and cook. Other areas (like in the picture above) are grassy and muddy and are less inviting. We found a great spot for breakfast and enjoyed a hot meal and a short rest.
The Lyell Canyon stretch is easy, but long. It's up a very gradual incline, making it easy walking. However, the path is oftentimes out in the open, directly under the hot sun. And the canyon keeps going and going and going. Eventually, the mountains at the end of the canyon get closer and start looming, signally the end of the gradual incline.
After getting spoiled with a moderate incline throughout the bulk of the day, today's trek ended with a rather steep incline in the last mile and a half, starting our journey into the mountains. The following picture, taken near the crest of today's ascent, offers a good view of the canyon and the winding river below.
We stopped at the Upper Lyell Canyon campground, exhausted. We contemplated pushing on another mile or so, since it was still pretty early at this time (around 3:30 PM) and we had initially hoped to go further, but most everyone was pretty beat and we decided to call it a day. The campground was particularly inviting. It was large enough to house our three tents; the ground was flat and spacious; there was a campfire ring in the center of the campground; and there was a fast flowing river about 25 yards from our tent.
We settled into our tents around 7:30 PM and were out cold by 8:00. While today's hike wasn't especially difficult, we knew we had a hard day in store for us tomorrow, which would start with a two and a half mile climb from our current elevation (9,600 ft.) over Donahue Pass, which stands at over 11,000 ft.
Today's hike was the most scenic of the trip, although because of the dry season, the views we saw were less than stellar. The brown grass, low flowing river, and reduced snow on the distant peaks diminished the scenery, which is unfortunate because this is supposedly one of the most scenic stretches of the north half of the JMT. Despite the dry conditions, the scenery was still enjoyable. Tomorrow's scenery, however, gave us our first real foray into the mountains, and I, personally, prefer mountain scenery over meadow scenery. Not surprisingly, I found tomorrow's scenery even more beautiful than today's.... but the details of Day 5 will have to wait until later!
UPDATE [2007-10-17]: Read about Day 5.