"Summited Lamarck Col early Saturday morning on our way into King's Canyon for an Evolution Valley loop. Having run the full loop a couple years back, I wanted to return and do the short version over Lamarck so we could do most of the route during daylight hours. We started at the North Lake TH at 5am after a ride over from South Lake from Robert at Eastern Sierra Shuttle Services (highly recommended!) We passed Lower and Upper Lamarck lakes under cover of darkness, but as we ascended closer to the Col, sunlight began to bathe the peaks around us. There was plenty of snow present on the glacier at the top, and we had considered bringing crampons. Not wanting to carry them the rest of the day, we decided against it, figuring if the snow and ice was too sketchy, we would just end-around the snowfield and traverse the ridge in order to descend into Darwin Canyon. In the end, there was a well-traveled path in the snow, and climbing was easy, even in running shoes. After summiting, we scrambled into Darwin Canyon and enjoyed a pleasant hike down to Evolution Valley in the early morning light. From there, we followed the traditional Evolution Loop path, through Evolution Valley, ove..." — rsnipes • Oct 20, 2018

"Hiked from North Lake up to Upper Lamarck Lake with the family, then set off on a solo run up to Lamarck Col. Ran/hiked to the Col. Took me about an hour. Most of it was runnable but the high altitude forced me to hike a bit, and there were a few snowfields that got me off course. I wasn't sure of the distance, but I could gauge progress based on my altimeter. After a couple false summits, I spotted Mount Lamarck and the Col, and a few moments later I crested the ridge. Darwin Canyon and Kings Canyon NP exploded before me, and I spent several minutes taking it all in. Had time allowed, it looked like a pretty easy hike up to the summit of Mount Lamarck, but I'll have to save that for another trip. I ran back to Upper Lamarck Lake in roughly half the time it took me to ascend, again going off course a couple times, forcing me to backtrack a bit." — rsnipes • Oct 8, 2017