Photo Friday: Back to the Sierra at last!

That's right--I've finally come home and returned to editing photos, so I have another round of pictures from my September backpack trip in the John Muir Wilderness and Kings Canyon NP.

 

This post picks up with Day 4 of that hike. Days 1-2 are here, and Day 3 here. As we move into the heart of the Sierra, I have too many photos, so I'll just do one day at a time.

 

Random "on the trail" photo to start with something horizontal since otherwise Facebook will mess up the post.

 

Mornings are cold, even at a "mere" 9200'. It's always hard to get going, but we were pretty good at being on the trail by 8:45 or thereabouts. It always took a couple of hours to get us all through breakfast, foot care, and packing up, though part of that is time spent hoping for the sun to come and thaw us out!

 

Breakfast time.

Once the sun was on us, it warmed up fast enough. High altitude and dry air means big temperature swings!  

 

Morning sun.

 

An hour or so later, we reached McClure Meadows, another common stop-over for hikers on the PCT or JMT.

 

People rave over the beauty of the Evolution Valley, and with reason. The trail follows the creek gradually up the valley for several miles, offering us many excuses to stop and take photos.

Evolution Creek. If it had been a little warmer, I'd have been tempted to go for a dip, just because the water was so beautiful.

Like the previous day, the real climbing came late in the hike, as we had to bump up the next "step" to reach Evolution Lake. That's not to say we weren't climbing the whole way.

Looking ahead to where we need to go. I think this was lunch.

By the time we began the "real" climb past Colby and Darwin Meadows, we'd come up about 800'. That left 1000' to go. We were starting to get views back down the valley, for a nice sense of progress!

The little yellow-green area is probably Darwin Meadow. The route to McGee Lakes, which I took with my family in 2016, runs right to left up the valley in the background.

 

Now we were on the real climb, and getting into the afternoon. It was plenty warm, the morning chill just a fond memory.

I accused Mark of breaking this rock, but he said he didn't do it. 

Looking back down Evolution Valley and on to the San Joaquin River canyon beyond--two days of hiking.

By half past 2 we had topped out the steep part of the climb and were wandering through the alpine meadow towards Evolution Lake.

Finally saw the lake. One part of it, anyway--it's a big lake, especially for an alpine lake.

Evolution Lake and pointy Mt. Spenser, I think.

Our plan was to walk the length of the lake and camp somewhere near the inlet, which fit well with the next day's goals, and still got us into camp fairly early. 

 

Muir Pass is somewhere up there, and we will be heading there in the morning.

What I hadn't counted on was the wind! Up until we rounded the corner away from that first piece of the lake, we'd been sheltered and hadn't realized that it was blowing again (or still), just as hard as the first night when we'd struggled to find shelter. Now we were hunting for protection again on the bare shores of an alpine lake. We reached the general area where we wanted to stop by 3:15 or so, but didn't find a camp until almost 4, so a lot of time not covering much ground.  

A scenic spot, but no shelter from that wind.

"This is the place!"

Our camp was a long way above the lake, tucked in among the rocks. Fortunately, there was a stream not far off, so water didn't require a quarter-mile trek.

Level ground was at a premium, as was ground into which I could get my stakes. I managed, and was glad, with the amount of wind we had even in our "sheltered" spot, that my new tent is staked out before being raised, unlike my old tent.

 

Out of the wind, at least mostly, the afternoon sun was warm and pleasant, and we were able to dry hiking clothes that were wet with sweat, even rinse some things and get them dry (sun and wind are a great combo for laundry).

 

The sun disappeared behind the ridge at 5:56, according to the time-stamp on my phone. Looks like we were still heating water for dinner.

As soon as the sun was gone, out came the down jackets and wooly hats as the temperature plummeted.

I stayed outside as long as I could, for the sunset, which was all on the mountains as the sky was innocent of any clouds.

 By 7:25, according to my journal, we'd all decided it was too cold out and retreated to tents and bags. 

 

About 7.6 miles, 1900' up, with a couple of hundred down along the way. We regretted the wind, which rapidly blew away the fantasy Gretchen and I had of taking an actual swim on reaching camp, but otherwise it was a glorious day.

 

 

 

 

 

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 ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026 

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