The Evolution Lake Loop isn't actually a loop. It's more like a horseshoe starting at North Lake, traveling over Piute Pass, then descending to a junction with the JMT, then ascending to the Evolution Valley and Lakes, crossing Muir Pass, descending to Big Pete Meadow, then climbing up and over Bishop Pass and ending at South Lake. The whole route is at high altitude ranging between 8000 and 12000 ft with three high passes of Piute(11423 ft), Muir Pass(11955 ft) and Bishop Pass(11972 ft). There are long 3000+ ft climbs and descents that showcases some of the best of the high Sierra.
Sachin and I set off from North Lake at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. Toshi devised his own loop, starting from Lake Sabrina and traversing cross-country over the Echo Col and bagging an assortment of peaks near Muir Pass where he was going to rejoin us Sunday afternoon to finish the loop up and over Bishop Pass.
Our Evolution Lake Loop. We added in a trip to Muir Ranch and Blaney Hot Springs. Yello and Blue was day one. Pink and Green was day 2. Purple was the last day. This was from Sachin's GPS data. Thanks Sachin!
Start Pic: North Lake.
The climb and descent from the 11423 ft Piute pass was actually pretty mellow. This was a nice reprieve from the day before and allowed us to get into cruise mode and effortlessly tick away the miles as we made our way to the goal for day 1: taking a nice long dip in some natural mountain hot springs before camping for the night. At first Sachin was apprehensive about taking the six mile (roundtrip) detour from the classic lake loop just to perhaps find some hot springs to partake in. Sachin is very goal driven, and when he sets his mind on a certain goal - anything that doesn't get him closer is just more of a hindrance. I tried to make it clear that the out and back was part of MY goal so he grudgingly incorporated it into his goal as well ;-) Another reason for the out and back was to check out Muir Trail Ranch. I always wanted to check the place out as it will be my resupply when I some day tackle the JMT thru-hike. And it just so happened to be a few miles off of the loop that we were planning on...
Valley: looking down at where we started.
Looking East from Piute Pass. Credit: Sachin.
Looking West from Piute Pass.
At Piute Pass we talked with a couple of hiker/fisherman and they were warning us about the smoke from the Rough fire that was hazing the place over. They pointed down into the valley in the picture above and said it was just starting to move in. Their contention was that the mornings were usually pretty clear and then the smoke would drift in during the afternoon only to clear up in the evenings again. Our experience seemed to be mixed. The smoke did seem to ebb and flow, probably most directly influenced by the prevailing winds, but there was never a strong odor - it mostly just affected the views. Which was too bad because we missed out on some awesome pictures.
Once we got down into the trees - this is what it looked like.
Beautiful flowing Piute Creek.
Muir Trail Ranch. This is the strategically placed stop-over halfway on the JMT where hikers mail 5 gallon buckets with their re-supply for the thru-hike.
This is the bear proof shelter where the food resides.
We made it to the junction with the JMT at about 16.5 miles and then traveled north and then followed the cutoff for Muir Trail Ranch which was another 3.5 miles and then another .5 miles to the hot springs. So it actually turned into an 8 mile roundtrip detour. But since we found the hot springs, it made it well worth the trip. The hot springs was not easy to find. There is the popular Blaney Meadows campground, but then you have to cross the river and follow a secret path to find the springs. The pool was about 3 or 4 ft deep which meant that you could relax pretty well in a crouched position. It is a muddy bottom except for where the spring water actually comes out of the ground. There there was a sandy divot where you could feel the hot water with your feet. The pool wasn't too hot, but right where the water came out was cookin'. Sachin and I shared the pool with the three guys in the picture below and had a very relaxing soak while the sun started to go down with views of the valley walls all around. I think Sachin would agree that it was worth it...
After the springs we decided to do a little night hike to regain most of the out-n-back to get closer to the classic loop for the next days journey. During this night hike we managed to cook and eat our dinner as well so by the time we picked our camping spot we were ready to just roll out our stuff and pass out.
The Blaney Meadows Hot Springs.
Next morning following the San Joaquin River upstream towards Evolution Valley.
As we got moving the next morning we knew that we had to be on our game to reach Muir Hut to reconnect with Toshi. We had 18.7 miles with almost 5000 ft of climbing to get done by mid-afternoon. I had told Toshi we were shooting for 2 p.m.
Climbing beside the beautiful rapids of the Evolution Creek.
Crossing a low Evolution Creek. Had managed to keep the shoes dry to this point and the feet were thanking me. Credit: Sachin
Evolution Meadow.
First views of Evolution Lake.
A convenient way to cross the creek. Credit: Sachin.
Lake Wanda. Almost to Muir Hut. Credit: Sachin.
Almost to the hut. Credit: Sachin.
Note that Toshi left at Muir Hut. It took him a little longer than planned. Credit: Sachin.
Seeing Toshi from the hut. He just got done climbing Mt Warlow(pictured in the background)
The gang - back together. Credit: Sachin.
We ended up reaching the hut at about 2:30 and then Toshi got back from climbing Warlow just before 3. So, not bad, all things considered. This was also where a kind hiker woman was attempting to get the perfect photo of the hut. She asked me to move out of her picture frame to obtain said picture. I cooperated, but then she indicated that she didn't want my backpack in the picture either - the backpack that I had leaned up against the hut. Now I was just miffed and let all parties concerned know it - then instantly regretted it. It was such a peaceful beautiful place and then I let that woman get to me. Whatever.
Now descending along with the headwaters of the Kings River.
If this valley reminds you of my last trip to the Sierra, that is because this valley connects directly with the giant valley that Sachin and I travelled down to finish off the Rae Lakes Loop. The smoke from the Rough fire was really screwing up the views.
Nice Teeth.
Warning about the trouble Bear.
The tale about the horse eating bear:
As we neared in on our Bishop Pass exit we kept getting rumors of a bear that had eaten a dead mule on the climb to the pass. It was explained that this represented a bad situation for hikers, maybe because the bear had gotten a taste of meat or something - didn't quite understand why. We read the above warning and wondered what we were in for. As we climbed the switchbacks we came across yet another note that read something to the effect of: "Mule eating bear encounter imminent on next switchback - cut straight up the mountain - laconte ranger".
I looked at Sachin and he gave me this "yeah, whatever" look like he thought that was the silliest thing he ever heard of. Why would a bear just "hang out" at a switchback - even long enough for a written note from a ranger to guide any backpackers... I then looked at Toshi who said: "great, this will be faster - let's go straight up!" He doesn't like switchbacks... I was more inclined to Sachin's point of view and decided to follow him up the trail. We neared in on the switchback and all of the sudden Sachin turns a 180 with a terrified look in his face streaming a whole string of expletives as he sprints full speed at me. He almost ran me over when I was somehow able to stop him and calm him down trying to explain that what he was doing might be the worst thing to do if you do encounter a bear (as if he didn't already know this) (also, this was after I confirmed that there was no bear following him - in which case I was going to make sure to sprint faster than Sachin...) He described to me how a big black bear was just sitting there at the switchback. We decided to backtrack to the cut-up where the ranger not was and pushed up the mountain. After a while we got a ways up and as we looked down Sachin pointed to the bear who was indeed just sitting there. Theories as to why the bear seemed to be immobilized included: maybe he was tranquilized?, big stomach ache from all the meat it wasn't used to?, maybe just trying to recover after the biggest meal it had ever had?
Anyways - the next day we got a story about how the dead mule came to be. A man on a horse and a boy following on another horse passed us as we descended from Bishop Pass. The man told us that a guy from his company had gotten drunk and decided to ride the mule over the pass at night. The mule tripped and fell on the man. The mule ended up dying and the man got a punctured lung and got fired. And then the bear found the mule. The guys were climbing the mountain to clean up the mess. The end. Of one duzy of a hiking story...
Climbing the switchbacks to Dusy Basin.
Views as the sun was going down.
Credit: Sachin
Finishing packing - getting ready to finish off the hike! Credit: Sachin
Snow Sensor.
Toshi made sure I captured this moment of him "running" down the trail. This trip was 99% hiking.
Credit: Sachin.
At the base of chocolate peak we decided to have a coffee break. This was a nice luxury to enjoy on our last morning of hiking as we knew we were on schedule and would be able to make it back to the bay area before Toshi's self-imposed 10 p.m. home time to get ready for his business trip the next morning. We also shared the rest of our chocolate.
Long Lake.
South Lake.
A very low South Lake with a nice panorama. Credit: Sachin.
Toshi was able to procure a ride back to lake Sabrina to pick up his car from some generous hikers and we were on our way back to the bay area. First we had to make a little side trip to get in a nice post-hike hot springs soak. Toshi had researched several public/free hotsprings in the valley and we settled on a place called "hilltop" since it was supposed to have nice views. I think if there wasn't any smoke from the Rough fire, the views would have indeed been quite spectacular. But instead it was a rather cramped pool with a grand walkway in the middle of a farm field. It was actually really nice. It was cool to get the story of this years Burning Man from a couple who had split a day early. Burning Man has always intrigued me in a "never would I go there" kind of way. But the stories are good. Sachin and I ended our trip once again with grand plans of feasting on some Indian lunch buffet, but are now 0/2 on selecting an establishment that was actually open for business at the crucial time. Oh well - there is room for improvement on our backpacking trip logistics...
All in all I have to say that the Evolutions Lakes loop was really good. I have felt incredibly blessed to be able to enjoy two of the most iconic high Sierra trail loops around this summer and consider this year to be a complete success with respect to my backpacking ambitions. Four fantastic weekends in four incredible places, all with friends to share the trail with. And Sachin always says yes. I have to give thanks to my family for being supportive when I disappear for weekends at a time! My next backpacking blog installment should be a post dedicated to reviewing the gear that I have come to trust and love for these adventures. I know I find other's gear recommendations fascinating and helpful so I think that might actually be something that is helpful to some of this blog's readers.
The guys and I planned a pretty nice labor day weekend in the mountains. We split early from the Bay Area so that we would have a shot at bagging Mt. Langley at 14,042 ft on Friday. We started our hike at 12:30 from the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead. It would be about a 20 mile round trip climbing from 10000 ft to 14000 ft and then coming back down again. We hoped to be done before nightfall so that we could get a good meal down in Lone Pine and get a full nights rest in some real beds before we set off for our three day backpacking adventure on Saturday.
While we were still smiling.
Lakes on the way up.
Still Smiling.
Nice day.
Old Army Pass zigzags up that hillside. Black Soldiers in 1890(something) built the trail. Why? I don't know. But it is unmaintained and still a really good trail. At least while there is no snow.
Climbing Old Army.
Almost done.
Looking down from Old Army.
The wastelands on the way to bag Langley.
The sand that we were hiking just sucks all of your energy.
Fortunately there were giant Cairns to guide the way.
The views were getting quite spectacular.
Sachin was feeling the cold.
Yay, made it!
Summit Box.
On top.
Toshi made it up 5 minutes after us.
Toshi, wanting to add some off-trail travel to his ascent decided to go cross country up to another lake before climbing to the high plateau. We split up at about 5 miles in and wondered whether we would actually meet at the top or not. About five to ten minutes after Sachin and I reached the summit, there comes Toshi. I thought it was remarkable that we were so close to each-other.
On the way down.
We screwed up our navigation on the way back. Even though we were just following the trails back to the parking lot, we started to second guess ourselves when our GPS maps were showing that we had missed the trail back to the car. It turned out that all of our maps were out of date and the trail that we needed was not on our GPS, so instead we took a trail down to the road and still had a mile or two to walk on the road to get back to the car. We were not happy. We had been on track to reach the car by 7:30, but then ended up about 8:30. Sachin was in agony from the the effort and altitude and Toshi hadn't been eating anything because his stomach wasn't cooperating. I was mentally and physically drained, and we all got back to the car wondering what we had got ourselves into. Toshi had thought that this would be our "warmup" for what was to come, but we were already pretty toasted!
I was the only one to pack away the food at dinner that night in Lone Pine, but it was fantastic: a great steak and potatoes dinner to fortify me for the coming days. Toshi had the sound judgement to ask for a room upgrade at the hotel so that we could have a couple of beds (originally he had booked a one bed room - don't know what was up with that).
The next morning Toshi and I let Sachin get some extra rest while we got some breakfast and then hit up the permit office to (hopefully) secure our wilderness permits for the Evolution Lakes Loop. To be continued...
The Skyline 50k is one of my favorite races. It's got about everything that I want: Mix of running surfaces, moderate elevation gain/loss, almost guaranteed relatively cool weather, Pacific Association series points, big club participation, and great finish line BBQ. I had so much fun this year and this is how it went:
After the guy said go we were off on the rolling bike path that contours the west side of Lake Chabot. I was running with a group of speedsters before we started thinning out, jockeying for position. I ran with Jean for a little while, recognized Devon Yanko who I figured would be contending for the woman's win, and chatted with Jason Reed. On one of the first decent downhills Jason let me go and I found myself cruising alone all the way up to Redwood park. I bombed the downhill down to Redwood road, got filled up at the aid station and then hit one of my favorite sections of trail, the golden spike trail - which is a nice winding single track through a rainforest like setting with plenty of rocks to hop on. At the bottom of the trail I caught up with a train of runners that included Devon and a couple of guys. I tagged along just behind them for the entire climb up to skyline. On the steep stuff it seemed we all were hiking and they wouldn't put any ground on me, but they would always create a gap on the moderate ups, and I might make up a little bit of ground on any small downhills through this stretch.
The train of runners did end up getting out of my sight just before we hit the big aid station at skyline, so I was again cruising by myself enjoying the wonderful marine layer and beautiful views. I had kind of expected that they would move faster on the climbs, but had anticipated running the downhill on the French trail pretty hard to try and catch up with them. The skyline station is at about 14 miles, or almost halfway through the race. It is always a little bit of a psychological boost for me to know that the race is mostly downhill from there. Plus, the French trail is another one of those gems of a trail through some deep coastal redwoods and some fun, sometimes technical type running. To my surprise I didn't catch anyone through this section. I moved pretty well and enjoyed myself, but those other runners were moving just as well.
After I bombed the downhill back to the Redwood road aid station I was surprised to see Stanley Peng hanging out. He ran hard from the start, going for a PR and was now paying the price for a tough early effort. I quickly grabbed some water and gu and moved on. I stayed steady on the hike back up on the Macdonald trail, getting back up to the ridge in no time. Again I was just cruising by myself, trying to stay motivated to move efficiently while starting to get tired. This is about at mile 20. I ran the downhill assertively till I hit the valley floor. This is usually the low point of the race for me because between mile 22 and 25 there is some pretty lonely flat running with few views. Then you hit what I term the "insult hill" of skyline 50k - one more 300 ft climb that sort of hits you right when you don't need it. Then one last downhill before you have to run 3 flat miles around the east side of Lake Chabot to finish. Basically mile 22 to the finish is a "gut it out" kind of thing. But this is also when the most interesting racing comes in.
In the flat section, maybe mile 24 to 25 I got to see my first action. Some Excelsior guy (guy on rival running team) caught up to me and passed hard. I didn't have the legs to do much about it and kind of figured it wasn't going to matter much because of the climb coming up that I was sure was going to kick my butt anyways. I hiked as fast as I could up the insult hill, and then a couple of more guys were starting to catch up to me. Finally, before the top of the climb, a tough looking Japanese dude slowly trotted by, taking advantage of another of my weak hiking breaks. I knew this was going to be a battle. This guy had definitely saved some legs for the end of this race and I didn't know if I could match him. I followed him down the hill into the final aid station. He blew right through it. I kind of saw that coming: of course the this guy was going to skip the aid to put the nail in my coffin. I cruised in with my empty water bottle and empty stomach and glanced fleetingly at the wonderful buffet table before me. The aid station volunteer, understanding my conundrum, offered to be super quick. But I declined and chased after my target. As I attempted to close the gap on the downhill, something that would have happened rather quickly in any other situation, the legs started folding on me. Every time I tried to extend my stride they would just sort of buckle and I had to just sort of hobble down the trail. The cramping in my calves was destroying my downhilling ability. Nonetheless, I was still able to pull even with him at the bottom of the hill. I turned to him and exclaimed: "Time to bring the pain, right?" I don't know how he took it, but I was trying to communicate that being neck and neck with 3 flat miles to go at the end of a 31 mile race, it was going to be a painful fight. He sort of waived me by, expecting to chase me for a while and I imagine break my will and finish me at the end. I moved as fast as my legs would allow me to with the cramping I was dealing with - working through my head if I could even keep this up or whether the cramping would just get worse, or I might even bonk and be toast. He stayed right on my tail. We hit the bouncy wooden bridge over the marsh with one mile to go. I never looked back - I didn't want to give him the satisfaction that I was worried about him. But I wanted to back off and jog it in so bad! Halfway across the bridge I heard and felt his stride on the bridge and thought to myself: this is going to suck. I just kept hammering, seemingly finding some extra muscle fibers that I didn't know I had and was so grateful to see the finish line! I crossed in 4 hours 30 minutes in 13th place. Japanese guy showed up about half a minute later and we shook hands. I then proceeded over to a bench in the shade and buried my head between my knees for half an hour while dealing with the nasty after-affects of the hard effort at the end of the race.
After coming to my senses, I started taking in some calories and feeling better. I congratulated Jean on another amazing sub 4 hour performance, hung out with Bjorn who was the third scorer from our Quicksilver team, coming in a few minutes after me. He is going to be running the Ultra-tour-du-mont-blanc in France in three weeks - and that is such an epic undertaking, it was fun to hear him share about his prep. As the other quicksilver runners and running buddies rolled in, we shared an awesome BBQ and war stories in the sunshine of a beautiful afternoon by the lake. The memories of the grueling effort of the race already subsiding into that strange gap in an ultrarunners brain where all the pain seems to be forgotten.
