I spent a week out in the Ansel Adams Wilderness in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California in September of 2021. I basically spent this trip around lakes that hug the eastern slopes of the Ritter Range. First mini loop was to Holcomb Lake. This is a seldom traveled part of the wilderness; pretty much saw no one on this loop back towards the JMT in the first 3 days of the trip. The other half of the trip took me up to Minaret Lake, then Cecile Lake, where I camped the 4th night. Cecile Lake ranks up there with my top campsites ever. Close up views of the smoky Minarets is hard to beat. By day 5 I was completing a "traverse" (it's actually quite easy) that followed a steep boulder field down to Iceberg Lake -- the highlight of the trip. I then looped around at Ediza lake following Shadow Creek and then up to Rosalie & Gladys Lakes before ending the trip at Crater Meadow where I started.
I don't want to go on and on with exposition about the views, the conditions, the crowds or CA wildfires; it's all in the video. Thanks for watching.
Timestamps:
Intro (
0:00)
Day 1 Crater Meadow (
2:00)
Day 2 Holcomb Lake Loop (
11:00)
Day 3 Holcomb to Johnson Meadow (
27:18)
Day 4 Minaret Lake & Cecile Lake (
35:42)
Day 5a Cecile to Iceberg to Ediza Lake (
54:57)
Day 5b Ediza to Shadow to Gladys Lake (
1:03:04)
Day 6 Gladys to Red Cones via JMT (
1:15:50)