About “Shadow Falls”
“Shadow Falls” is a name I’ve made up for this surprise cascade that I happened to see during a hike out to the scenic Shadow Lake near the Devil’s Postpile National Monument.
As a matter of fact, this waterfall drains Shadow Lake as it ultimately tumbles mostly unseen down a mini-granite gorge eventually joining the San Joaquin River.
I think of this waterfall as more of a side attraction to Shadow Lake, which is a very attractive lake backed by Mt Ritter and a few other mountains whose names I don’t remember.
The water in the lake seemed to change color from a deep emerald blue towards some slight shades of green around its banks as the sun went higher on the horizon the morning we showed up in late August 2010.
Hiking to “Shadow Falls” and Shadow Lake
The hike itself was not trivial as we had to go about 3 miles from the Agnew Meadow trailhead.
By the way, I believe Thousand Island Lake backpackers start from here as well, which explained why there were so many cars at the trailhead.
In any case, this hike included a slight decline towards a basin or valley before making the steep climb up to the Shadow Lake on the other side of that basin.
The most visible part of the cascade was about two-thirds of the way up a series of switchbacks as the trail made a steep climb towards the mouth of Shadow Lake.
So if you’ve made it far enough to see the interesting cascade of “Shadow Falls”, you mind as well get all the way to the top to see Shadow Lake.
Beyond Shadow Lake, I was told that this was the trail one would take to get all the way up to the very scenic Thousand Island Lakes.
I had seen photos and heard many stories about that place, but I have yet to make it all the way up there.
We’ve seen lots of backpackers or very fit hikers continue beyond Shadow Lake.
However, “Shadow Falls” on its own provided good enough exercise for a lake excursion done as a day hike.
After all, there aren’t many lakes that you can do comfortably without backcountry backpacking in the Eastern Sierras.
In any case, it did seem like this was either a detour or part of the overall route to the very beautiful Thousand Island Lakes.
So hopefully one of these days, a visit there could be made so I can finally see what the commotion is about.
Authorities
“Shadow Falls” resides in the Ansel Adams Wilderness in the Inyo National Forest near the Mammoth Lakes area in Inyo County, California. It is administered by the USDA Forest Service. That said, the trailhead we took resides in Devil’s Postpile National Monument. For information or inquiries about the park as well as current conditions, visit the National Parks website or the National Forest website.
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