17.2 miles
5,252ft
off trail
No permit
Bear country
Navigation
Access to the trailhead is relatively straight forward. Drive towards Bishop, CA on I-395. From there, head west on CA-168 towards the town of Aspendell, CA. Aspendell is roughly 16 miles from Bishop and sits at 8,400ft. Continue on CA-168 until you reach North Lake Road. Turn right on N Lake Road and drive approximately 2 miles towards the North Lake Hiker’s Parking Lake. From there will have to walk to the campground, 0.3 miles from the parking lot. The trailshead is located at the end of the campground. If the campground is open, it is a good place to spend the night and acclimate before your trip. The campground sits at 9,300ft.
For easier navigation, please enter the following coordinates in your phone:
North Lake Hiker’s Campground: 37.23055, -118.61871
Note: North Lake Rd is not groomed during the winter. If snow is still heavily present at 8,500ft, you will have to park at the intersection between CA-168 and North Lake.
Permit: Not required during the mid season (Fall, winter and Spring) - Most likely required during Summer.
Introduction
Spring is a unique season in the Range of Light. Lower elevation valleys usually start seeing revival from the snowy winter. Winter can last until June at higher elevations, especially above 10,000ft. Ridges and passes remain buried in deep snow and backcountry lakes are still solid frozen It is is a great time for an off trail expedition. The winter snowpack is well settled this time of the year and avalanches risks are at their lowest.
Over the course of four days, we would traverse a High Sierra loop I mapped myself, going over several backcountry climbing towards two off-trail passes, reaching as high as 13,000 ft.
Keep in mind that this is considered a mountaineering trip. That means having proper gear (softshell and harsher). proper equipment (ice axe, crampons, micro spikes and/or snowshoes depending the conditions) and navigation skills in a high alpine snowy environment.
We did not encounter a soul over the first 3 days of our trip. Being the High Sierra in the Spring, temperatures can vary widely. We enjoyed good weather throughout the trip which in this part of the lower 48 means highs at 60F and lows at 20F, based on the elevation. While we were camped on a high ridge during our first night, a raging windstorm shook us all night, threatening to tear our tents apart. Needless to say that conditions can still vary drastically that time of the year, especially if a storm is in the forecast.
Make sure you prepare accordingly based on your forecast.
Map
Day 1 - Lamarck Ridge
We started our first day by getting onto the Lamarck Trail. Our goal was to simply go as far as we could. The trail towards Lamarck Ridge is quite steep, and in total, we would have climbed 2,200ft over 2.8miles. The first few hundred feet of gain are fairly easily navigable, after which the trail becomes completely covered in snow, getting us to rely for the remainder of the trip on off trail navigation.
The first 2 miles consist of crossing relatively unexposed timber area as well as two backcountry lakes: Lower and upper Lamarck Lakes.
The official trail ends at Upper Lamarck Lake and the remaining 1 mile are officially off trail and had us climbed the eastern face of Lamarck Ridge. We started on a fairly exposed snowfield only to finish with a rock formation, which we deemed safer than the exposed packed snow. Once on Lamarck Ridge, we decided to establish our first camp. The reason for to not continuing further was related to altitude. We wanted to avoid altitude sickness and achieve our process of acclimatization in the most conservative way possible.
That night was a perfect example why you want to be cautious when camping on ridges. While the evening was calm and smooth, a raging windstorm blasted the ridge, forcing us to use every imaginable point of anchor to secure our tents and making for a miserable sleepless first night.
Terrain profile for day 1
Day 2 - Lamarck Col
Today’s goal was to get past Lamarck Col and join the backcountry lakes lying West of the pass. we made our way up Lamarck Ridge following our GPS and carved a way up the deep snow covering the higher slopes of the ridge. Elevation made itself obvious to everyone of us as we reached Lamarck Col at 13,000 ft. We took a break and enjoyed the view on both sides: Behind us lied views of the Owens Valley. To the west, the rugged peaks of the High Sierra appeared like majestic towers of rock and ice. Excited by this accomplishment, we made our way down a tricky field of boulders to drop nearly 1,300 ft into a valley called Darwin Canyon. There, lied three stunning unnamed backcountry lakes, frozen solid. We pitched our tent and prepared to spend our second night in the backcountry.
Day 2 seemed fairly light in terms of terrain covered. We traveled for a total of 3 miles, climbed 1,500 ft and descended nearly 1,300 ft.
While this does not seem much on paper, this was a more challenging day than 20+ miles days I had done in the past.
It is important to bear in mind that travelling off trail in the backcountry at high elevation during mid season eats up considerable time and ressources.
Terrain profile for day 2
Day 3 - Alpine Pass
Day 3 was by far the most epic, beautiful and rewarding of the entire trip. The entire team had acclimated to high altitude and the first two days had provided a good physical and mental base for what lies ahead. We started our day by walking across the two unnamed lakes in Darwin Canyon. One of the perks of Spring mountaineering is the ability to walk across frozen lakes as opposed to circling them. Make sure to always test the ice attempting to walk on it. I usually try to hammer with my ice axe in the ice and see how it olds and how deep it is. Color is also a good indicator: blue ice is the strongest ice and usually a good sign it will hold. When in doubt, it’s better to simply go around it. Falling through ice is one of the worst thing that can happen in the wilderness.
After about 1.5miles, we take a sharp turn North and climb towards a higher unnamed canyon featuring two gorgeous lakes. Another 2 miles of travelling get us to the bottom of Alpine Pass. the views this entire day are absolutely stunning. The terrain is fully covered in snow and this is as deep as we will get into the backcountry during this trip.
The climb towards Alpine Pass is a true mountaineering experience and requires negotiating deep snow, steep exposed terrain and rocky features. At last, we get to the top of Alpine Pass. The views on each side are breathtaking (Check out the pictures below as words can hardly do justice to the beauty we are witnessing): Frozen lakes, rugged peaks, glaciers… The Eastern Sierra in its splendor. Alpine Pass is to this day one of my favorite backcountry pass in the Sierra.
The northern slope of the pass is completely covered in snow allowing for a quick and easy glissade towards Goethe Lake. From there, it’s another 1.5 miles towards Muriel Lake, our final destination for the day.
We pitch our tent on a small island in the middle of the frozen lake and enjoy and well deserved meal before heading to our tents.
Terrain profile for day 3
Day 4 - Back to the car
Day 4 was our last day. The goal was to get out of the high alpine and join a trail that would get us back to our car. We headed east of Muriel Lake down several snowy slopes past Piute Lake and Loch Leven. Past Lock Leven (at about 10,500ft) the snow became scarcer, tree coverage became a lot more abundant and the trail became apparent. From there, we simply followed the trail back to the subalpine and finally to our car.
Terrain profile for day 4
