27 July 2020
Reds Meadow to JMT Intersection with Ediza Lake Trail
(9.6 miles, +3,100/-1,700 feet).

It was a little louder in the campground last night than I expected, but that’s why I bring earplugs! Fortunately, by 10pm the guitar player stopped….

This morning started with some attention to feet before we wandered around the urban trails between Reds Meadow and Devil’s Postpile.

The Devil’s Postpile is always fun to see. It seems so improbable that Nature would create such strange hexagonal columns.

We crossed over the Middle Fork San Joaquin and then there was a whole lot of climbing up to Gladys Lake.

It was buggy at Gladys Lake so we hiked around to the back of it to eat lunch up on the ridge over the valley to get some wind and some lovely views of the PCT across the way.

We then rounded our way back to the JMT and climbed down to beautiful Rosalie Lake (where I swam) and Shadow Lake (where Finder swam).

Past Shadow Lake we had to do a late afternoon climb, which is always tough. But it wasn’t too bad and we found lots of campsites near the intersection with the Ediza Lake Trail. A friendly ranger came to chat, check our permit, and share her dog Blue with the group.

Nearby we had one of the most lovely places to get water that I have ever seen.

It sprinkled on us again at camp, but it was nothing major. A very large group of 12 hikers rushed into our site and decided to camp there, too. Some of them set up just 5 feet away from our tents. Yikes! I’m so glad we are doing this hike during a year when there are fewer people on trail.

After dinner, Finder and I decided to do the 3 mile round trip up to Ediza Lake, which I have never been to. It was totally worth it! The trail climbs up Shadow Creek and then crosses over, but we stayed on the same side of the creek, following the old trail all the way up to the lake. A rockslide blocked it for a bit, but it was an easy scramble.

There were tons of Leopard Lillies all along the way and I was amazed at how varied they were.

We were back to camp by 8pm when everyone had just gone to bed, so I did too. But Finder went to climb a rock to finish the day with a sunset.