Ansel Adams Wilderness 3-Day Backpacking Trip

This past weekend (8/12/05 - 8/15/05) I went backpacking with Sharlene and Rune (and their friends Tony, Bruce, and Mihran) near Mammoth Lakes in the Ansel Adams Wildnerness ( Formerly the Minarets Wilderness, the Ansel Adams was renamed in 1984 to honor the famous photographer and environmentalist). This wilderness is part of the Inyo and Sierra Forests and is southeast of Yosemite. We packed for 3 days, averaging 7 or 8 miles a day, ranging from 8000 to 10000 feet, going both up and down 1000 to 2000 feet each day.

Basic plan:

• Friday: Drive up to Mammoth Lakes Friday night (6 hrs from Palo Alto) and flop in cheap motel
• Saturday: Go to Mammoth Ski Resort on Sat am to get shuttle to Agnew Meadows trailhead.
• Hike to Shadow Lake for lunch and then Ediza Lake to set up camp
• Sunday: day hike up to Iceberg Lake, then backpack to Garnet Lake to set up camp
• Monday: Pack out in the morning, drive home

Highlights:

• All the amazing scenery
• Wildflowers, lots of greenery
• Beautiful clean water, rivers, waterfalls, lakes (Shadow, Ediza, Iceberg, and Garnet)
• Quite a few shooting stars Sat night
• A couple bites of the fish Rune caught both nights
• Swimming in Garnet Lake (all the other lakes were ice cold)
• Great weather first 2 days
• Lightning and hail on Sun night and the campfire afterwards
• Going the wrong way and traversing a few streams and finding the trail

Lowlights:

• Mosquitos and other pests (strong repelent worked pretty well)
• Last day: backpacking 8 miles and a few thousand feet in the non-stop rain with light running shoes (only got one blister)

Maps:

We parked in Mammoth Lakes and backpacked in Minarets Wilderness (if you had been reading above you would now know it has been renamed "Ansel Adams Wilderness")

Found this map online -- it follows our trip very closely (except for top lake)

Cool 3-D view made with Google Earth. Click to see larger image: we started at Agnew Meadows, and hiked to Shadow Lake, Ediza Lake, Iceberg Lake, and Garnet Lake

Pictures:

Ediza Lake: we camped just to the right of this image. Hike to Iceberg Lake starts just to left


Garnet Lake: swam and camped here on Sunday

Here are some pics from Rune's camera: