Goal for the Day: Get over Donahue Pass (11,073 feet)

With Donahue Pass (11,073 feet) looming over me and since there wasn’t much of a view from my campsite to see any sunrise light, I decided to get a earlier start from camp.

Up first was a set of switchbacks to climb up from the meadows that I had hiked through the day before. Those worried me a little, but turned out to not to be that hard to negotiate. They even gave me some great views of the surrounding canyon walls as the sunlight splashed across them. Sometimes being on the move during sunrises can yield great results that you might not see if you’re stationary at a campsite. This was a welcome start to the day.

By the time I got to the bridge over the Lyell Fork of the Tuoumne River the climb was going pretty well. The bridge was my rough goal for the previous day, partly since I thought it might have some views for sunset. Turns out that it was mostly forested, so there wasn’t much different to see than where I camped the night before.

As the trees started to thin out above the treeline (roughly 10,000 feet in the Sierra Nevadas), I passed through some picturesque meadows and a nice lake. Now, THOSE would have been a nice place to camp. Maybe I will the next time I do the JMT. 🙂

I filled up on a couple liters of water based on asking some hikers coming down from Donahue Pass about where the next water on the trail was.

It turns out that the approach to Donahue Pass was pretty easy and never had that ‘oh shit’ moment when you can’t figure out how to get over it. It was a long, but gentle climb.

Quite a crowd at the pass, but I kept my distance as I looked around. Unlike some passes, you couldn’t see both sides of the pass from a single location. So, I had to look behind me, then walk a little further to see the other side.

To get a better view, I took a little side climb to a knob overlooking the pass to get a 360 degree view of the area that you can’t get from the actual pass.

Funny thing about water availability: Not one person I asked mentioned that there was a little pond right AT the pass. Could have saved carrying up at least a liter of water (maybe 2.5 pounds).

Leaving behind Yosemite on the other side of the pass, I descended into Ansel Adams Wilderness. After getting over Donahue Pass, my goal was to get as far as I could and I had kind of hoped to get to Island Pass (10,200 feet) for the night (but that was a long shot).

It was not to be. It wasn’t a long hike, but the elevation gain plus the fatigue from the previous day led me to stop well short of Island Pass.

I did find a great campsite with a view of Gem Lake and the surrounding mountains. Sunset and sunrise were pretty spectacular. At that point, I pretty much knew that I couldn’t make it near Island Pass and most of the area between the pass and where I was was forests. So after finding the nice view, it was a natural decision to settle down for the night.

And since I was in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, I took a photo in memory of him.

7.2 miles hiked, 7 hours, 2,200 feet climbed
40 total miles hiked on the JMT

Highlights:
• Sunrise while climbing the canyon
• Somewhat easy switchbacks
• Donahue Pass – 11,073 feet (Pass #2 Conquered)
• Sunset
• Daily Goal Achieved!