Route: Tuolumne Meadows → Lyell Canyon → Donahue Pass → Island Pass → Shadow Lake → Red’s Meadow
Distance: 38 miles
Days: 4
Permit: Tuolumne Meadows Wilderness Permit (quota trailhead)
Base Weight: 9.2 lbs
Season: Late August
Day 1: Tuolumne to Upper Lyell Canyon — 10 miles
Left the Tuolumne Meadows trailhead at 7am in clear skies with smoke haze sitting low over the valley from a fire burning somewhere east of the park. The first six miles up Lyell Canyon are flat and fast — the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne runs alongside the trail the whole way, turquoise and cold, catching the morning light.
The upper canyon starts climbing around mile 8. The trail narrows and gets rougher, and the crowds thin out almost immediately. By the time I made camp on a granite slab just below the Lyell Glacier moraine at mile 10, I had the area to myself.
Camp notes: 10,800ft. No bear box — carried a BearVault 500 the whole trip (required in this section). Strong winds developed after sunset. Tent held fine.
Water: Abundant from the Lyell Fork all day.
Day 2: Over Donahue Pass — 9 miles
Donahue Pass (11,056ft) is the boundary between Yosemite and the Ansel Adams Wilderness, and the transition is immediate. The north side is granite domes and alpine meadows. The south side drops into the Rush Creek drainage — rockier, more austere, with views that stretch 50 miles on a clear day.
The pass is a 1,200ft climb from upper Lyell Canyon but it’s a well-graded trail with none of the technical difficulty of the higher Sierra passes further south. I was over the top by 10am with afternoon thunderstorm window in mind.
Made camp at Thousand Island Lake — the most photographed lake on the JMT, with Banner Peak rising directly behind it. Worth it. Even with 15-20 other campers scattered around the lake, the setting is stunning enough that it doesn’t matter.
Camp notes: 9,834ft, Thousand Island Lake. Spectacular. Afternoon thunderstorms rolled through but cleared by evening. Mosquitoes aggressive.
Wildlife: Several marmots at the pass. One extremely confident one tried to walk into my tent.
Day 3: Thousand Island Lake to Shadow Lake — 11 miles
The middle day. Crossed Island Pass (10,203ft) early — more of a ridge crossing than a real pass, barely noticeable after Donahue — and dropped into the Garnet Lake basin. Another stunning lake, another group of tents, another Banner Peak view from a slightly different angle.
The trail from Garnet Lake drops into the Middle Fork San Joaquin drainage and follows it south through lodgepole pine forest for several miles before climbing back out to Shadow Lake. This section is shadier and cooler than the exposed ridge walking of the previous days.
Shadow Lake camp at mile 11 for the day. The lake sits in a steep-walled granite bowl — dramatic but less wind-sheltered than Thousand Island.
Camp notes: 8,737ft, Shadow Lake. Warmer than the previous two nights. Black bears active in the area — other campers reported a bear circling camp the previous night. Hung food (bear canister placed well away from tent as required).
Day 4: Shadow Lake to Red’s Meadow — 8 miles
The final push. Descends steadily from Shadow Lake through Ediza Lake junction and down the increasingly forested Middle Fork drainage to Red’s Meadow Pack Station. The last few miles are through a 1992 blowdown area — stark, ghostly, fascinating.
Red’s Meadow has a camp store, hot springs, and a shuttle bus to Mammoth. I ate two of their famous burgers and got on the shuttle.
Total stats: 38 miles, ~7,400ft gain, 4 days.
Gear Notes
What worked, what didn’t:
- Zpacks Arc Haul Ultra 60L — Carried 6 days of food for this 4-day trip (took extra) plus the BearVault. Never noticed the pack. Still the right call.
- Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 — Handled the afternoon thunderstorms on Day 2 without issue. Vestibule space for cooking in the rain is real.
- BearVault 500 — Required, and bulky. Fits in the Arc Haul well but takes up significant volume. Plan your food accordingly.
- Sawyer Squeeze — Filter needed backflushing on Day 3 after silty water from a high lake. Carried the syringe. Took 30 seconds to fix.
- Arc’teryx Beta AR shell — Used exactly once, for 20 minutes during the Day 2 afternoon storm. Worth carrying.
Permit Notes
Tuolumne Meadows quota trailhead opens for advance permits in March via recreation.gov. Competition is fierce — enter the lottery when it opens. The Red’s Meadow exit doesn’t require a permit; you need the entry permit only.
Would I Recommend It?
One of the best 4-day routes in the Sierra. Reasonable mileage, spectacular scenery, manageable logistics with the Mammoth shuttle at the south end. Do it in late August for best conditions — snow clears Donahue Pass by mid-July most years, but mosquitoes are brutal until late July.