Gem on the John Muir Trail

Next on the itinerary was Garnet Lake. Following the John Muir Trail from Thousand Island Lake to Garnet Lake was an easy two miles and change, so I had time to shoot a few pictures at Ruby Lake along the way, and to catch some Brook Trout for dinner once I arrived. Fortuantely a guide-led tour of hikers arrived to help finish dinner so I could run off to catch sunset.

It wasn’t clear whether or not sunset color would punch through the clouds, but in the nick of time the sun came through and the skies really lit up. I had a few short minutes to run around and see how many compositions I could capture. There were far more than I could do justice to, but I knew that I was bound to have a couple of keepers.

I returned to camp to enjoy some nice “blue hour” light, with a faint echo of sunset light from the distant horizon still painting the bottoms of the clouds.

For sunrise I moved further west along the northern shore of the lake, enjoying the changing light on Banner Peak and on the lake’s islands.