Day 3: Muir Pass

Day 3: Darwin Creek, Evolution Valley to Upper LeConte Canyon

Miles hiked: 11.3 mi
Vertical feet: 1,955 ft up, 1,555 ft down
Number of times struck by lightning: 0 (thankfully)
Number of times thought I was going to be struck by lightning: about a dozen

Looking up toward upper Evolution basin from camp. After a rather rainy night, I woke up to a wet sleeping bag and what seemed to be clearing skies. Worried that putting all of my things away wet would leave me miserable later that day, I made the unfortunate error of deciding to stick around camp until the sun rose to dry out my gear. As I impatiently waited, counting the minutes until the sun reached the valley, I watched the clouds start to rebuild right where the sun was going to come over the horizon. When the sun finally rose high enough to reach my location, so little of the light made it through the shifting clouds that I gave up and packed my gear despite its sogginess. Thus, I didn't end up leaving camp until 8:00 with a good five miles uphill to the pass still to climb.

The view back down Evolution Valley from the bench of Evolution Basin after a good switchback-laden climb to get me going in the morning.

Evolution Lake and the view toward the pass. An incredible view but notice the clouds that have started to build? Not a good sign. At this point I realized I needed to stop taking pictures and get my butt moving; I was still a good 3 miles from the top of the pass and a storm was definitely imminent. Although it was only around 10:00 am, early for afternoon thunderstorms, the hail started falling intermittently when I was just 2/3 of the way around the lake. Well above treeline at this point, I climbed past several more small alpine lakes without seeing anyone else on the trail. As I was filled with plenty of self doubt about what the hell I was doing here anyway, I found myself praying that someone else would come along so that at least if I was struck by lightning, they would know where to look for the body. It all sounds a bit over dramatic in hindsight, but I can't remember the last time I was so scared.

The storm clouds continued to build and I had just reached the last lake below the pass when the thunder cracked directly over my head. I almost ran back down the trail but instead huddled next to a nearby rock, paralyzed with indecision about whether to continue up over the pass or head back down. Not really wanting to do either, I waited until the storm had moved further away before climbing back up the trail, only to come upon two guys eating lunch just around the corner. One man, Mark, ended up being my hiking partner for the rest of the afternoon, and he provided the much needed reassurance that I was in fact going to survive the day.

Mark and I on the way down LeConte Canyon from Muir Pass. Mark and I reached the pass with no further problems and were greeted by the amazing sight of an offer of beer from a guy named Grant at the hut at the top. Grant was something of a legend on the trail as this crazy dude who had hiked in several cases of beer and was handing them out at Muir Pass. Upon reaching the hut, we found the rumors to be true and not only was there beer (Tecate... can you ask for more?) but a portable, battery powered stereo playing reggae music. Hanging out with him and Mark while enjoying a respite from the weather made all of the stress of the day instantly better. Grant, as it turns out, has made this trip twice now and as far as I can tell, does it because he enjoys the through-hiking culture, but also values camping in luxury with his queen sized air mattress. Most of all, though, I think he just likes making people happy.

Hiking through the hail headed down from Muir Pass. Shortly after the second round of lighting and thunder stopped, Mark and I headed down into the LaConte Canyon. In the wake of the storm, we found incredibly cold winds and almost six inches of hail in some spots which seemed surreal for late July. Mark and I spent the afternoon hiking together and I learned a lot more about his unusual background. He had started hiking the JMT several weeks ago after going out for what he thought might be a couple night trip. When he just kept hiking, he predictably found himself short on food and subsisted on less than 800 calories a day provided mostly by other generous hikers. I would cross paths with Mark several times over the course of the next week or so and he remains one of the nicest, albeit most unusual, hikers I met on my trip.