September 29-October 1, 2025.
Sarah had been planning a 3-day backpacking trip to Thousand Island Lake for a few weeks and I decided to tag along. You need to secure permits in advance for any overnights in the Sierra and she knows the deal here, so I left the planning to her. On the morning of September 29, we finished packing up our bags and loaded them into Sarah’s truck.
The hike in
Our hike began at the Rush Creek Trailhead. From there we started walking up the long, steep slog that is the route to Thousand Island Lake. I’ve said before that I’m not really into backpacking and this is still true. But, it was an opportunity to spend time with my friend and to visit a new-to-me place, so I sucked it up.
Almost immediately, we were joined by some very unafraid deer who wanted to be right on the trail. After shooing them away, we climbed up out of the shelter of trees and into the direct sun. It felt like being under a heat lamp. Despite the sun and the heavy pack, I delighted in squatting to photograph some Wright’s buckwheat blooming along the trail. This has been the year of the buckwheat for me, and I will not pass up an opportunity to make a close observation, especially of a species I don’t know very well.
We reached the first pass, which was littered with infrastructure for containing and moving water. As it turns out, the city of LA owns a LOT of land in the Eastern Sierra, and with that comes water rights. You can go down a Google rabbit hole about this topic, but here’s a good starting place. Until we reached the wilderness boundary, it would not feel like we’d gotten away from modern development.
The wind here blew like crazy and we could see the clouds building over the mountains. I took off my hat so it wouldn’t get torn off my head and found a place to eat some food out of the full force of the wind. We didn’t linger too long here.
We re-entered the forest and crossed a large talus slope, all while looking at dammed lakes and water pipes. At last we found the wilderness sign and plunged into the forest. I found a few more interesting things: a woolly caterpillar, a sad mule’s ear flower, a spiky thistle. We walked among lakes and trees and rocks. As the clouds thickened and the temperatures dropped, we marched on.
Nearly six hours after we left the parking lot, we reached the foot of the lake. A confusing sign was posted there that attempted to explain where camping was allowed. All I knew that we had to walk at least another quarter mile before we could start looking for a good place to set up.
The wind blasted right into our faces and soon, it began to hail. We squinted our eyes to try and find a campsite but the only sheltered ones were already taken. Frustrated, we sat under the cover of a small tree to get out of the weather for a bit; we were getting soaked and it was hard to see. We waited several minutes for a break in the rain, then resumed our search for a camp.
There were a ton of gorgeous campsites but none of them had a scrap of cover. We expected more rain and possibly hail and lightning that night, so neither of us wanted to camp in the open. There were a lot of trees around, but the sites in the forest were sloped and covered in vegetation. After an hour of wandering around we found an okay site with some tree cover and room for a couple of tents. It was far from the lake, but it would have to do.
We set up camp, bundled up and walked to the lake to get water. We were both tired and cold but we knew the rain would come back soon. Sarah filled up her containers, then I got through one small bottle when the sky opened up again. Quickly, I dunked my cooking pot into the lake and we both ran back toward camp. But, where was it? All the trees looked the same. I had to pull out the track on my phone to get us back to our tents. By the time we dove into our tents we were both soaking wet and grumpy. Sarah had the added bonus of a wet dog to deal with. Ah, this was not getting off to a great start.
To sleep, perchance to dream
By 7 pm, my eyes welded shut. It was a tiring day. Luckily, I was nice and warm inside my down sleeping bag. My outside clothes were good and wet but I brought a separate set of bed clothes that were dry. I woke up again at 11 pm and the sky was dark and silent. We dodged a bullet, I thought, no storms for us tonight.
At midnight, my whole tent lit up like the lights at a football stadium turned on. Lightning. Then came the boom of thunder. That was the end of my blissful night of sleep. I’d never shivered in fear like that before. We were helpless in our nylon tents on a mountainside in the storm. The thunder and lightning was intense. It was a primal fear that burbled up inside; there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to quiet my mind and control my breathing but the shivering intensified. For two hours I lay in bed just waiting for the last lightning strike.
I did not get good sleep that night. Perchance, I did not dream.
Day 2
When we got up the next morning, we both agreed to skip the hike we’d planned. Instead, we pulled out all our wet gear and clothes and lay everything out on the granite slabs near camp. We boiled water and had coffee and breakfast, sunning ourselves out in the open. We both had a really rough night. At least the weather looked a little better today and the storm had passed through. Each of us had brought a book to read and had pads and chairs to lay out and be comfortable. It was a rest day, both physically and mentally.
Late that afternoon, we ventured down to the lake to refill our water supply and to do some painting. Though the weather cleared markedly, the wind continued to blow and my hands were frozen pretty quickly. We retreated to our camp; at that moment I was glad we had taken all that time to find one with shelter.
Before sunset, I scrambled on the rocks above camp to try and get a nice view of the mountains and clouds. I’d really hoped the mountaintop would come out before it got dark, since it had been hiding all day.
I found a nice rocky perch and somehow got 1 bar of cell service. I checked in with Aaron and kept glancing up at the mountain. Just before I headed down, the clouds parted and I got my sunset mountain view. Absolute 180 degree turn from the day before.
Hiking out
An orange glow bathed the bellies of the morning clouds above camp. Based on Aaron’s updated forecast, we were in for a much nicer day. At breakfast, it seemed like things were improving and I was hopeful for a pleasant return hike. We lingered at camp, waiting for the clouds to dissipate.
But that would not come to be. Those pesky clouds hung on tight and entire hike out was cool and windy and gray. Spits of drizzle provided the cherry on top. Miserable! The closer we got to the trailhead, the faster I walked. I was so ready to be done. I could not wait to get that pack off my back and dig into some real food. Ah, backpacking, still not my favorite.
Were there lessons learned? I think we did as well as we could have. We knew the risks of the forecast we were heading into and chose to go anyways. We were well prepared with rain gear. I borrowed one of Sarah’s old tents and she did not have a tarp in the tent bag, so I had to pitch it right on the ground. Water seeped into the bottom of the tent but since I brought 2 sleeping pads like I always do, I was able to keep all my stuff out of the water. We each brought a Garmin device for communication and I could get updated weather reports from Aaron and let him know we were riding out the storm ok. So, I don’t think we could have done anything differently to make the experience better, that’s just how it is sometimes!