Day 70: Reds Meadow - Devils Postpile - Rainbow Falls - Shadow Lake/Creek (pct mi 907- jmt alt 8)

Devil's Postpile - an awesome geological formation. 

Not much of a rainbow beneath Rainbow Falls on the cloudy day. 

Setting out on the trail with my dad!

Smiles and Minus One (though both poles were intact at this point) on the trail, climbing towards Shadow Lake. Mammoth Mountain is visible in the background.

Minus One and Smiles at the outflow of Shadow Lake, with Volcanic Ridge in the background.

Smiles and Minus One with San Joaquin Peak and Two Teats in the background

As we woke up to a drizzly morning, the "storm" hadn't cleared overnight, and everything was damp. My dad already had breakfast by the time we woke up, and was wandering around Reds Meadow excitedly. He talked about a plan he devised while talking to the store owner in Reds, where we could check out the sights of the Valley and effectively slack up to Agnew Meadow in the north, cross over from the PCT to the John Muir Trail via Shadow Lake, and get towards Lake Ediza at the base of Mt. Ritter and Branner peak, and near the Minarets, all three dominant rocks of the region. As we weren't terribly excited to pack up in the damp (if it could be avoided), we easily agreed and started hiking around the valley floor. Devils Postpile was amazing, and Rainbow Falls was cool too. We returned to camp after delicious milkshakes from the Reds Meadow Cafe, packed up, and started our hike after a brief bus ride to Agnew Meadows. We hiked across the mosquito-ridden San Joaquin River valley floor, and then climbed up towards Shadow Lake. The cascades on shadow creek below lake were amazing. Dad led the climb, which was rather slow on all accounts as all 3 of us were laden with too much food. We traversed around Shadow Lake and camped at base of volcanic ridge beneath all 3 grand peaks. We had a hearty dinner of rice with chicken and avocado - delish! Got settled in despite tons of mosquitoes. I tried some fishing in the creek, but did not have any manner of success with my new setup. Afterwards, I took the sunset view with my dad as we watched the mists unveil the peaks from a relatively mosquito-free boulder outcropping.