Who: Me, Jason, and Jessica
What: Backpacking
When: 7/18/18-7/23/18
Where: Inyo NF / John Muir Wilderness / Kings Canyon NP
Mileage: 36 miles (30 on trail plus 6 XC)
Elevation gain/loss: +8,700ft/-8,300ft
More photos: here
CalTopo: here
I’d been wanting to climb over Lamarck Col down Darwin Canyon to Darwin Bench for coming on a baker’s dozen years now, but wasn’t quite up to going it alone and didn’t have the right comrades until this past summer. I invited Jason, who I knew would be up for it after being a stalwart companion crossing Harrison Pass on the Circle of Solitude, and his wife Jessica. We hiked this classic trip from North Lake to South Lake amidst some wild mid-July weather, with thunderstorms every day and some of the craziest hail I’ve ever experienced, which resulted in landslides and a trapped car thwarting our car shuttle. Read on to see how we managed *not* to die!
Plutonic Love 