Day 1: South Lake to Dusy Basin:
I arranged a shuttle from a nice guy who turned out to have hiked into the Ionian Basin and Enchanted Gorge some 45 years ago in his early 20’s with friends. We chatted about that and about some random life stuff on the way from North to South Lake which was good for my headspace to start the trip. In all honesty I cannot remember much of the climb to Bishop Pass. I stopped for a snack on a rocky overlook after climbing a while. Stopped to chat with kind woman meeting her husband for a JMT resupply at South Lake, but was generally effected by the altitude with a foggy head and creeping headache.
Once I reached Dusy Basin proper I was feeling in better spirits and basking in the terrain I love most. A high alpine basin with light granite rocks and streams and lakes and grass features strewn about like die cast carelessly from a cup. I almost immediately left the trail and started exploring, eager to make my way to the unnamed lake 11,388’ right below Isosceles Peak and set up shop. The off trail navigation wasn’t too difficult, but after making it all that way with my lingering headache the switch from predictable terrain to steeper and less reliable rock was taking a lot out of me. I quickly found my way up and over the relief lines on the topo map and got my view of the large lake and peaks. Truly an awesome place. I walked all the way over to the eastern shore of the lake where I found suitable camping right beneath Isosceles. I took the Excedrin my girlfriend reminded me to bring and felt all better. I had a second wind and made my way back up the slope I had descended, after pitching my tent, and found a large boulder I could climb to overlook the entire lake and partially over its lip into the canyon to the West. Eventually I returned, watched dozens of frogs leaping out of the lake at dusk, took some pictures and went to bed.
Day 2: Lake 11,388’ to Le Conte Ranger Station:
I’d initially planned on hanging around in Dusy Basin another day, but as I now realize my own subconscious angst to face the Ionian Basin and a quick series of questionable decisions determined my path for the day pretty quickly.
I woke up ready to move and find another nice lake to make home. Once I was pakced up though I kept on moving towards my planned exit from Dusy and before I knew it I was off. I had decided, now seemingly somewhat arbitrarily, that it would be acceptable to just follow the outlet of the lake and its stream all the way down to the JMT below. I headed off that way and realized after seeing the waterfall it became that would not be happening. Before noticing that I did manage to get myself into a part of the basin that has probably not seen many people and probably shouldn’t because the way I descended was less than ideal. It’s hard to describe exactly how I got down but it was a lot of throwing my trekking poles below onto some rocks, sometimes my pack too and two hands two feet climbing my way down. Could I have turned back? Yes. Should I have turned back? Maybe. Yes. But it was pretty fun even if I don’t recommend it. I even came across something that looked possibly like a grave or memorial site? It had no markings but seemed to have been made with a good deal of effort.
I met back up with the trail and had a pleasant time walking through Dusy until the views opened up and I could see the enormity of Le Conte canyon slapping me in the face. There was a fun part of the trail by the Dusy switches I exited the beaten path to friction walk down a smooth water and ice worn granite slab and meet back up with the switchbacks nearer their end.
I ended up meeting the ranger at the station down there who supplied me with some freshly baked and salted chocolate chip cookies. Now that is excellent public service. Naturally I stayed the night here.
Day 3: Le Conte Ranger Station to Helen Lake:
I woke up on this morning very excited at my prospects. I had researched so thoroughly for months the Ionian Basin. Familiarized myself with its peaks and unnamed lakes and unofficial passes. Today wouldn’t be the day that I would see the basin proper but it would be the day I would see the tops of those volcanic peaks for the first time and that was all I needed to push myself forward.
I would thankfully not get lost in that anticipation because the climb out of Le Conte to Helen, while a bit of a slog, was very beautiful and came with a nice diversity of terrain. From deep within the tree line to ascending all the way up to the Martian like rock land near the top with a fractured glacier lying in frigid streams of its own begetting. There really is not a lot to report in terms of trail conditions or difficult traversal on this part of the JMT. Just a very awesome walk.
I’d get to Helen sometime around 3pm or so and not know what to do with myself. I needed to walk straight off trail from Helen the next day to ascend Black Giant Pass so there was nothing for me to do but pass time. I set up camp in the bright sunlight and went down the Helen’s seemingly freezing waters and waded in. Damn near froze my nuts off. Did that a few times and it was more than worth it!
I eventually went to bed expecting to feel anxious about the next day, but was merely excited, if not calm now that my main objective stood right before me.
Day 4: Black Giant Pass to Wanda Lake via Wanda Pass:
The ascent to Black Giant pass was a good time. Of all the off trail maneuvering I engaged in on this expedition this was probably the most straightforward. Even more so than Lamarck Col despite its well-worn use trails. There are a number of ways you could get over this pass but because you can so clearly see the saddle to aim for and the minimal snow the micro route finding (at least for myself) was not too difficult. The same but different applied for the descent to the first lake I’d see in the Ionain Basin (Lake 11,828’) from the top of the pass.
The same because route finding is easy. Different because there’s really only one way down. The way down I found fairly straightforward as well. Just keeping in mind what others have reported about the stability of the orange rock I still got down pretty quickly and got to enjoy the completely clear, nearly teal water at the lake and stare impolitely at the glacial overhangs for a while before walking onwards.
It was more of the same as I made my way down to the lake the lake below. A steep boulder and scree field with the above lake’s outlet pouring down its center. You want to stay on the North side of that stream on the way down until about the ¾ mark at which point you can cross. Stick close to that stream the rest of the way down and you’ll have the least complicated time I think.
Another small, placid reflective glacial lake greeted me at the bottom. Still yet to greet me anywhere in the Ionian Basin was shade or forgiving travel. This would be a theme! I still stopped here with my hat and hood up to have a snack and some water and kept on. I descended a less steep boulder field to a smaller and similarly serene lake before descending once more to the only named lake in the area, Chasm Lake.
I misread my GPX route and ending up descending the waterfall above Chasm Lake which my watch was kind enough to alert me of once at its end. It was fun so I’m not going to complain. The GPX route I created and consulted frequently was a huge help. So many instances just 15 seconds of walking up a rock pile or slightly off direction can turn your class 2 adventure into 2+ or 3 territory. This saved me a lot of backtracking that would have otherwise been necessary.
I had made it to the lake at which I intended to camp at by 1230 in the afternoon with no shade around and the sun beating overhead. I checked the weather on my Garmin and noticed a Thunderstorm predicted on Friday with .5 inches of rain. Taking that all into consideration I decided to make my way up Wanda Pass and pitch camp at Helen Lake for the night to set myself up for an early exit if needed.
The climb out of Wanda was intense. It was predominantly steep boulder hopping and climbing all the way up to lake 11,592’. I took many micro breaks and one larger one at the lake. The real navigational challenge came when attempting to summit the actual pass. I was oriented correctly and aimed the correct general direction, but when near the top I had gone slightly too far left and ended up doing some semi sketchy/exposed climbing a couple of times. Made generally sketchier by my level of fatigue at that point. I ended up exiting down a slim granite hallway I don’t believe was the actual pass. I was able to quickly find my way onto the “path” on the descent and had a pretty uneventful time down to Wanda Lake. There were some snowfields to cross but I didn’t feel the need to use traction due to all of the sun cups I was able to leverage as footholds. There were no other boot tracks I could see. Wanda was beautiful but I was ready to be on trail again for the day and found the walk around the lake to its outlet tedious because of my tedious. Once setting up camp I explored for a bit and saw a number of large tadpoles with legs half on their way to full froghood. I went to bed that night tired and satisfied. The Ionian Basin was more than worth the challenge! Such a starkly beautiful unique place.
Wanda Lake to Lake 11,592’ above Darwin Bench:
I’d made it out the other side of Ionian and was excited to walk through what I had been told would likely be the most beautiful part of my trip. Evolution Valley awaited. Unfortunately today I was feeling abnormally tired, but was still able to take in the beauty. It all looked almost too picturesque for my brain to fully appreciate.
I made my way past lake 11,293’ and then the amazing Sapphire Lake and eventually Evolution Lake. Right as I approached evolution lake I saw a family of deer grazing in a field and ran back into them again, this time much closer, on a bluff overlooking Evolution. I eventually got to the unmarked junction and made my way off trail once again to ascend to Darwin Bench.
This use trail was fairly helpful al
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I set up camp at lake 11,592’ overlooking evolution valley right next to the only shade nearby. I went for a brief swim, and then another…and then another and so on until people arrived at the lake. We all chatted about Lamarck Col and other areas of the Sierra had visited on our current trip and others. Eventually I was alone again and wrapping up my final night in the backcountry already.
Lake 11,592’ to North Lake:
I woke up extra early with what I anticipated to be a big day of hiking before me. I was on trail by 7:15 and picking my way around the lakes on my way to the ascent of Lamarck Col. There was a nice use trail around the lakes for the most part. I lost it and rejoined it numerous times. The trek up the Col was steep but not “difficult” in the way that Wanda was. It was taxing, but many small breaks of 20 seconds – a minute or so to lower my heart rate saw me to the zenith by 10am.
The top of the Col was stark and beautiful. Another Martian landscape but much more flat and orange and sandy than I’d seen on this trip. There were 3 separate snowfields to cross. Each with obvious boot pack and no exposure to speak of in my opinion. The sun cups here were larger than those on Wanda but not an impedance.
I was excited to get back to my truck and head into Bishop for food and charged down the Col. I was on the road by 12:45 and bidding adieu to the mountains. I’m always so excited right at the very end to get back to the car, and the second I’m back longing to be where I just escaped from. Till next time!
