My last couple trips have been mostly cross country in northern Yosemite, but I had been wanting to do a trip from the North Lake trailhead for a while. My buddy Justin and I decided on Lamarck Col and then a clockwise circuit around Glacier Divide and back over Piute Pass. A nice tidy trip, with a small wrench thrown into the works when the South Fork San Joaquin bridge got first corkscrewed and then obliterated. We planned on doing the up-and-over detour right up until the trip, when we heard that the SFSJ was now wadeable.
Day 0: Aspendel
We left mid-morning from the East Bay and drove over Tioga Pass (Google Maps showed it being slightly faster than Sonora, even with the slowdowns to go through the park). It'd been a while since I'd gone over Tioga, so it was a nice change of pace, and it was as usual magnificent. Got a later lunch at Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining, and enjoyed the sunshine and views over Mono Lake.
We stayed at Cardinal Village Resort in Aspendel the night before in one of the hiker's bunk houses to acclimate. Nice people there, though we couldn't get an oven-fired pizza dinner there due to a special event. We did a garage sale with our packs to prune down the unnecessary food and gear, packed it all up, made a pauper's dinner with the rejected food and snacks, and got turned in early.
Day 1: Lamarck Col and Darwin Canyon
After a big breakfast at Cardinal Village, we headed up to the trailhead on a bright cool morning. Perfect weather, as is usual in September in the Sierra.
The trail to Lamarck Col was steep but not too difficult. Justin stopped at Lower Lamarck to do some fly fishing with his Tenkara Rod, and immediately caught and released a few rainbow and brook trout.
Then it was up the more exposed sections to the Col.
There seemed to be a lot of false saddles before actually making it to the bowl before the Col, which wasn't obvious from the topo maps. No biggie, just something to keep in mind.
The snowfield at Lamarck Col was in good shape. Stable and firm even in the afternoon of a warm day near the autumn solstice, with a good boot track.
The reveal of Mt. Darwin and Mt. Mendel with the Darwin Lakes below from the keyhole at Lamarck Col is one of the best in the Sierra, imo. Kim Stanley Robinson in The High Sierra: A Love Story talks about being inside vs. outside the Sierra. That's in evidence here. You go through the gap, and boom, you are deep inside.
The descent on the south/southwest side of Lamarck Col was more rough, and the boulder and tallus fields as you worked your way toward Darwin Bench were more annoying than anything. The use trail comes and goes, and it's mostly that you feel like you should be moving faster than you physically can. We passed a couple of people making their way up to the Col, and I didn't envy them. Descending wasn't fun, but ascending looked harder.
We worked toward Darwin Bench as the sun was setting and we were tiring. After passing the final, lowest lake we scoped out a campsite and found a good one a bit above the creek on a granite bench.
After setup and filtering some water, we ate some couscous with veggies, pecorino, and olive oil, enjoyed the alpenglow, and then the stars with a bit of scotch and some apple cider to keep warm.
Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
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shampeon
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Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
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shampeon
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
Day 2: Evolution Valley and Goddard Canyon
I slept mostly ok for a first night, though I heard a really odd large bird call at around 2:00 AM. Not an owl, for sure, and too early for a raptor I would think.
After breakfast (coffee, granola), we packed up and continued down the bench to meet up with the Muir trail. Even knowing its a bit of a highway, it's always a little weird seeing so many people (relatively) and I guess more notably, how weird some of them are. E.g. a dude with a branch as a walking stick who ignored our hellos, or the young woman through hiker in full size galaxy print pajama tops and bottoms. HYOH and all that.
We took a midmorning break, and Justin was again successful, this time with some goldens (his first).
Evolution Valley was nice, and not too wet, nor too buggy. It's a little too closed in for too many good views, and part of me wished we made this section a cross country traverse above on Glacier Divide. Next time.
After dropping into Goddard Canyon, we started talking to SOBO JMT/PCT hikers about the South Fork San Joaquin crossing, and it was no big deal to them. They spoke the truth. Just go downstream of the now-removed bridge, and there's a crossing spot. The cross is sort of diagonal to avoid some deeper pools. It was up to our knees. Some older women were kind of lurking around on the near bank, and it wasn't clear if they had just crossed and were taking a break, or were preparing to cross. We said hi. One of them sort of scouted us as we scouted for the right place, and after Justin started across it was clear they were psyching themselves up to cross. We figured out the right diagonal, and got across.
A guy crossing the other way ended up crossing back with one of their (very large) backpacks, which was super nice of him, and made us feel like jerks for not offering. So we stuck around to make sure the women crossed successfully (they did) before we dried off and got back on the trail.
You could really tell in Goddard Canyon how fast and deep the river had been flowing. Lots of flood damage to the shrubs and trees along the river banks.
We got to the confluence of Piute Creek with the South Fork San Joaquin near the bridge in the early evening, but most of the camp sites were already taken. Afternoon cloud buildups were happening east and south of us, which made for some nice sunset pics. I also noted the number of firs dying off here in the upper montane forest.
After the sun had set and as we were finishing dinner (hiker trash peanut noodles) and cleanup, the winds suddenly whipped up. A couple of PCT hikers came in, tired and anxious about getting water and their tents set up with the dying light and possible thunderstorm coming up. We offered part of our site if they needed it, but found some space in a different site nearby.
Day 3: Piute Canyon
It was nice to leave behind the relative bustle of the Muir trail as we steeply ascended the Piute Canyon trail. The steepest sections are lower down, so ascending in the morning shadows made this not too difficult.
Another mid-morning break near the falls meant more Tenkara fly fishing for Justin, and more goldens.
Just beyond the falls, the mosquitoes got exponentially worse. It was moist, and the wildflowers were popping. But the ruthlessness of the skeeter attack was a little shocking, since we hadn't had any bug pressure up until now. The closed in forest with little wind didn't help. I had treated my clothes and hat with permethrin before the trip, so I didn't get any bites through my clothes, as Justin did, but I still got mosquitoes on my hands and face whenever I'd stop or even slow down for a bit. Bug wipes only helped a little. Very annoying. The bug pressure continued until we hit treeline far up the canyon.
We found a camp site on a shelf below Summit Lake. The cloud buildups were all happening to the west in Darwin Canyon or to the south around Lake Italy and Bear Creek Basin, keeping Piute Canyon relatively clear, so we got a little fortunate. It was notably colder than the previous evenings, though.
I did myself no favors by accidentally dropping the mesh bag for the water filter into upper Piute Creek while Justin was fishing, where it settled to the bottom of a slow, deep pool.
Justin was catching brook trout in the pool when I realized what happened. After some comical attempts to snag it with a fly (Justin ended up accidentally catching another brookie), I decided stupid games mean stupid prizes, and stripped down and jumped into the pool to retrieve it. Luckily there was still some afternoon sun to dry off and warm up to, but I was still pretty cold until I finally got into my quilt that night.
I slept mostly ok for a first night, though I heard a really odd large bird call at around 2:00 AM. Not an owl, for sure, and too early for a raptor I would think.
After breakfast (coffee, granola), we packed up and continued down the bench to meet up with the Muir trail. Even knowing its a bit of a highway, it's always a little weird seeing so many people (relatively) and I guess more notably, how weird some of them are. E.g. a dude with a branch as a walking stick who ignored our hellos, or the young woman through hiker in full size galaxy print pajama tops and bottoms. HYOH and all that.
We took a midmorning break, and Justin was again successful, this time with some goldens (his first).
Evolution Valley was nice, and not too wet, nor too buggy. It's a little too closed in for too many good views, and part of me wished we made this section a cross country traverse above on Glacier Divide. Next time.
After dropping into Goddard Canyon, we started talking to SOBO JMT/PCT hikers about the South Fork San Joaquin crossing, and it was no big deal to them. They spoke the truth. Just go downstream of the now-removed bridge, and there's a crossing spot. The cross is sort of diagonal to avoid some deeper pools. It was up to our knees. Some older women were kind of lurking around on the near bank, and it wasn't clear if they had just crossed and were taking a break, or were preparing to cross. We said hi. One of them sort of scouted us as we scouted for the right place, and after Justin started across it was clear they were psyching themselves up to cross. We figured out the right diagonal, and got across.
A guy crossing the other way ended up crossing back with one of their (very large) backpacks, which was super nice of him, and made us feel like jerks for not offering. So we stuck around to make sure the women crossed successfully (they did) before we dried off and got back on the trail.
You could really tell in Goddard Canyon how fast and deep the river had been flowing. Lots of flood damage to the shrubs and trees along the river banks.
We got to the confluence of Piute Creek with the South Fork San Joaquin near the bridge in the early evening, but most of the camp sites were already taken. Afternoon cloud buildups were happening east and south of us, which made for some nice sunset pics. I also noted the number of firs dying off here in the upper montane forest.
After the sun had set and as we were finishing dinner (hiker trash peanut noodles) and cleanup, the winds suddenly whipped up. A couple of PCT hikers came in, tired and anxious about getting water and their tents set up with the dying light and possible thunderstorm coming up. We offered part of our site if they needed it, but found some space in a different site nearby.
Day 3: Piute Canyon
It was nice to leave behind the relative bustle of the Muir trail as we steeply ascended the Piute Canyon trail. The steepest sections are lower down, so ascending in the morning shadows made this not too difficult.
Another mid-morning break near the falls meant more Tenkara fly fishing for Justin, and more goldens.
Just beyond the falls, the mosquitoes got exponentially worse. It was moist, and the wildflowers were popping. But the ruthlessness of the skeeter attack was a little shocking, since we hadn't had any bug pressure up until now. The closed in forest with little wind didn't help. I had treated my clothes and hat with permethrin before the trip, so I didn't get any bites through my clothes, as Justin did, but I still got mosquitoes on my hands and face whenever I'd stop or even slow down for a bit. Bug wipes only helped a little. Very annoying. The bug pressure continued until we hit treeline far up the canyon.
We found a camp site on a shelf below Summit Lake. The cloud buildups were all happening to the west in Darwin Canyon or to the south around Lake Italy and Bear Creek Basin, keeping Piute Canyon relatively clear, so we got a little fortunate. It was notably colder than the previous evenings, though.
I did myself no favors by accidentally dropping the mesh bag for the water filter into upper Piute Creek while Justin was fishing, where it settled to the bottom of a slow, deep pool.
Justin was catching brook trout in the pool when I realized what happened. After some comical attempts to snag it with a fly (Justin ended up accidentally catching another brookie), I decided stupid games mean stupid prizes, and stripped down and jumped into the pool to retrieve it. Luckily there was still some afternoon sun to dry off and warm up to, but I was still pretty cold until I finally got into my quilt that night.
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Last edited by shampeon on Fri Sep 29, 2023 11:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
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shampeon
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
Day 4: Piute Pass
A near cloudless frosty morning. Water bottles frozen. Thermometer said 30 degrees. Icy puddles, ice patterns on the decomposed granite, ice patches to catch you unawares. Every step a crunch.
A little warmup going up over Piute Pass, and then down North Fork Bishop Creek Canyon, past the lakes and waterfalls, past the remnant snowfields that are going to survive another winter.
Past the granite outcrops that look like rock gardens in July with the late wildflowers. Past the day hikers, past the aspen groves that hadn't started turning yet.
Back to the trailhead, to a change of clothes and the sharp sensation of a deodorant stick for the first time in days. We headed out and saw clouds suddenly whip up around Mt. Tom and Rock Creek Basin, and some real rain sheets towards Lake Crowley. We stopped for lunch in Mammoth (the Warming Hut, Cuban sandwiches) and gas, then went back over Tioga since we had the entry pass already. It was showery and rainy, and Clouds Rest was living up to its name.
Then down through the ponderosas and grey pines, the oaks, and the grasslands, across the warm valley, and home.
A near cloudless frosty morning. Water bottles frozen. Thermometer said 30 degrees. Icy puddles, ice patterns on the decomposed granite, ice patches to catch you unawares. Every step a crunch.
A little warmup going up over Piute Pass, and then down North Fork Bishop Creek Canyon, past the lakes and waterfalls, past the remnant snowfields that are going to survive another winter.
Past the granite outcrops that look like rock gardens in July with the late wildflowers. Past the day hikers, past the aspen groves that hadn't started turning yet.
Back to the trailhead, to a change of clothes and the sharp sensation of a deodorant stick for the first time in days. We headed out and saw clouds suddenly whip up around Mt. Tom and Rock Creek Basin, and some real rain sheets towards Lake Crowley. We stopped for lunch in Mammoth (the Warming Hut, Cuban sandwiches) and gas, then went back over Tioga since we had the entry pass already. It was showery and rainy, and Clouds Rest was living up to its name.
Then down through the ponderosas and grey pines, the oaks, and the grasslands, across the warm valley, and home.
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balzaccom
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
Thanks for a great report! The photos of Justin Fishing are really nice--you did a good job of capturing the beauty of that water. Glad you had such a good trip. And just as glad that you wrote it up with style and humor!
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Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-R ... 0984884963
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kpeter
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
I'll echoe balzacom, a lively write-up and some nice images. The reflections in the upper Piute Creek pool were lovely. And a dive under water to retrieve your filter! Brrrr.
What a year when mosquitoes are a problem in September and some of the snow lasts into the following season!
What a year when mosquitoes are a problem in September and some of the snow lasts into the following season!
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scottmiller
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
Yeah, the skeeters really surprised me. More food for them, I guess.
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wsp_scott
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
I really like the Upper Piute Creek Pool and the Waterfalls on Piute Creek photos. Actually, I like a lot of the photos, but those two really caught my eye 
Great report, thanks
Great report, thanks
My trip reports: backpackandbeer.blogspot.com
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Troutdog 59
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
Very nice report. The view from the Col is indeed impressive. Did you guys fish the lower lakes in Darwin Canyon?
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In the strangest places if you look at it right.
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Harlen
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
Thanks for putting together this great report. The photos are really fine, and I am glad I found this. Indeed, some great posts get hidden (from me at least) in the Unread Posts section of quick links. I have learned my lesson now, and yours is another really entertaining post I have just discovered.
Nice trip! Ian.
Nice trip! Ian.
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shampeon
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Re: Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
We were pretty tired by the time we got to the bench. We passed a bunch of folks fishing those lakes, though.Troutdog 59 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 11:55 pm Very nice report. The view from the Col is indeed impressive. Did you guys fish the lower lakes in Darwin Canyon?
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