How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I think the most picturesque place on the entire John Muir Trail is Marie Lake. I always make an effort to camp there. When one starts to list the reasons to like a place, however, there are few places that can top Sallie Keyes Lakes. Here is why:
- It’s has a beauty all it’s own. The reason there are two Sallie Keyes Lakes is because a triangular isthmus runs between the eastern and western bodies of water. If you are hiking southbound, that isthmus starts narrow and widens as you move south. That land in the middle includes a small hill which is a great place to take a break.
- It’s also a great place for breakfast. If you camp at Marie Lake the night before like I do you’ll reach Sallie Keyes less than a couple of hours after leaving camp. I like to get some distance behind me before I eat my morning meal, and this is about as nice a place you could pick to do so. There is lots of water for cooking and refilling your container of choice, trees to provide shade (something you will see less and less of as you move south), and several downed trees to provide a seat or backrest.
- The trail runs very close to the water. Water is almost everywhere on the JMT, but you don’t get to hike right next to it all the time. Even less frequently do you walk within a few feet of a lake and stay under a nice canopy of tree limbs.
- You will have just passed over your third major pass. Seldon Pass is less than two miles to the north, so you will still have that wonderful glow that comes with putting a pass behind you. You’ll experience that feeling six more times on the trial: once for the other five passes and once when you come down off the summit of Mount Whitney.
- You will arrive at Muir Trail Ranch in just a few hours and it is almost all downhill. Whether you are spending two nights and a zero day, one night, or just getting your resupply and moving on, it’s always a treat to descend into MTR. When you leave you will have more than half of the trail behind you!
If everything goes as planned, I’ll visit Sallie Keyes Lakes next on Wednesday morning, September 9th. I can’t wait!
Good hiking, Ray
Another reason is the good brook trout fishing there. 🙂 If you have time, and are looking for a tasty dinner (or breakfast, depending on when you are there), take some time to do a little fishing and you will most likely hook a brookie or two (or three).
Great idea, Andy! Someday I am going to start fishing again, probably when I retire and move to the Sierra. Thanks for the comment!
Sallie Keyes is one of my favorite places in the Sierra too. I don’t fish either but I saw a guy walking down the trail between the two lakes with to enormous Brown Trout on a skewer. I’ve always thought about camping there but it has never worked out since it’s so close to MTR.
I have enjoyed nice long lunch breaks there though. Thanks for the article!
Thanks for the comment, Larry. I’m like you regarding camping there. With Marie Lake just before and MTR not long after I can’t see spending the night. But, since I usually camp at Marie Lake, it’s perfect for spending a couple hour break. If you are staying at MTR that night, a couple of hours is fine since you will still arrive at MTR midday.
My husband and I are going to hike the John Muir trail the summer of 2017. Although that is a ways off, I am already well into our plan. Marie Lake and breakfast at the Sallie keyes Lakes is part of our itinerary. Resources like your e-book and Tuesday articles make research so much easier! I have always felt that the planning, if done thoroughly, is like my first aid kit – a necessity for safety. The more I know about the trail before I begin, the less likely I am to make judgement errors out of ignorance. The planning is half the fun…well, maybe not half!
As you say, Pat, maybe not half. But it sure is a huge portion! For more info on great places to linger on the trail check this out: http://jmtbook.com/tag/linger-here/. Thanks for the comment!
RAY , RAY STEVENS HERE CAN WE GET FROM BEAR CREEK JUC. TO MARIE LAKE IN 7HRS ?
Hard to state definitively, Ray, since I don’t know your pace, but I am not a fast hiker and I can do that stretch in less than seven hours of walking without a problem. Good luck!
My first trip to Sallie Keyes Lakes was in mid June 1960 with my brother. When we came back down we saw this sign that we had missed going up: “Shortcut trail to Sallie Keyes Lakes. Very steep. Not for stock or pack animals.” The sign was right! A jackass wasn’t supposed to go up there, but we didn’t see the sign.
The only trout in the 2 lakes were golden trout. From the looks of some of the comments they have all been fished out. We caught some, but when we realized what they were we released them. We spent 10 days in the area of Blaney Meadows and hiked in different directions using the meadows as sort of a base camp. 10 days and we never saw another human! I took my Dad and oldest boy (age 6) and my youngest brother back the next year and we spent a week – 2 days of it at Sallie Keyes Lakes Which still had ice in the center. It was thawed about 50′ from shore outward. We also walked up to the pass past Heart (maybe Hart?) Lake. As we gazed down into the area north of us we imagined two things. Beautiful country and a gazillion mosquitos. On that trip we saw 6 Boy Scouts that were hiking the Muir trail from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney. We had walked up on the JMT which was about 6 miles. We returned on the shortcut which is about 3 miles.
In 1970 I took my wife and 4 kids back for the same experience. The difference was that there was no ice on the lake. We saw two groups of about 10 people each walking the trail northward toward Yosemite. At Blaney Meadows there were 3 groups of people totaling about 15. Beer cans and booze. That was when I decided that the publicity about the John Muir Trail was ruining the wilderness area.
Although I have done a lot of backpacking in the Marble Mountains, and the Cascades in Oregon, my last trips were in the Sawtooth Mts. in Idaho. My last trip was with my 3 sons when I was 75. I can’t walk well anymore, but in my mind I can still see the unspoiled wilderness areas as they used to be.
Thanks for the comments and the great stories!