As a buck, I don’t much understand what the big deal about birthdays is. The way I see it, every day spent on this earth is worth celebrating because it means I didn’t get eaten by a mountain lion or hit by a car while crossing the 405 freeway. But E+J have explained to me that for humans, celebrating yearly birthdays is an important tradition, and that’s why we generally find ourselves in the Sierra Nevada each July — to celebrate J’s birthday.
After camping at Four Jeffreys Campground for one night, our scenic multi-day birthday trip this year started with an easy hike up to Lamarck Lakes. We camped amid lodgepole pines in a rocky outcropping near Upper Lamarck Lake. An afternoon thunderstorm brought a short period of heavy rain, but by evening the storm had cleared and the full moon rose as if on fire.
The next morning a runner stopped by our camp to ask, “Where’s the trail?”
“There is no trail here,” we told him, and then asked where he was going.
“Where’s Piute Pass?” he asked.
“Eight miles back,” we told him.
He had missed a trail junction but was confident the sign said otherwise. He had a map but hadn’t used it until we took a look together and showed him where he was. He turned right around and ran back to where he had started from, and didn’t even seem fazed by the presence of a talking buck. Too bad, because another few hundred feet and he would have seen one of the most beautiful lakes in the area.
Lamarck Col
On day 2 we hiked up and over Lamarck Col. We found the way up to the col to be sort of a fun challenge, and we thought we’d be in for an easy hike past the col, along Darwin Lakes, and ending at Darwin Bench — our destination for that day. We were in for a surprise when the “class 2 talus” we had read about was actually a few miles of on-and-off bouldering along the edge of crumbling mountains falling into lakes. E+J’s packs were heavier than usual because they had planned to spend three nights basecamping at Darwin Bench and had permitted themselves some extra luxuries — a travel hammock, their sketchbooks, extra snacks. I admit that even with the advantage of having four legs, I found the bouldering exhausting. At a certain points our speed dropped to ½ mile per hour.
The day ended in a dreamy spot we’d been wanting to visit above Evolution Valley and Basin. The challenging way there sure made us appreciate the place we called home that night. We discussed our options over dinner and the consensus was that we’d change our route. Rather than stay at Darwin Bench as few nights and take some cross-country jaunts as day hikes, we’d drop down into the John Muir Trail and go up Piute Pass and back to our starting trailhead. This route would add some 25 or 30 miles, but none of us wanted to go back up Darwin Canyon and Lamarck Col with heavy packs again.
From Darwin Bench, we joined the John Muir and Pacific Crest Trails on day 3. Evolution Valley was flower-filled, even in this drought year. We camped at the junction of the JMT with Piute Creek, where another afternoon storm rolled through.
On day 4 we headed east along Piute Canyon toward lovely Humphreys Basin, a timeless spot overlooking the Glacier Divide to which we have returned again and again. When we last visited in 2017 it was after a historically high snow winter and we had about a dozen significant (read: sketchy) water crossings to contend with along Piute Creek and its tributaries. This year was remarkably dry in the Sierra and we didn’t even get our feet wet along that same stretch.
In the lower elevations we saw many dead and dying junipers, mostly on steeper slopes where gravity pulls precipitation down, leaving thirsty tree and plant roots unquenched.
On day 5 we soaked in a perfect summer morning in the Sierra — blue skies, cool air, warm sunlight — and then hiked up and over Piute Pass. Once on the other side we began encountering a steady stream of day hikers and backpackers, stopping to chat with a few of them. Our favorite exchange was with a runner in his mid-70s who stopped to say hello. He asked us if we had seen a teenage runner just up ahead. That was his sixteen-year-old grandson, whom he was introducing to the mountain passes one by one. Sixty years may separate them, but that didn’t stop them from enjoying the same invigorating activity together.
We also met a couple hiking portions of the JMT — Maria and Richard from Iowa. They hitched a ride down to town with us and we ended up enjoying a celebratory lunch together at Mountain Rambler Brewery. We offered to take them to their car at Whitney Portal, and after hearty goodbyes we bumped into our friends Johanna and Evan, who we met on the High Sierra Trail two years prior. Johanna and Evan had finished the JMT about five minutes before we drove up. The serendipitous spells of the Sierra strike again!
Humphreys Basin
Days: 5 (July 23-27, 2021)
Mileage: 42 mi.
Elevation: low point at JMT/Piute Creek junction, 8,050'; high point at Lamarck Col, 12,880’
Camp locations: Upper Lamarck Lake; Darwin Bench; JMT at Piute Creek; Humphreys Basin