We'd had a nice warm--and rain-free--night at McClure Meadow. Today would be a long day, and we wasted no time eating and packing; soon we were on the trail heading towards the switchbacks that would carry us up to Evolution Basin. Well, the always-improving views carried us up the trail, at least.
We took the climb slow and steady and eventually reached the top, where we took one last look at Evolution Valley and its meadows, which appeared much smaller from above than they had seemed while in them.
At Evolution Lake there was a cool breeze, which we took advantage of to dry our gear, which was damp from dew--hopefully from the fact that we camped near a meadow and not an indication of general humidity.
Evolution Basin is understandably popular--its inviting lakes are surrounded by rugged peaks that seem to be almost within arms' reach. Old Dood refers to this as "angry granite", and its rough, fractured nature certainly contrasts with the smooth, polished granite of Yosemite's domes or the Emigrant's canyons. Still, it's hard to be angry when surrounded by it.
Despite Muir Pass' elevation of almost 12,000', the climb to its summit from the north is very gradual--and deceptive, as the pass is not visible until Wanda Lake.
After the long detour around Evolution Lake, we had to climb above Sapphire Lake.
To the south loomed Mt. Goddard and the Goddard Divide.
We stopped at Wanda Lake for a swim and bath. The lake had a surprising number of frogs...
...and large tadpoles.
After our afternoon soak/swim, we started the final climb to the pass itself. This portion of Evolution Basin is especially desolate, in places appearing to be of only rock and water.
Along the trail we encountered a family--or two--of what we believe were (rock) ptarmigans. (Interestingly, these are also known as "snow chickens" in the U.S.--but we all know that the Sierra Snow Chick-on has pink plumage; perhaps the Twinkie and pizza deficiency here results in the muted coloration...)
The final approach to Muir Pass can seem to take forever--the stone shelter is visible from miles away, but it's hard to determine just how far away it is... until you can see others resting near it.
We had a snack and spent some time chatting at the summit.
As with most of the JMT, we could have easily spent more time here, but we still had the long, steep drop into LeConte Canyon facing us, so we were soon heading towards Muir's other daughter's namesake lake, Helen.
Muir Pass is one of the more asymmetrical passes--the north side consists of white granite and large lakes in a broad, gentle valley, while the south is a steep drop that follows a tight, convoluted route through dark metamorphic rock. Who says there's not variety in the Sierra Nevada? In the distance we could see the dark peaks of the Palisade group, where we'd be the next night.
We hiked almost nonstop down LeConte Canyon, but the trail is rough and it was hard to descend quickly despite the downhill grade.
It also didn't seem quite right to be rushing through this section, but we wanted to reach camp before darkness overtook the canyon. Eventually we turned the "corner" near Starr Camp and could see where the canyon turned to the south--our destination, Big Pete Meadow, was here.
In 2010 JKW, A, and I had reached a small, marginal campsite between the trail and river just as it got dark. It was pleasant enough--especially since this was before the rock monster took up residence near the camp.
All the campsites below Starr Camp, including the trailside campsites at Big Pete, were unoccupied, but I vaguely remembered better camping just past the trailside spots. We found a use trail that headed to a wooded packer's site near the meadow which still had sunlight hitting it. We started to unpack here, and we marked where we'd left the trail and radioed back to P and the H party who were behind us. After I returned to camp from getting water, A had found an even better campsite nearby: a flat sandy bench on open granite. So, being campsite snobs, we relocated. P showed up a bit later at our relocated site, but the H party later called in that they were stopping at Starr Camp.
Although the sun had dropped behind the tall mountains to the west, we enjoyed a comfortable dinner--the temperatures were still very mild.
Unfortunately, we'd experienced some gear failures--M's sleeping pad wasn't holding air, so she was borrowing my Z-Rest at night (I still had my X-Therm!). P had run out of fuel and her sleeping pad had failed too, and, combined with a few other minor issues, decided that night to hike out at Bishop Pass instead of Kearsarge as originally planned. She had hiked strong, and we would miss her.
We were treated to another clear night. There had been no rain, nor significant clouds, for two days.
