John Muir Trail, Day One

Purple Lake via Duck Lake Pass

May 5, 2017

On Sunday July 17 of 2016 eight of us headed to the Duck Lake Pass trailhead near Lake Mary. Our destination was Virginia Lake or Purple Lake depending on how the day went. With only one shuttle vehicle and a later start we were ready to hit the trail about 10am, which gave the second shuttle group time to watch more of the British Open. Even though I was part of the second shuttle group we headed out when the last group was on the 11 hole, and it was not until I finished hiking that I found out that Phil Mickelson had lost. After the suttles and trailhead preparations we took a group photo to celebrate the occasion.

From left to right, myself, Darrell Moore’s friend Daryl, David Moore’s son Kevin, Darrell’s friend Jeff, David Moore, Darrell Moore, Darrell’s son Brennan, and my son Steve. Notice the nice clean shirts, that will change over the days! Right away the trail started uphill, and as I was going to find out there is not a lot of flat on the John Muir Trail. We entered the John Muir Wilderness, our home for the trip, within the first ¼ or ½ mile of the trail.

David posing for a photo op entering the wilderness. From here the trail continues up for a good couple of miles with a rare flat section above Skelton Lake.

Make sure you stop for a look at Skelton Lake as it is a beautiful setting. We blew right past it on our trip, but I did a day hike to Duck Pass with my wife Julie in October and we stopped to look and it was amazing as you can see. Skelton Lake would be a good place to stop for a water break.

After more uphill, you come over the ridge to Barney Lake just below Duck Pass.

Duck Pass is at the lowest point of the ridgeline you see in the picture, just past Barney Lake, and is another 800 feet above the lake which sits at 10100 feet. Even though we were traveling in July it was fairly easy to cross the outlet stream of the lake. I assume on a heavier snow year it might a bit tricky in July. The final ascent up to Duck Pass is a pretty healthy climb in a rock slide area. The views back down towards Mammoth and the southern part of the Minarets are pretty spectacular.

Steve, Daryl and Brennan heading up the trail to Duck Pass above Barney Lake.

Looking back towards Mammoth from just below Duck Pass. When you get to the summit of Duck Pass the view into the John Muir Wilderness is amazing.

We paused and waited for our group to catch up and enjoy some lunch on Duck Pass. It seemed that Jeff was suffering some effects of the altitude and was not feeling very good and sluggish. I suppose he was wondering what the heck he got himself into. We had opened up our trip with 1800 vertical feet of climbing over 4 miles to a pass that was a few 100 feet below 11,000 feet in elevation.

From Duck Pass the trail is pretty tame along Duck Lake. The wild flowers were out making for a nice walk.

At the end of Duck Lake the trail crosses the outlet stream and heads downhill until a junction with the John Muir Trail. Again we had no problems crossing the stream.

At the John Muir Trail junction we headed south and the trail headed back uphill for a bit, with not too bad of a climb before leveling out as you go around the ridge to Purple Lake. This section gives some wonderful views of the Silver Divide.

Once around the ridge the trail drops down into Purple Lake. Upon arriving at Purple Lake it was apparent that it is a major stopping point for people hiking the JMT since the trail section north of Purple Lake is pretty dry and open without many camping opportunities. After walking through a bunch of crowded campsites on the lake’s north side we decided to try the south side based on prior knowledge from Darrell and Brennan. We were able to find a nice big campsite on the south side of the lake about 200 yards up the trail away from the lake.

The trail down into Purple Lake.

Purple Lake’s south shore.

That night around the campfire, there were some mosquitoes meaning that a protective head net was a nice accessory to have.

Enjoying a cool night around the campfire, from left to right Brennan, me, Steve, David, and Daryl. According to a gentleman we met on the trail the next day it got below freezing this night although we did not see any signs of that (wait for day two), but it was cool as you tell from the jackets and beanies.

Our route for day one.

Previous: JMT Physical Preparation

Next: Day Two Papoose Lake

keywords: John Muir Trail, JMT, Backpacking, Hiking, Sierra Nevada,Duck Lake Pass,Purple Lake

description: Day one on the trail from Mammoth Lakes to Purple Lake via Duck Lake Pass