I got a bit of a late start on my first day. I hung around Mammoth to say bye to some friends who I had crashed with the night before and then had to drive up to June Lake. I think I hit the trail around 10. The nearby Lions Fire was blowing smoke into both Mammoth and June Lake that morning. There was a slight taste of smoke in the air, and fairly reduced visibility, it was also hot, my pack was fairly heavy, and my route started with a 3,000’ climb from Silver Lake to Island Pass. All of those factors combined to make for a tough first day on the trail.

The scenery on the Rush Creek Trail was underwhelming. The trail passed by a series of unnatural, dammed up lakes with ugly bathtub rings. The uppermost of which, Waugh Lake, was drained (although it didn’t appear this was for restoration). The bugs were really awful in some of the meadows as well.

I got caught behind this mule train for a few miles. At one point, one of them kicked a bag, so I had to stop and wait for them to sort that out. While this was the only time I would get stuck behind mules, they had left their mark (or their poop, rather) all over the trail I would walk on for the next seven days.

When I cleared Island Pass (10,205’) I got my first views of Banner Peak and Mount Ritter. The smoke was blowing more or less east of the fire now, so the sky cleared up a bit.

Overlooking one of the classic JMT vistas, Thousand Island Lake with Banner Peak in the background.

I’m not much of a botanist, and I don’t know the name of this flower, but it’s pretty.

As I continued south, the smoke picked up a bit more. Here’s Garnet Lake, under a little bit of haze. From here, I continued another five or so miles south past Shadow Lake to Rosalie Lake and camped there for the night. The mosquitoes were out in force in this area, so it was a quick dinner and then to bed in the tent.