TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

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sloth
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TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by sloth »

Finally found the cable to my camera and dowloaded pictures from my september trip.

Trip plan: North Lake to JMT over Lamarck Col. The roughly follow JMT to Kearsarge Pass and out. Options to go off trail through Dusy/Palisade basins. Option to go off trail through Dumbell/Lake basins. I have never been on any part of the JMT before. This plan gets me through the Kings Canyon NP part, with some potentially spectacular off trail parts. Lots of flexibility in case we are slower than expected, or have issues dealing with the sustained elevation, or have physical limitations (Bailed halfway through a N. Cascades trip last year due to a bum knee. Got my issues sorted out, but my partner has some knee concerns as well. Trails shouldn’t be a problem, but not sure how will react to the planned scrambles) There were many wildfires in oregon, and a couple in the sierras to the north and south of our route. On the smokemap, most of the west coast was covered in smoke, except for a small pocket in the sierras, which just happened to be where our route would take us. Luck was good. I wish I had saved a screen capture of the smoke map, it was really remarkable how lucky the route choice was.

Day0:
My buddy leaves Olympia ~4am.picks me up in Portland at ~6am and drive to Onion Valley to a reserved campsite. Sleep at ~9K elevation (help acclimate). Driving took most of the day, so we were not able to get to any of the permit offices before they closed.

Day1:
Drive to Lone Pine. Breakfast. Pick up permits. Last minute shopping. Drive back up to onion valley and hang out waiting for shuttle. Frustration at all of this logistics before we get to hike. Shuttle to North Lake. Start hiking around 4pm. I was initially hoping to start hiking at ~1 and get to Darwin Canyon or Bench today. But that was not to be with when I could schedule the shuttle. So, with not enough time to get over Lamarck Col today. Camp at Upper Lamarck Lake. So beautiful. For some reason, I had to get up and pee 5 or 6 times in the middle of the night. Definitely not usual for me. I wonder if it was due to the elevation...
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Day2:
Up and over the Col. Nice trail most of the way up, with fairly easy navigation. When I got my first view of the ridge with the Col in it, I thought that I might have to pull out my compass for the first time in a couple of decades to chart the route. Which of the notches was the correct Col?
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Upon closer look, there was a clear use trail in the snow telling us where to go. No use for the compass yet (still carry it, one of these decades I might actually use it...) Up and over the col and into the National Park.
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Descending down to the lakes was much gentler than I had been fearing. I was worried it would be a talus slog. And this was the only part of the trip we couldn’t bypass on the JMT. So that went well. The route along the lakeshore was actually much worse. Not much elevation change, but a lot of places where the route went over talus and was kind of scrambly. Finally dropped down into Darwin bench. So beautiful. Still 3-4 hours of daylight, and we wanted to be further at the end of day 2. But a combination of the beauty, and fear of crowds on the JMT, we decided to stop here for the night.
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Day 3:
Down to the JMT and up through Evolution Basin.Gawking and Rubbernecking.
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Finally start the ascent to Muir pass and the hut. Starts to rain a little. On goes the rain gear for the last 20minutes of the ascent.
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Hang out in the hut for a bit, and then it starts to pour with thunder and lightning. How cool to actually use the hut to shelter from a thunderstorm! About 30 minutes into it., we are joined by another hiker who is completely soaked and just happy to be away from the lightning. After the storm passes, it is down from the pass and into LeConte canyon, where we find a place to camp for the night.
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Day4:
Down we go. And back up the bishop pass trail to Dusy Basin. Up and over Knapsack pass.
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Down, then up to the upper Barrett lake. Stop to pitch camp and sit in the tent for the last hour of daylight as a brief thunderstorm rolls through. Sunset is glorious. Views for days. Close up to the Palisades. I wish I was good enough with a camera to do it justice.
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sloth
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Re: TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by sloth »

Day5:
Up and over potluck pass. Coming down, we stare at cirque pass. I know that there is a route through there somewhere, but it is not obvious.
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Down we go. Over to the other side of the lake and some more study of the pass. Still do not see an obvious route. Several potential ones, but all of them with possible issues. In the end, we head up the ramps on the right, from the outlet stream and get into the ledges. The route we find up this pass is actually easier than Knapsack or Potluck. Maybe a move or two that is slightly more difficult than the worst of those passes, but mostly a fun trip up to the top. Some third class on the top half of the way down, and then we get off route headed east too early) challenging terrain, but we manage to finagle a route without anything more than hard 3rd class. It was on this part of the trip that I really appreciated all of the work over the past decade getting my pack smaller and lighter. This would have been so much harder with a monster of a pack like I used to carry in my younger/dumber days.
Finally down to the JMT, and we have a decision to make, northbound to Amphitheater Lake and off-trail to the Dumbell and Lake basins (really want to do this) or Southbound, and stick to the JMT for the rest of the trip. Arguments in favor: It looks awesome. Arguments against: we have used up most of the buffer time in our trip (going a little slower than typical, which I attribute to the 9K-11K elevations most of the trip is in) and my wife has an international flight the morning after I am expected home. Being delayed is not an option conducive to my continuing to backpack. The other argument against is my buddy’s knee starting to act up a little. So we opt for the JMT for the rest of the trip (mostly). So up past the palisade lakes we head, pitching camp and watching as the last rays of sun from the day put on a light show on the peaks around us.

Day6:
Up and over Mather and Pinchot passes today. Camp by the junction with Sawmill pass.
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Day7:
Down to Woods Creek we go. There is a delay to use the bridge, as they are replacing the decking. Do remove the old boards and replace with metal grates, once they complete the next section, we can cross. I am regretting not getting a picture of this, but there was a line of people coming the other way waiting for the bridge. And along we go. Just before Arrowhead lake we head west to basin notch,and climb off-trail into Sixty Lake Basin. The pathfinding part across the lakes to the trail on the western side of the basin is fun. Need to backtrack several times to finally find a path that gets around the lakes (If there is a lake version of being cliffed out, that is what we had happen to us. Think the route will go, only to find that you are on a peninsula, or another lake is your way and you cannot find a way past it.) Finally get to the trail, explore down it for a but, then head up to the head of the valley. Camp at a lake. Enough daylight and warm enough that we actually get a swim in. Drying on the shore, there was one bush filled with ripe blueberries. The only ones we had seen that trip. Yum.
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Day 8:
Final day, Down to the Rae lakes.
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Up to Glen Pass.
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Over to Kearsarge Pass.
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Down to the car.

What a wonderful trip. I want to come back. I want to get to the section we bypassed. Maybe a trip over Bishop pass and out Taboose. I want to get to other parts of the Sierras. My favorite parts of the trip were the Lamarck/Darwin/Evolution segment, and the Dusy/Potluck/Cirque parts.
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Ska-T
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Re: TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by Ska-T »

Thanks for the TR. Very beautiful and ambitious route even without the Dumbell Lakes side trip! You must be lucky to come from so far and miss the smoky areas.
sloth wrote:For some reason, I had to get up and pee 5 or 6 times in the middle of the night. Definitely not usual for me. I wonder if it was due to the elevation...
Yes. [Partial explanation] The lower partial pressure of O2 causes elevated breathing which reduces blood CO2 (an acid). Further, at altitude the partial pressure of CO2 is lower (additional loss of CO2). This causes a change in blood pH that is compensated for via the kidneys by excreting sodium bicarbonate and retaining H+.
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jeremiahkim
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Re: TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by jeremiahkim »

Wonderful write up and pictures. Was at the Woods crossing just a few days after you and experienced a similar back up as well but the grates seemed to be a big improvement.
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KevinDo
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Re: TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by KevinDo »

Great photos and TR! Thanks for sharing
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edhyatt
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Re: TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by edhyatt »

Really nice; good to see what Lamarck is like.
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Re: TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by CAMERONM »

I wonder if taking refuge in Muir Hut during a thunderstorm is a good idea. Great for rain, but perhaps not advisable for lightning. LAT article on lightning incident at Whitney Hut:

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-16/ ... ney-portal
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Re: TR: Lamarck Col out Kearsarge Pass 9/9/2017-9/16/2017

Post by notis »

We're doing bits of this route this summer, and your TR has me all jacked up to get there. Nice post.

Btw, Photobucket no longer allows third party hosting, so my photos on HST are now unviewable unless I upgrade. How did you upload/host yours and stay within the size limit on HST?
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