TR - North Lake to South Lake (8/8 to 8/13)

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Jmcnamara5
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TR - North Lake to South Lake (8/8 to 8/13)

Post by Jmcnamara5 »

Day 1 - Piute Pass to Humphreys Basin. Trail in great condition, about a 30 foot snow crossing near top of Piute. Mosquitos minimal camping between Golden Trout Lakes and trail.
Day 2 - Long decent down to the JMT/PCT. Hutchison Meadow was beautiful with flowers. Plenty of camping along river on JMT/PCT
Day 3 - To Evolution Lake - Evolution Creek crossing safe at trail. Stay on the rocks not sand.. moves swift but below knee level. McClure Meadow buggy but worth a quick swim, lots of aggressive flies and mosquitos. Steep switchbacks up to Evolution Lake. Plently of creek crossings with lots of log and rock hopping. Evolution Lake is very popular to camp at for both NOBO and SOBO... Don't expect solitude camping here. Maybe try Sapphire or Wanda for less people.
Day 4 - To Star Camp - Inlet of Evolution lake crossing is dry, Can easily rock hop all the way across. Two snow fields up to Muir pass with a very easy path to follow. Descending the South side of Muir was more challenging. Its steeper and required slight route finding through snow fields. Doable just by searching for the trail once through the snow patches... Its all melting very fast. Heard word of pesky bears down in Le Conte near Petes Meadow and ranger station. So we opted to camp at Star Camp around 10,300.
Day 5 - to Upper Dusy Basin - Nice gradual downhill through Le Conte. The trail to Bishop Pass via Dusy Basin is quite the climb! The second half is very steep and exposed.. felt like never ending switchbacks but gorgeous views. Opted to camp in Upper Dusy near the unamed seahorse shaped lake. Bugs were the worst of the trip here... required head net til dusk.
Day 6 - Over Bishop Pass and exit to South Lake - 3 snow fields to cross.... but on flat sections not near the switchbacks so very doable. Uneventful decent, skeeters were present from Long Lake to South Lake.
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C-level
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Re: TR - North Lake to South Lake (8/8 to 8/13)

Post by C-level »

Always good info, I'm going up bishop pass next week so was interested there is still a few snowfields to possibly cross you said coming down?? Thanks for the info Jm ✌🏽
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Jmcnamara5
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Re: TR - North Lake to South Lake (8/8 to 8/13)

Post by Jmcnamara5 »

Yes... about 3 small snowfields that will be on your climb up to the pass. But they are on flat areas not steep at all. So very doable with trekking poles, no spikes needed! I did them around 6am when they were rock hard with no problem.... I imagine later in the day when they are soft would be even easier! Have fun!
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