Ionian Basin and More

The core of this hike, the Ionian Basin, had been on our list for many years. But it's tough to get there, and tough hiking once there. This basin is about as remote as a hiker can get in the Sierra Nevada, deep in the wilds of Kings Canyon National Park. With much study of potential routes, and surrounding areas, we were set to explore. We loaded our bear can with 8 days of food and set off. 

Link to map of total route

Day 1

Our approach was the shortest distance, but made for a difficult first day. We needed to first get to The John Muir Trail in Evolution Valley before heading off-trail for the next five days. We chose Lamarck Col as our approach, shaving at least a day off of other trail routes to Evolution. Lamarck Col is mostly on a use trail above Lamarck Lakes, gaining 4,000 feet of elevation in 5 miles from the trailhead to the Col. Once there, we descended the edge of the beautiful Darwin Canyon before calling it a day on the Darwin Bench. The weather was closing in on us and we just barley got the tent up in time to avoid getting very wet. This would be a theme for this entire trip, quitting early in the afternoon to avoid a good soaking. Of our 7 full days of hiking, only one day didn't include early afternoon showers, thunder, lightning, you name it.

Grass Lake, Piute Crags, Mt Emerson

Upper Lamarck Lake

The view back toward Bishop, many thousands of feet below

The trail to the Col, you can see Susan in the lower right

The plateau below the Col, Mt. Humphreys just left of center in the background

The plateau at above 12,000 feet elevation, below the Col

Lamarck Col at a few feet below 13,000, just left of center above the snow field

The Col

The view from the Col, Mt Darwin on the left, Mt Mendel in the center

Darwin Canyon and our next destination after descending from the Col

Darwin Canyon

Below Darwin Canyon is the Darwin Bench, our stopping point for this day

Some sun after the afternoon rains

Day 2

We continued down Darwin Canyon eventually connecting with the trail just below Evolution Lake. Turning south we hiked the relatively cruiser trail for a few miles to the south end of Evolution Basin. At Wanda Lake, we turned west and ascended cross-country to Davis Lakes Pass and made our way down through tons of talus fields to Davis Lakes. Again the weather didn't cooperate, and we scrambled to find a flat site free of rocks and get the tent up before the rain.

Hiking out across the Darwin Bench

The Hermit

Looking south as we descend from the Darwin Bench

Evolution Valley, north on the John Muir Trail

Evolution Basin

Mts Fiske and Huxley in Evolution Basin

Crossing the talus of Davis Lakes Pass. The Goddard Divide in the distance. 

Davis Lakes and our destination for the day

Talus, talus, and more talus

Here comes the rain

After another afternoon storm, we had a pleasant evening

Day 3

This would turn out to be our only day without rain, and it was a good thing. It was a tough hiking day, and we didn't make it to a spot with even reasonable camping until close to 5pm. Part of this was my route-finding mistake late in the afternoon that cost us at least an hour. We left Davis lakes and continued down the north fork of Goddard Creek reaching a spot where we could reasonably cross the Goddard Divide to reach Martha Lake at the head of Goddard Canyon. It was beautiful and fun hiking. From Martha Lake it was time to climb up the shoulder of Mt Goddard and cross into the Ionian Basin. There are two named crossings of this divide, both starting from the same place at Martha Lake. We followed a decent use trail for a while, then lost it about half way up the canyon. We zigged when we should have zagged, and ended up on a difficult section of steep talus. We finally found a way up and ended the climb at Goddard Col, several hundred yards away from our original destination of Goddard Creek Pass. Oh well, we made it and it wasn't difficult to traverse across to where we were supposed to be. All it cost us was time. Below Goddard Creek Pass was a beautiful little lake with an edge of the world feel to it. With our difficult day behind us we found a small flat spot and put up the tent. It was a lovely evening, our first in the Ionian Basin, and no rain today!

Morning at Davis Lakes broke with threatening skies, but it would clear up

Hiking out of the Davis Lakes basin

Making our traverse from the outlet end of Davis Lakes over the Goddard Divide

One of the many small lakes along the way crossing the Goddard Divide

Goddard Canyon falls away below us

Crossing the divide way above Goddard Canyon

Our intermediate destination for the day, Martha Lake below the divide

Mt Goddard towers above

Starting the climb to Goddard Col

Sky Pilot, Polemonium eximium, one of the highest altitude flowers in North America

Looking at the LeConte Divide above Marth Lake as we ascend

Martha Lake below

We are finally at the top and looking into the Ionian Basin

Ionian Basin

Mt McDuffie, The Three Sirens, Scylla

Our camping lake, at 12,200 feet elevation

There was an edge of the world feel to this beautiful little lake

Ionian Basin at sunset

From our campsite, at sunset

Day 4

Today was a big day, we would slowly traverse the majority of the Ionian Basin, taking it all in. This is a stark place - all day we saw a total of two white-bark pine trees and some flowers. Oh, and a lot of rocks. Route-finding was tricky, but the walking wasn't terribly difficult. This part of the Sierra is composed mostly of sedimentary rock and the walking was primarily on small shale bits. It was a fantastic day and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We finished the day by hiking down to Chasm Lake, a spectacular spot to spend the evening. And yes, it rained again in the afternoon.

Walking on shale bits

Hiking the Ionian Basin. There's not a tree in sight

But there were lots of beautiful flowers like these paintbrush and monkshood

And lots of lovely monkeyflowers

Alpine Springbeauty

Our destination for the day, Chasm Lake below

We found the granite talus again

Our little spot above Chasm Lake. It can be tough to find a campsite in this terrain

Chasm Lake

Dinner view

Day 5

This would be our shortest hiking day, for a couple of reasons. First, the ever-present threat (and follow-through) of rain, and second, we didn't want to camp anywhere on the John Muir Trail freeway. The JMT has gotten so popular that finding peace isn't an option. So today we hiked up from Chasm Lake to Black Giant Pass and left the Ionian Basin. Coming down from the pass we stopped at a large lake just below the pass, and under darkening skies, we called it a day. We were less than a mile from the JMT, but had the place to ourselves. From our lofty perch, we were about even in elevation with Muir Pass could see the famous Muir Hut, constructed by the Sierra Club. More on that as we go by the next day. We had our worst storm of the trip this evening. Camped in the wide open (no other choice in this terrain), we were awoken by lightning and thunder right above with torrential rain, that lasted from 11pm to 12:30am. Plug your headphones into your ears and listen to an audiobook. There's no sleeping in weather like that...

Leaving Chasm Lake

It was a lovely little canyon as we ascended to Black Giant Pass

The cobbles of a spring run-off streambed made for some easy walking for a short time

Looking back down canyon

We found the talus again

The final ascent to Black Giant Pass

Looking over Black Giant Pass, we would call it a day when we reached the lake below

This cool table rock was near our campsite. For scale, that block is about 5 feet thick

From near camp, looking down canyon toward Helen Lake on the JMT

From near our campsite, Black Giant Pass is the ridge across the back of the lake.
If you look really close a little left and below center, you can see our tent.
This was the only flat rock-free spot for miles.

Sunset from near camp, the Muir Hut sits on the right skyline

Day 6

It was time to inventory our food and decide what was next. We could pretty much reverse our entry route from here and finish in another couple days. But that would leave an extra day food in our can, so lets go exploring! We left camp and made the traverse to Muir Pass, stopping to admire the hut that has stood atop the pass for nearly 100 years. From there we picked up the JMT and headed north back to Wanda Lake. There's a parallel canyon to Evolution Basin with no trail, and likely no people, so we headed there. From Wanda Lake we traversed another cross-country pass and picked our way down McGee Canyon. It was rugged and beautiful, and a fine addition to our route. As we reached the larger McGee Lakes in mid-canyon, the weather again told us we were done. We found a lovely legal campsite on an isthmus on the middle lake and spent the afternoon dodging rain showers. 

Leaving camp early

Approaching the Muir Hut at Muir Pass on the JMT

The Muir Hut

Upper Evolution Basin from Muir Pass

This is the same view on June 8, 2016 when we thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail

One-seeded Pussypaw (Clyptriduim monospermum)

Wanda Lake with the dark Goddard Divide beyond. We circled the Goddard Divide on this trip.

Goddard Divide over Wanda Lake

After the torrential rain the night before, we packed up wet.
Once the sun was out we exploded the packs to dry out our things

We bumped into this accommodating bachelor heard of deer

Climbing the pass to McGee Canyon

Getting down into McGee Canyon had some tricky spots

Our destination for the day was the large McGee Lakes far below

The uppermost of the McGee Lakes, The Hermit towers above

From across upper McGee Lake, Mt McGee dominates the view

Mt McGee

After another afternoon storm, the clouds were pretty awesome

From our campsite we could see Mts Fiske and Huxley in Evolution Basin

Mt McGee reflection

Sunset from camp

Day 7

We awoke to nice skies, but that wouldn't last. We continued down McGee Canyon losing elevation quickly. After a couple hours of hiking we emerged from the canyon near Colby Meadow and the JMT. It was time to start our return to home. We hiked the trail for a short time, reaching the unmarked turn-off to the Darwin Bench, and ascended the use trail up the steep slope. As we neared the spot we camped on Day 1, we looked at the sky. There was no way we were going to attempt to cross the 13,000 foot Lamack Col in a lightning storm. Even though it was early, we called it a day.

Mt McGee with beautiful blue sky

Heading down the steep McGee Canyon

We had wet feet this day from several stream crossings

The Hermit looking across Evolution Canyon from the Darwin Bench

The Darwin Bench as we make it back to our campsite from Day 1

When the rain didn't start right away, we took a short
excursion to a side canyon and a view of the Glacial Divide

Sunset over Evolution Valley as seen from the Darwin Bench

Lovely alpenglow light hits the flank of Mt Mendel

Day 8

Get out day - not much left to do but ascend the 1,500 boulder-strewn feet to Lamarck Col, and trudge down the quad pounding 4,000 feet to our car. At least it didn't rain. 

This was a spectacular trip and we saw a lot of fantastic and remote country. For me, it was easily in the top 5 of all our High Sierra trips ever.

Evolution Valley below as we get another early start to beat the rain

Darwin Canyon again as we ascend to the Col

One last look

Mts Darwin and Mendel from the Col

And down we go...

And for those of you patiently waiting for posts of our Galapagos trip, those are coming next!