I planned a trip for this past summer which would start at North Lake, head over Lamarck Col to the JMT, circumnavigate Goddard, and then exit at South Lake. Things didn't work out quite as planned-- turned into a standard North Lake to South Lake loop with a side trip to Davis Lake and Goddard-- in part because of weather, and in part because I probably overestimated our group's tolerance for rock hopping.
Day One:
Our group of six drove up to Bishop to get our permits. This was intended to be an easy day, with just a short hike to Lower Lamarck and then plenty of time to relax and acclimate. We huffed and puffed our sea-level-dwelling selves up to the lake, which was beautiful. One in our group had never seen mountains of any sort before and was appropriately blown away. We went for a swim, got a few drops of rain, and ate our first tasty night's worth of camp food.
Swim time
Sunrise
Day Two:
Lamarck Col day! None of us had ever been over the pass before (and only two of us had been over any cross-country pass before), so this was exciting. The route-finding turned out to be easy-- the only part that requires any thought is the initial bit between leaving the trail and finding the switchbacks, which wasn't too hard, and after that it's really just trail walking. This was really a pleasant pass, made more or less easy depending on how quickly you acclimate. The final little scramble up to the Col was a lot of fun, and the view into Darwin Canyon is stellar. We hung out and ate beef jerky atop the pass before gathering rain clouds inspired us to get a move on. The drop into Darwin Canyon is not so fun-- obvious route, but lots of rocks and sand. We took shelter from the rain for a bit at the fourth lake before heading down the canyon to camp below the first lake, where we did a bit of fishing and watched the clouds.
Scrambling up the Col
Darwin Canyon
Sunset
Alpenglow
Day Three:
Today is where plans started to go off-track. The goal had been to descend to the JMT, climb to Wanda Lake, hop the ledge separating Wanda from Davis, and camp at the base of Goddard. Everything started off well-- we made good time and got beautiful views heading down Darwin Bench to the JMT, and even stopped to chat with a very nice older couple. The clouds started making a comeback around Evolution Lake. Around the time we reached Sapphire Lake, the rain came and started to pick up, so we decided to take shelter for a bit. We sat under a rock overhang and watched as the rain turned into a thunderstorm which turned into a hailstorm. It was beautiful. The storm showed no signs of breaking quickly, and a few folks in our group were getting pretty beat up by the wet and the cold, so we decided to pitch tents to give them a place to warm up and dry off. By the time the storm finally broke, it was getting close to dusk, there was around an inch of ice on the ground, and we had very little motivation to pack up our wet gear and try to hoof it up to Davis Lake. We made camp where we were.
Evolution Valley from Darwin Bench
The hail begins
The hail continues
Day Four:
Today, we hoped to make up lost time by quickly making our way to Goddard, dropping camp, and then climbing the mountain via Starr's Route. Day started with a clear blue sky, which was encouraging, but we knew there was a risk of more weather in the afternoon. The trip to Wanda was uneventful, and so was the crossing between Wanda and Davis-- really, just pick whatever path looks most pleasant and go for it. We made camp on a ridge above the unnamed lake above Davis, gathered our day gear, and headed up toward Goddard. Clouds were starting to form, so we decided to hurry and be prepared to turn around if the weather worsened.
Starr's Route is probably the most adventurous off-trail route that anyone in the group had attempted before. We started heading up the talus that leads around the back and to the crest of the ridge; two among our group decided at this point that the route was beyond their comfort level and headed back to camp. The slope was a bit loose in places but fine, so long as we spaced ourselves out and left room for a bit of rockfall. We made it up onto the ridge and began to climb. The route was mostly class two, with some partially exposed class three bits mixed in (either that, or we just didn't find the way to keep it class two the whole way). It was a lot of fun-- mostly solid rock, and lots of enjoyable problem solving. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating-- gray clouds were gathering to the west, and we could see rain starting to fall just a few miles away. By this point, we had reached the top of the main ridge and simply had to head across the ledge to the notch in order to get on top of the Goddard Divide and enjoy easy going the rest of the way to the summit. We decided to send the strongest member of the group ahead to scout the weather on the other side of the divide-- maybe there was blue sky over there! He reached the notch and gave us bad news-- all gray and rainy to the south, too. As we stood around uncertainly, the first pieces of hail started to fall and made up our minds for us. We turned around and booked it back down the mountain. Luckily, the hail never intensified-- today, we got a light hail drizzle.
We made it back to camp without incident, and discovered that the precipitation was only falling on the mountain itself, not on the valley below. We decided to day hike down around Davis Lake for a bit, where we spent a bit of time enjoying the feeling of not only being out in the mountains, but being separated from even the nearest trail by a big ridge. Upon our return to camp, clouds gathered again and we got blasted by a vicious hail-and-wind storm. We had gotten quite enough of sitting outside through hail yesterday, so this time we waited it out cozy in our tents and sleeping bags.
Mount McGee with white puffy clouds, just before taking off for Goddard.
Headed toward Starr's Route.
Getting up onto the ridge.
Probably could have found a less exposed way of getting past this part.
Near the top of the ridge.
Mount Goddard from the top of the divide, just before turning around.
Getting off the mountain.
Clouds cleared in time for great star views.
Days Five through Seven:
Now, we had to decide what to do. We had just dealt with two days of nasty hailstorms, and were about to embark on the most rugged and remote part of our trip-- from Davis to Martha to 10,232 to the Ionian Basin and finally back to the JMT via Black Giant Pass. This was already a stretch for us, and would likely be impossible for us to complete in the time allotted if we had any more storms. People were also already a bit burned out on rock-hopping, and we had one group member with boots that were rapidly deteriorating, so we made the executive decision to take it easy-- head back to the JMT and finish the rest of the hike on-trail. So that's what we did. The rest of the trip requires less reporting, as this is a straightforward trail and we didn't have much in the way of further adventures, but it was still beautiful and wonderful-- LeConte and Dusy are magical places, we had plenty of time to relax and explore and fish, etc.
Through LeConte
Lucky Chipmunk
Alpenglow on Mount Winchell
Morning light through the Palisades
Conclusion:
I was a little bummed not to have made the summit of Goddard, especially because we did the hard part-- we made it up to the divide, and all that was left was slogging up to the summit. I know it was smart to turn around; we couldn't afford to be stuck on the Goddard Divide in a real storm. But still. I'm not the type who's in shape to day-hike Goddard, it's tough for me to find time to get there, and getting so close without the payoff is a bummer. But the climb was still a ton of fun, and I still got more experience, learned more about myself and my limits, and all that good stuff. I also would have loved to make it to Goddard Creek and Lake 10,232-- that was really the motivation for circumnavigating Goddard in the first place-- but there are always future summers. Maybe next time I'll come at it via Goddard Canyon and try to climb the mountain from the west or the south, and probably with a smaller group with a more consistent level of fitness and experience.
Nevertheless, it was a great experience-- we got over Lamarck Col for the first time, we got up to the Goddard Divide, we saw beautiful remote places, we caught big fish, we introduced a new person to the mountains for his first time, and I'm confident that he will go back. Can never be disappointed with a week in the Sierra.
