I started a big off-trail side quest today. The route suggested by Robin after our game yesterday runs for 23 miles from Red’s Meadow to rejoin the PCT after Thousand Island Lake. I don’t really know today’s mileage, but it’s most likely around 8-10 miles since we left Red’s Meadow at noon. Three other hikers were keen to join in on this route; Holiday, Hummingbird and Suzy Toots who was with us around the fire last night, and has been with Hummingbird for a few days.

In the morning, I packed up and headed to Red’s Meadow Resort for breakfast. I hung around here for quite a while chatting with the other hikers from last night. I mentioned my plans to take an alternate route and 3 others were interested, Holiday, Hummingbird, and Suzy Toots. Suzy seemed familiar with the route and may have already been planning to go this way too

After quite a while at Red’s Meadow, we eventually left for trail. Our first point of interest was Devil’s Postpile, an interesting rock formation where Rocks seem to have grown upwards in long hexagonal columns.

After visiting the monument, we crossed the Middle Fork San Joaquin River at Soda Springs. When the trail split, we stuck with the JMT and left the PCT behind.

We followed the JMT for an hour or so up Minaret Creek until the JMT forked away from our planned route. We continued up Minaret Creek until reaching the lake at around 6:30 pm. We came back down. The final hour climbing up Minaret Creek was steep, but up to that point, the trail was really gentle and very well formed.

Above Minaret Lake, we found a large flat spot with plenty of room for our tents. The Minaret Peaks are just over the lake, and they tower above us, impossibly huge spikes of rock. We cooked dinner as a group and watched the light fade from the sky. Holiday cooked some bratwurst sausages on the skillet, and he may have seen the light because he’s been talking about picking up one of his own now.