Nat, Jenya, and I made plans to do a long 6-day high-Sierra backpacking trip - a fifty-mile loop containing three passes over 11000'. More specifically: We would be starting at North Lake, going over Piute Pass, following the San Joaquin up into Evolution Valley, going over Muir Pass, then over Bishop Pass, down to South Lake, and hitchhiking back to our car at North Lake. GPS data included below is accurate to within 100'.

Day 1 - Thursday August 24th - Travel to Tuolumne

We hit the road for Yosemite around 2pm. Usual traffic snarls. Stopped for dinner at the Evergreen Lodge near Hetch Hetchy. Since we were able to reserve a campsite at Tuolumne Meadows at the last minute, this is where we stayed for the evening. Loud crowds and smoky campfires galore. Luckily I brought earplugs.

Campsite GPS Info: 37° 52' 25N / 119° 21' 11W / 8627' elevation

Day 2 - Friday August 25th - Delay in Bishop / Day hike up to Lamarck Lakes

Got up at daybreak and once over Tioga Pass we headed for breakfast at Nicely's in Lee Vining. We arrived at Bishop around 10am. Miscommunication: we were told on the phone that permits were available starting at 11am, but that was for the *following* day. Turns out all the wilderness permits for the North Lake trailhead today were already doled out.

Apparently 30 people a day are allowed to enter this route. Running out of permits means we'll be seeing a lot of people on the trails. The population in the wilderness wasn't too bad except when it came to contention for campsites, which I found to be almost dangerous - too many people arriving fatigued to potential sites late in the day, only to find nothing available.

Anyway, the permit fiasco delayed our plans for a day, but we made the best of it. After getting dinner fixins at the local Vons we drove up to North Lake. We gave a hitchhiker a lift, as he was heading up into the mountains himself. We nabbed the last available campsite. To help acclimate ourselves we hiked up to the Lamarck Lakes at about 11000'.

Lower Lamarck Lake.

Upper Lamarck Lake.

Lunch above the lake before heading back.

I should have brought my hiking poles as the 1700' descent back down to camp reinjured my left knee (which I badly sprained last year). Not a good way to start this journey.

Campsite GPS Info: 37° 13' 40N / 118° 37' 35W / 9325' elevation

Day 3 - Saturday August 26th - Taking Piute Pass

Much to our dismay there were no bear lockers at the North Lake trailhead. In order to avoid leaving our excess food/supplies in our car, we left it in a bear locker at the North Lake campground along with an apologetic note.

Cloudless skies all day. We hit the trail around 10am and took our time working our way up to Piute Pass.

Here we are at the trailhead, primed and ready to go (9350').

Nat below the Piute Crags.

Sierra flora.

Pushing up the trail.

Stopped at Loch Lewen for lunch (10740').

More flora.

Already past Piute Lake (10958').

The summit is now in our sights.

Once again looking back, a bit further up now.

Almost there (huff puff).

Looking over the other side into Humpreys Basin. Wowie. There's a mule pack on their way back out. Did I mention that these trails are constructed entirely of rock, sand, and mule poop?

Jenya and Nat scanning the map.

Pass GPS Info: 37° 14' 19N / 118° 41' 03W / 11418' elevation.

Dropping into Humpreys Basin.

We took a side trip to Desolation Lake, a less traveled, interesting landscape quite different from the rest of the basin, with a great view of Mt. Humpreys. Unfortunately, this added up to six rugged miles to our trip, and I stumbled and badly turned my ankle on the way back to the main trail. It was quite bruised and swollen for the next couple of days.

Panorama of Lower Desolation Lake.

Mount Humpreys (13986' peak).

Panorama of Upper Desolation Lake (11375').

Back on track, we pushed further into the basin looking for any suitable campsite. Eventually resorted to going off trail to find a spot near Piute Creek. We stayed the night near the water, meaning the mosquitoes were an annoyance. Clear skies continued through the night, which made for good star watching. Dinner: Thai chicken noodle. (Backcountry food tip: powdered coconut milk makes everything magically delicious. Find it in your local Indian and Thai markets.)

Campsite GPS Info: 37° 14' 50N / 118° 43' 53W / 10529' elevation