17 August 2024
Devils Postpile to Anona Lake, then Ashley Lake, Noname Lake, and Holcomb Lake, then back to Devils Postpile
(16 miles, +3,600/-3,600 feet).

We were a little nervous about today’s hike. Not only was it the longest hike of our planned trip, but there was also a bit of cross-country to deal with and a long drive to and from the trailhead.

So we packed a headlamp in case we needed it to finish the hike at the end of the day. We also got a pre-dawn start on the drive to give us as much daylight as possible once we started hiking.

At Minaret Vista the car thermometer read 52. But by the time we dropped down to Devils Postpile it plummeted to 38. Brrrr!!!

It was neat to see the columnar basalt of the Devils Postpile across the river. It reminded me of our recent trip to Stuðlagil Canyon in Iceland where we saw similar formations.

We crossed the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails and soon we were climbing up towards Fern Lake.

After King Creek the views got really nice as we ascended the granite walls. It’s so wonderful to hike through these woods in the Sierra!

There was a lot of smoke in the air this morning. Half Cookie worried about the looming barbecue smell, but we did not see any plumes or aircraft or other indications that the smoke was from a new fire nearby. I think it probably was coming from some small fires in Yosemite but it was hard to tell.

At Fern Lake we met a nice couple about our age who were breaking camp and heading over to Superior Lake for the night. We discussed the smoke, and they said they thought it was coming from the massive Park Fire way up by Lassen National Park which was caused by a man who rolled his burning car into a ditch.

The man in the couple joked “I’m not a death penalty guy but….” His partner said “That’s too much!”

Ha ha….

After our break at Fern Lake we continued climbing up to Lake Anona.

The trail ended at Anona Lake. It was nice, with a huge snowfield that lingered at its inlet. But it was a bit hard to appreciate until later when we climbed above it.

There is no direct trail between Anona and Ashley Lake. We could have backtracked and taken another trail over to the Ashley Lake Trail, but that probably would have added 2 to 3 hours to an already-very-long day.

I thought the cross country travel would be easy, and it nearly was. But I trusted my GPS over my own senses when it told me we were off track. As a result we changed course and ended up climbing straight up a cliff we could have avoided!

I feel terribly guilty about where we ended up. Just above the cliff in this picture we were climbing lose talus and then class 3 ledges for about 20 feet. I felt as nervous as I have on some of my trips on the Sierra High Route, and Half Cookie said it is the most scared she has ever been on a hike.

Well, shoot. I’m so sorry!

But we made it through. We stopped briefly for a break in the shade and then pressed on.

Fortunately the rest of the cross country was actually easy.

Then Ashley Lake was kind of a disappointment. It took us quite some time to steer around monster talus and vast willow groves to get to the shore for a shadeless break.

Again, Half Cookie. I am so sorry!

She was a good sport. But clearly we still needed some time to recover from a very hard moment.

Fortunately from Ashley Lake we found an easier way across its outlet creek that avoided the talus and willows. Soon we were on a trail we could follow for a mile or two.

The trail crossed the outlet for Noname Lake and we did a tiny bit of cross country on easy granite slabs up to the lake.

But by then Half Cookie was well and truly done with the effort we were spending on all these rocky lakes. I offered for her to stay at Noname Lake while I did a brief trail run to our final lake of the day, Holcomb Lake. And she accepted.

I enjoyed the 20 minute there-and-back to Lake Holcomb, but I have to say the lake itself was even more underwhelming than Ashley.

I feel bad being so jaded about these things. I really, really enjoyed the climb on trail this morning, but the lakes just weren’t doing it for me.

Fortunately, once the lakes were behind us I started enjoying the trail again.

We had another 500 foot climb in the afternoon, but it was gentle and on very cruisy trail. At last we were having a good time again!

And then after a long cruisy descent, right before joining with the John Muir Trail we made a friend.

We arrived back at the car a full hour ahead of schedule. In spite of our worries everything (er, almost everything) went just fine.

And we can’t wait to come back!