Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

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2020hiker
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Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

Post by 2020hiker »

After some good feedback from this forum, my fiance and I changed our plans from north lake-south lake via Piute pass and did the loop over Lamarck col.

To summarize the trip: Overwhelming (in a good way)

Day 1 (7/1): Anticipating a busy weekend, we drove to south lake relatively early to get a overnight parking spot and deal with road construction. We arrived at the lot around 3pm, hung around and caught the shuttle which dropped us off at north lake road just after 5pm. I never really scoped the distance from the road to the start of the trailhead, and man we were hit early by the weight of our packs. The uphill climb with a full bag was rough going, and we hit the lamarck trailhead already gassed. Beautiful day though and we toughed through it. We arrived at Upper Lamarck Lake right around 8pm with some light left. At 2 miles in, I cut my heel on a granite rock crossing the lamarck stream. Good camp spot and good way to break in the trip - with the walk up we gained close to 2k feet in elevation over about 4 miles. Mosquitos at the site were about a manageable 3

Day 2 (7/2): Woke up and hit the trail around 9:30am. Took some breaks as our overweight packs (so much fresh food was packed...we learned our lesson) and took in the scenery. We made it up to the base of the Col and little lake around noon. Filtered some water. No bugs the entire way up. So many trip reports made the col sound like such a 'thing' - the route, the difficulty, etc. To this point in the trip we hadn't seen anyone, but a dayhiker passed us as we took a break below the col and hiked up the col in trail shoes in 8 minutes (I timed it). We did bring microspikes and we did use them, only because with 45 lbs on our backs and a slip on the snow bank would be dangerous into the lake, but we would have been fine with our trail shoes. Got to the top and WOW. The Darwin lake canyon looked spectacular. We ate lunch, and made our way into the canyon. This is where most people should be warned. With a good col/hike already done, coming down with full packs and then the boulder hopping along the first couple of lakes was a lot. We took several breaks before finally getting to the 3/4th lakes which are easier to cruise through. Beautiful all around. We debated around 4pm of camping the Darwin Bench, which was one of the highlights of the trip, but kept going. We ended up camping near evolution valley on one of the last benches overlooking the valley. Incredible. Mosquito level was about a 1 at this site

Day 3 (7/3): We were exhausted after the long Col day (but to this point we had only covered abut 7.9 miles from the north lake campground). We hit the trail but !!! we went DOWN the JMT into evolution valley for about a mile (we were just 'cruising' in the morning and didn't think). We backtracked and made it to Evolution Lake around 10:30am. The start of this beautiful basin. Absolutely wonderful time going all the way to Wanda lake where we had lunch. Zero bugs during the entire day to this point. Had lunch and made it over Muir Pass around 2pm. Coming down from Muir was great, although the downhill really got to us. Took a break at one of the 'last' lakes in that downhill (I think it's unnamed?) Before turning into Leconte Canyon proper. We found a site near the trail in Big Pete Meadow, made a fire. Mosquito level was solid 3-4. The deer were something else. A hiker warned us at Muir pass that a deer ate his hiking pole the day before. He wasn't kidding. i've never encountered deer like this. We ended up hanging everything either from trees or slept with our gear in our tent. Deer like nibbling on salty things and we didn't want our packs messed with

Day 4 (7/4): Loving the trip so far, we cruised down Leconte and made the turn up to Dusy Basin. The climb to Bishop pass is 3,200 feet, but it was wonderful. The first set of switchbacks were a delight. After the second switchbacks we had lunch at the lake below Dusy Basin and took a dip in the water, the only of our trip. Bug level about a 2 here. We continued to Dusy Basin and admired the Palisades and looking back at Leconte Valley. We stopped in Dusy feeling really good, and because our water stop here was probably the worst bugs of the trip (I'd rate it almost a 5) we decided to just go over bishop pass. We wanted to camp a little lower elevation and also be closer to the car for day 5. Coming down over bishop pass was great - Bishop lake and Saddlerock lake basin were more impressive than we thought they'd be. On our way down we saw a herd of deer crushed by boulders. Really something to see. I assume it was from the earthquake a week ago? We ended up camping on a ledge at saddlerock lake which was a great way to end things. Still high (11k elevation) and great scenery and seclusion. Mosquito level about a 3-4 without wind, 2 with wind.

Day 5 (7/5): Woke early and headed down to south lake and our car. Made it in about 1.5 hrs, even with a stop for an unfortunate ankle roll fall. Thankfully it happened here than earlier on. We saw the most people between long lake and our car - more than the rest of the trip combined. Back to the car and on the road by 10am feeling great


Overall this trip was fantastic. Some off trail, a col, a couple of passes, and every couple of miles the environment was completely different. Bugs/mosquitos were completely manageable, only unbearable for a couple of portions of the trip, and didn't really impact us at all. I was amazed at how FEW people we saw on the trip. Before long lake on day 5, we saw maybe 30 people the entire time. Over 4th of july? I assume it's because less JMT/PCT hikers, or something. So thankful we had hours and hours alone on the trail. This trip kicked our butts and we learned alot about pack weight and our abilities. Adding an extra day would allow more 'chill out time' throughout each day, which we had only a little of, but no regrets. Like I said at the beginning, 'overwhelming' in a good way about sums it up.
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Re: Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

Post by maverick »

Thanks for the informative TR. :)
Are there any photos coming?
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I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

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Re: Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

Post by SSSdave »

Might have stashed packs close to the North Lake trailhead below the campground then drove your car to South Lake and taken shuttle, thus not having to carry that from the Sabrina road junction. I do it anytime at that trailhead because the North Lake parking lot is a 3/4 mile walk to the trailhead at the campground. An itinerary to actual spend at least a little time by camping at best areas and still without layovers would be 8 days or time to do but a minor amount of worthwhile day hiking.

Upper Lamarck Lake
Darwin Canyon 11592
Darwin Bench
Evolution Lake s
Big Pete Meadow
Darwin Bench e
Long Lake n
SL TH
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Re: Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

Post by cloudlesssky »

The deer at Bishop Pass just can't catch a break can they? I went through there a year ago (?) and there was a whole heard that had fallen to their deaths on the slippery snow/ice. Now it's earthquakes?
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Re: Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

Post by ryanerb »

Great TR, crazy about the deer. Would love to see photos of the whole trip!
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Re: Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

Post by hikerdude87 »

Great trip report and the hike over the Col and down to Darwin Lakes is definitely exhausting. I think that is the same herd of deer that died back in 2017, they're just slowly decomposing.
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Re: Trip Report - NL-SL via Lamarck 7/1-7/5

Post by Lumbergh21 »

How fresh were the deer carcasses? Things decay very slow up there. There were still carcasses up there last fall from the herd killed in the avalanche in 2017. I'm planning a variation on your loop in late August with a couple of friends that includes more off-trail to McGee and possibly Davis Lakes as well, so I will intentionally dropping into Evolution Valley. :D Glad to hear the two of you had a good time.
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