Mile 916 to 931.1 – 15.1 miles total hiked on PCT

Goal: As close to or beyond Donahue Pass as I can get

So the first step in reaching the goal was to climb up onto High Trail and then make my way all the way across that ridge line. Wasn’t hard but just took time.

Fortunately, the connection to Thousand Island Lake was the highpoint of Agnew Meadows, so there wasn’t any sudden drop offs or much elevation to climb or descend. Again, just took time.

Thousand Island Lake was the jewel of this part of the PCT and JMT, so I took a nice break there for lunch. I tested the water, but it was a little too cold for a swim this day.

As the afternoon wore on, I started to doubt that I could reach Donahue Pass this day.

The problem was that there weren’t many campsites on the south side of Donahue pass. Quite a few on the other side of the pass. Mostly there were pristine Meadows that were not available to camp in.

As the day was growing late I decided I’d go up the pass and camp wherever I could.

I ended up stopping just below the pass to admire the light from the setting sun against the mountains to the south of the pass. I also cooked up my Ramen dinner. I don’t normally cook on the trail, but I wanted a break and it was dinner time.

Once dinner was done, I continued up and set foot on Donahue pass. This pass was a little weird since you couldn’t really see either side of the path from the actual pass itself.

You either had to climb up on the ridge further or go a little bit north or south to see the other side.

I started down the northside, avoiding snow fields in the process. I found a great campsite with views of the mountains around the pass, including Mount Lyell.

Fortunately, I was not too late for the sunset colors to light up the mountains. It was definitely a good spot to camp.