Lamarck Col to Piute Pass around Glacier Divide 9/18-21
Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2023 10:42 am
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.
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.