Primary Goal: Donahue Pass
Secondary Goal: Thousand Island Lake

So, my decision to NOT go all the way to Tuolumne Meadows at the end off my August-September PCT Section H continuation trek was one of those little things that kept gnawing at my brain. My thoughts kept coming back to my regrets, much like my regrets of not continuing North on the PCT from Kearsarge Pass that made me to return to the trail In mid August after a Zero Month.

Yes, I had completed the remaining miles of PCT Section H that I hadn’t hiked when doing my Southbound JMT hike in 2020, but not completing the final 19.5 miles of PCT Section H in 2024 still seemed to be something left undone for me.

Normally, going into the mountains in October was just asking for a cold, miserable hike.

But an early Autumn heat wave that had descended on California and stuck around got me thinking that I wanted to do some late season backpacking.

I also wanted to test the cameras on my new, shinny black iPhone 16 Pro Max. It was a good excuse to re-pack my gear and look for someplace to hike.

Then the thought that I could do that last 19.5 miles of PCT Section H re-entered my mind (not that it ever totally left my mind).

Finally, the weather report was clear for the first weekend of October, so I decided it was worth returning to the trail.

I did have the problem of where to start, where to end, and how to get back to my Jeep at the end of the hike.

Starting from Agnew Meadows, meant about 9 miles extra hiking added to the 19.5 miles from Thousand Island Lake. And the complication of how to get back from Tuolumne Meadows to Agnew Meadows. YARTS buses were no longer running, a shuttle ride would be hard to arrange and costly, and with the Reds Meadow Road Construction, I could only reach the Agnew Meadows Trail Head on Saturday and Sunday. That would be a very tight window to start, hike the 28.5 miles to Tuolumne Meadows and get back to my Jeep.

That got me thinking of starting at Tuolumne Meadows and going South. Starting on Friday, I could exit Sunday at Agnew Meadows without too much trouble. Still would be tricky to get back to my Jeep at Tuolumne Meadows.

I could also start at Tuolumne Meadows, hike south 19.5 miles to Thousand Island Lake, then turn around and return to Tuolumne Meadows. Doing 39 miles in 3 days was ambitious for me, especially without any time to acclimatize at altitude before starting the hike. Except for the climb up (and then down) Donahue Pass, the trail wasn’t particularly steep or difficult for this part, but it was still a tall order to do in 3 days.

I did think that I could always decide to exit out Agnew Meadows and find a way back to my Jeep if I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and go all the way back.

1.5 days of hiking that I decided NOT to do in September had come back to haunt me.

Maybe I shouldn’t go after all…

But it was so warm. 😀

In the end, I decided to start at Tuolumne Meadows and return there. So, I packed for 2 nights of food with 3 days of trail snacks. I threw in an extra bag of granola in case I ended up having to spend 3 nights on the trail. A backpacker should never take EXACTLY what food you planed to need. Always, add a little extra.

Still being a little worried about overnight temperatures (despite the heat wave), I decided to pack my -20 degree f sleeping bag. About 1.5 pounds more than my Summer bag, but probably a good precaution.

Having returned the tent I had used during the summer due to the broken poles and clips, I had to use my old tent that had some balky zippers.

Being late in the season, I was able to get a permit with a Donahue Exit easily (which are hard to get in the Summer). I should have driven at least partway to Yosemite the day before, but didn’t feel like it.

Amazingly, at 3am the next morning, I did feel like starting the drive. That was weird. Starting that early should get me to the Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Center around 8am to pick up my permit.

As always, it took a bit longer to drive there and I didn’t get on the trail until about 9am. I started by doing the half mile from the wilderness center to the Tioga road junction, the official start/end of PCT Section H in Tuolumne Meadows. Just to get that small bit out of the way at the start. And then I turned around and headed South.

The hike through Lyell Canyon was a pleasant one with only about 500 feet of elevation gain over the 10 miles of grassy meadows. Very smooth sailing with great views along the way.

Even saw a little Fall foliage along the way (but not much since there were mostly evergreens along the canyon walls).

Then I reached the part of the canyon where you had to start climbing up steeply towards Donahue Pass.

In 2020 when I did the JMT Southbound, I had reached this area and only got a little ways up before I felt exhausted and setup camp in a small clearing tucked into the cliff sides.

This time, I managed to keep going up past the Lyell Fork Bridge and all the way to one of the beautiful lakes below Donahue Pass.

I knew there was another basin with another lake a little climb up further from this lake, but it was getting late and there were some great campsites with a view.

The first major tests of the camera on my new iPhone 16 Pro Max showed some improvements overall and the 5 x optical Zoom definitely helped bring things closer.

The nighttime photos also showed improvement. See the iPhone picture on top and my Sony ZV1 30-second shutter picture on the bottom below for an example.

Morning came and so did the light. Great view of the light from the Sunrise from where I had camped.

Overnight, I had decided to leave my camp setup at the lake and day hike up and over Donahue pass, down to Thousand Island Lake, and then back again. The one way trip was 8.5 miles, so 17 miles round trip. Doable as a day hike. A very long day hike.

I left my tent, sleeping bag, bear canister and extra food behind. I did take enough cold weather clothing and food to survive in case I didn’t make it back to the tent in time. I also still had the option of exiting from Agnew Meadows if the return hike didn’t appeal to me that afternoon.

The climb from the lower basin to the upper basin below Donahue Pass was pretty easy.

If I had time the day before it would have been nice to camp near this lake, but it was nice to see in the morning light as I continued up towards Donahue Pass.

The final approach to Donahue Pass wasn’t difficult, just took a little time to navigate. But it was well worth the time it took to get to the top.

Donahue Pass is one of those passes where you can’t see EITHER side from the actual pass itself. So, you take you pictures of what’s behind you before you loose sight of the view behind you.

Then you reach the actual pass itself. Donahue Pass has some markers to make sure you know exactly where it is. It’s basically where Yosemite ends and the John Muir Wilderness begins.

Then you get to see the sights from the other side of the pass.

There is a little knob that you can climb up to from Donahue Pass that allows you to see a 360 degree view of the area. I didn’t decide to pop up there this time and instead started down towards Thousand Island Lake.

The descent down the South side of Donahue Pass was gradual and soon passed through some sparse meadows. The area was mostly dry by early October, but there were occasional small puddles of stagnant water. Although you’d have to be desperate to refill your water from most of them.

Oddly, I found the descent was taking longer than it should have. When I reached the first major water source (a medium sized pond), it was already mid-afternoon and my turn around time had passed. A turn around time is what hikers use to gauge their progress to their goal to ensure that they don’t push to reach a goal at the expense of ending up hiking after dark, into bad weather, or tackling hard terrain in one of those (or both).

I took a break to fill up my water. Regardless of what I did from there, I needed to get an additional liter of water before continuing.

It was 3 miles down to Thousand Island Lake, but there was a small 500 foot re-climb in the middle. I may be able to make it down and back (6 miles total round trip) to the rest spot I was at before nightfall, but getting all the way back to my tent below the other side of Donahue Pass would be unlikely.

My decision to day hike this part of the hike had come back to haunt me. Had I had my tent with me, I could have set it up anywhere along the way, power hike down to the lake and been back with plenty of time.

I did have enough warm clothes to last the night without my tent and sleeping back (probably), but the clouds were looking menacing.

Very menacing. A few light sprinkles added weight to the possibility of rain hitting me that afternoon.

There was no way I’d be able to cowboy camp in the rain with what I had with me (at least not comfortably). In the end, I decided the goal of hiking every mile of the PCT Section H this year wasn’t worth getting wet, having an uncertain place to sleep, and chancing pushing myself further.

So, I decided to turn back and start climbing back up to Donahue Pass.

It wasn’t long before I was proven right about the chance of rain. I never got hit with any significant amount of rain (just really sparse sprinkles) to make me stop to put my rain jacket on.

But looking behind me as I neared Donahue Pass, I was grateful for my decision.

It was obviously raining significantly to the South of me.

I was thinking of pausing to have dinner somewhere near the top of the pass (the knob with a view, perhaps) and possibly enjoying the sunset from there. The rain behind me forced my hand and I decided to return to my tent.

The clouds followed me all the way down, but thankfully never opened up on this side of the pass. It was a nice hike down to my campsite.

I reached my campsite and had some ramen for dinner as I enjoyed the evening light.

Even though it was the same campsite, it was a nice end to the day even with the disappointment of not making it all the way to Thousand Island Lake.

The next morning was pretty much breakfast, enjoy the light from the Sunrise, and pack my gear.

Yes, I could have done something weird and head South with all my gear and exit out of Agnew Meadows. But, in the end, being able to say I hiked every last mile of PCT Section H that year wasn’t that important to me.

I was happy to have been able to test out my new iPhone’s camera, get one last (probably) backpacking trip under my belt this year, and head back to my Jeep.

The reverse hike was pretty similar to the hike up on Friday, but a more downward and quicker to hike.

I finished mid-afternoon, so got a cold Root Beer at the Crane Flat store (the Yosemite concessionary has an exclusive deal with Pepsi, so no Diet Coke to be had). I got a Diet Coke after leaving the park. 😀

So, I wasn’t able to close the loop on PCT Section H, but it was a nice late season trip. There’s still a chance I’ll do a Winter trek at some point this Winter, but that will depend largely on the weather, the snow depth, and my willpower to leave my heated apartment (which just a nice new heater, so is extra warm this year).

Successfully reached primary goal: Donahue Pass
Was unable to make it to secondary goal: Thousand Island Pass