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, over Muir Pass, down into Le Conte Canyon, up through Dusy Basin, over Bishop Pass, and down to South Lake. Roughly 38 miles in all. Epic trip!