11. to 14. October 2019
A wonderful fall trip with winter being just around the corner in the High Sierra.
The terrain around the Glacier Divide is often rough with extensive boulder fields. That slowed down our hiking pace. The light in the Sierra at this time of the year is magical and with the colder temperatures, you feel like you are bathing yourself in the sunbeams.
We started fairly early on Friday morning and made it to Lamarck Col in the late afternoon. There is a trail all the way up to the final slope. We had found a sharply cupped and frozen snowfield near the top, which was interesting to traverse to the top.
From Darwin Canyon we made our way over Alpine Col. We had to traverse more frozen snowfields that would run off into the lakes. The way down from the pass into Goethe Cirque consisted of yet another huge boulder field.
The next day we tried to climb Mt. Emerson. It was quite a mission from Piute Pass and involved a fun ridge scramble with some exposure. We turned around just short of the summit.
The way out and back to the car on our final day was filled with fall colors and wrapped up a beautiful trip.
| Day: | Start: | Finish: | Distance [miles] | Elevation + [feet] | Elevation – [feet] |
| 1 | North Lake | Darwin Canyon | 5.8 | 3879 | 1519 |
| 2 | Darwin Canyon | Muriel Lake | 5.5 | 1659 | 1943 |
| 3 | Muriel Lake | Piute Lake | 6.4 | 2970 | 3305 |
| 4 | Piute Lake | North Lake | 4.3 | 199 | 1943 |
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