Palisade Glacier
Palisade Glacier is the southernmost glacier in North America. It is also the largest glacier in the Sierra Nevada mountains. This was the premier hike of our trip. It is a big undertaking for a day hike. 18 miles and nearly 5000 ft of vertical gain. The glacier viewpoint is at 12,400 ft. Moreover, the final half mile up and first half mile down are a strenuous off-trail boulder scramble. This description is not meant to deter anyone from doing this great hike, but just to make sure you know what you’re getting into.
This hike is loaded with beautiful scenery. There are four great areas to enjoy and photograph: (1) The first three Big Pine Lakes, (2) Sam Mack Meadow, (3) The view of the first three lakes from above on the glacier ascent, and (4) Palisade Glacier and the adjacent 14,000 ft mountains.
The Big Pine Lakes are a destination in themselves. The hike to the Second Lake is probably the most famous, and Instagram-coveted, hike in the Eastern Sierras. We were lucky on the day we hiked, a Tuesday in late September, the trail was not very crowded. The views of Temple Crag over the Second and Third lake were fantastic. While the Second Lake has the classic view, we actually preferred the scenery from the Third Lake. This was beautiful in the morning on the ascent and in the afternoon on the descent. The lighting for most shots was better in the afternoon.
Sam Mack Meadow was the big surprise of this hike. It is a lush meadow at 11,000 ft with a stream running through the center. We crossed the stream on a rock bridge. The grass lining the stream was golden yellow due to the color change. At the back of the meadow was Mt. Winchell, which we would see again on our hike to Dusy Basin two days later. Sam Mack Meadow was prettier than we had anticipated and would be a worthwhile destination in and of itself.
The other surprise of the hike were the dramatic views of the three lakes from above while ascending to the glacier. This view rivals that from Bishop Pass and Duck Pass as one of the best high elevation vantage points overlooking of a series of alpine lakes in the Eastern Sierras. For about a quarter mile we had views of the lakes as we hiked south toward the boulder field.
Finally, we reached Palisade Glacier. This was the main event of this hike. The photos don’t provide scale of this glacier and the surrounding area. The mountains above the glacier are three fourteeners, Mt. Sill, North Palisade Peak and Thunderbolt Peak (unofficial). The ice shelf sits 50 feet above the glacier lake. The photo at the top of this page of the glacier and surrounding mountains spans an area of several square miles. The glacier was too big to capture in a single frame with an 18mm lens, so I had to shoot it as a four-shot stitched panorama. We had the option of scrambling down another 300 ft to the glacial lake, but opted not to due to time constraints and because we still had nine miles left to finish the hike.
The question with this hike is whether the juice is worth the squeeze. It is really hard. Other than the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim, it was the hardest hike we’ve done in the past five years. The glacier is incredible, especially given its notable as the southernmost on the continent. That said, we have seen glaciers in the Canadian Rockies, British Columbia, Alaska, the Alps, Iceland and Patagonia, all of which were more impressive. The lakes were beautiful, but the lakes we saw in Twenty Lakes Basin, Conness Basin, Dusy Basin and Humphrey Basin were arguably more impressive. Sam Mack Meadow was great, and exceeded expectations, but it was a lot of hard miles to get to and from it. In summary, this hike had several really good views, but nothing rising to the level of incredible or once-in-a-lifetime views, at the expense of extremely sore and tired legs. If you like to grind, like we do, it is probably worth doing one time. If not, there are plenty of other hikes in the Sierras with equivalent or better scenery.
