The short version - what an incredible time to be in the mountains. Conditions were ideal: Wildflowers blooming at nearly all elevations, few mosquitos (although regular breezes certainly helped), snow was more of a benefit than it was a burden, and manageable creek crossing - on this route at least. I'll try to follow up with more details and photos (gotta figure out how to do that) but wanted to get this out, in case report on conditions was timely for anyone.
The three of us arrived at North Lake Campground in the evening of 7/27. The mosquitos quickly found us as we loaded our packs and began to head to lower Lamarck Lake for the night. Little did we know that would be the worse of them and the only time we would don our headnets. Upon return to the North Lake parking lot midday on the 1st, few mosquitos found us.
Lower Lamarck Lake was quite windy the night of 7/27. As such, we felt little bug pressure. Two of us were able easily cross the logs at the outlet of the lake, but in a recurring theme of the trip, my friend Mike eagerly took off his socks and walked across the creek. We ended up all do so at the crossing near Upper Lamarck, but the offtrail route to stay on the south side of the creek seemed quite doable. We didn't mind getting our feet a bit wet.
Following the route up Lamarck Col was mostly straight forward. Frequent snowy patches required some route finding to pick up the trail on the other side. The snow was perfect for us throughout the trip - hardly any post-holing, suncups relatively diminished and at times helpful for greater purchase on steep sections in softer snow, firm yet soft enough to kick in steps with our trail runners.
Traversing the lakes in Darwin Canyon was a little tougher than expected- the route was sometimes underwater, under sketchy snowcrossing/cornice hanging over one of the lakes. We spent some time in the boulders, making our way. Took a break on one of the isthmus between the second and third lake. The north shore of the last lake looked like it required a lengthy detour around and a precarious snowfield above the lake shore, so we ended making our way through the southside and found a lovely campsite on the west end of the Canyon, above Darwin Bench. We would spend two nights there.
We decided to save Alpine Col for the next day and wander to Evolution Basin. Darwin Bench was an absolutely eden with creeks and waterfalls flowing, and snowy peak views towards Evolution Basin opening up. It was easy enough to follow the use trail for the most part, although it disappeared regularly under snowfields and a lake at one point.
We had heard from the only two people we saw at Lamarck Col after leaving the lakes that Evolution Basin was still socked in with snow. It did not seem so much that way to us, but we only went to Evolution Lake for the day before returning to our camp. Evolution Lake was clear and lovely, although the JMT did seem to be still fairly snowy along its eastern shore. I was shocked how few mosquitos there were - midday, with only a light breeze. The waterfall at it's outlet on the northwestern edge of the lake was a surprise to us - absolutely roaring. A crossing there to climb Peak 11576 was not possible - better to swim through the lake, or make your way around the southern end of evolution.
We had Evolution Lake initially to ourselves, but then the thruhikers started to arrive. The JMT seemed to have a steady flow of SOBO hikers, most if not all having crossed the twisted SJ bridge. A bit of a surprise to see so many having done that, and we were glad to leave the JMT to return to our use trail to lead us through Darwin Bench and solitude (although we did run into the McClure Ranger making her way back from Lamarck Col - the chillest ranger any of us had ever encountered. Friendly and helpful!).
The next day we crossed Alpine Col. The sketchiest part of our whole trip involved a few steep snow crossings above the frozen lakes - Lake 11540 and Lake 11910. It was a bit nerve wracking to lead - much easier to follow in footprints. That said, while I had Hillsound trail crampons and trekking poles, my friend Matt had some kind of lighter, studded traction device (he liked it well enough!), while Mike had decided not to bring any traction support but was satisfied heel kicking with his Altra Lone Peaks and using is lone trekking pole for support. I will say it was a mistake for us to decide we liked the look of the west side of Lake 11910 - I did not like that portion, as a steep slip down would have meant submerging in any icy lake with a long way to get to sturdy shore. With hindsight, the east side looked less risky. I'll follow up with photos.
Aside from that, Alpine Col was a relative breeze. The snow on the north side was ample and easy enough to navigate. It was steep, and perhaps the softness of the snow a bit slippery as we descended in the early afternoon - but Mike led the way, kicking in steps with his Lone Peak heels.
Looking back at Alpine Col from the shores of Lake Goethe
We ended up camping on a ridge just above the unnamed smaller lake past Goethe. A lovely spot with views of Humphrey, Muriel, and Goethe near a nice water feature full of wildflowers. After dinner, we wandered further up the ridge to have a look at routes for tomorrow - tired as we were of navigating lakeshore snow and boulders. All the lakes we could see in the basin looked clear, except for the Wahoo Lakes. We could not see Humphrey's lakes. Overall, we were floored by the expansive views of a nearly snow-free Humphrey's Basin, lingering for sunset and leaving truly inspired for the day to come.
Lake Muriel below
In the morning, we moved camp about a mile down near Muriel (another lovely spot) and spent a wondrous day wandering Humphrey's Basin, visiting Desolation Lakes, Mesa, Square and Tomahawk (all clear!) before making our way back. We were fortunate to stumble upon a shallow and clear lake east of Tomahawk - finally, one warm enough to swim in! The views of Humphrey, a snowy Glacial Divide, and high meadow wildflowers all day long were unbelievable. The sunset that night was one of the best skies we've seen.
Warm enough for a shallow dip
The last morning, we headed back to North Lake via Piute Pass. An easy and delightful trail. We encountered many groups making their way up (a little jarring after days of solitude), many of whom asking for details about the snowiness of the pass. We were happy to report only a few trekked out and manageable snowy patches remained on the way up Piute. We got buzzed by mosquitos a few times on the way down, but never enough to consider donning our head nets. Wildflowers to admire everywhere - the delightuflly-scented Tiger Lillies in particular were standout near the bottom of the trail.
What a trip. Hope to add more details and photos (edit: done!) in the days to come.
