In late September and early October, 2016, D. Witt and I spent four days tracking down six sites where John Muir had made journal sketches in 1872 and 1873 in the fabulous Ritter Range of today's Ansel Adams Wilderness. We began at Agnew Meadows over Minaret Summit, just west of Mammoth Lakes, California. The aspens, willows, and billberry gave us fine fall color but the twelve-hours of equinox nights in a wind-flapped tent were a bit tedious. We encountered some rain and a lot of strong wind but the morning and evening sunsets reflected in the clouds and waters of Thousand Island Lake were fine compensation. Our biggest daytrip adventure was over 11,150-foot-high North Glacier Pass to view talus-bound Lake Catherine and the much-diminished Ritter-Banner Glacier that I climbed in 1984 on my way up Banner Peak. Muir took this same route in 1874 to make his near-fatal solo climb up Mount Ritter.
We had to cut our six-day trip to four as the weather was deteriorating. But, we'll be back to soak in more subalpine and alpine beauty next summer . . . and to locate more Muir sketch sites.
Note: If you left-click a photo you will get a larger image and then you can scroll through the pictures.
