JMT Day 16: Palisade Lakes

Saturday, August 06, 2011
	Destination: Upper Palisade Lake Starting Location: Little Pete Meadow	Today's Miles: 12.00 Trip Miles: 157.10

Today we hiked through some meadows and then ascended the great Golden Staircase to Palisade Lakes.

Today began with the meeting of Little Pete, our friendly meadow deer. She didn't want to talk very much but walked around the borders of our campsite. Maybe she wanted some cheese or maybe my socks. We didn't feed her, as she needs to find food for herself and not be dependent on humans.

We hiked through lots of beautiful meadows (Grouse and Deer) and began to climb to Palisade Lakes.

 The trail was very well designed throughout the climb. The golden staircase was a pleasant set of switchbacks. There were lots of nice flowers and an endless supply of the world's finest gold. We didn't take any though, wilderness policy.

After finishing the pleasant climb, we made it to Lower Palisade Lake and hiked beside the water.

Looking back

Upper and Lower Palisade Lakes

We had heard about a nice campsite by a waterfall. However, we couldn't find it. We did pass up a nice campsite between the two lakes with an excellent view.

I'm not sure about the water availability there as the trail is up high on the eastern ridge.  Our campsite of choice was well above the Upper Palisade Lake, down the mountain a little ways, but still pretty high up.