Lamarck Col -> Helen Lake -> Piute Pass; incl. 13ers Goethe, Black Giant, Fiske

After my nephew finished his apprenticeship he took off 3 months for hiking. He started by hiking 600 miles south starting from the North Cape in Norway on the E1. Then he flew to California where I had planned an introduction the the Sierra Nevada.

Day 0
We drove up to the North Lake campground at the trailheads for Lamarck Lakes and Piute Pass. Luck was with us and we scored a great campsite by the creek. We set up camp and enjoyed some beers around our campfire. We were looking forward to the next 10 days in the mountains.

Day 1 (6.61 miles/10.58 km; 3881 ft/1,182.93 m elevation gain)
We started on the Lamarck Lakes trail in the forest but soon found ourselves in the open as we climbed up. Fortunately, there were some clouds. The last we would see for the rest of the trip. We had completely clear skies day and night. We each were carrying about 55 lb (25 kg). That’s a lot, but we had a total of 45 lb of food for the 10 days the trip was to last. In addition, we had to be prepared for cold temps with heavier sleeping bags and extra layers. We paced ourselves and took a snack break every hour.

Just below Upper Lamarck Lake, we took the turnoff towards Lamarck Col. After crossing Lamarck trail we filled our water bags since this was the last reliable water until we would reach the Darwin Lakes on the other side of the Col. While we filtered a ranger came by. Of course, he wanted to see our permit, but in addition, he quizzed us about our food storage, where to camp (he pointed at a tiny lump of grass and said don’t camp on even something this small), and he wanted to know what we planned to do with our toilet paper. After passing the test (the “toughest” so far by a backcountry ranger for me) he wished us well and sped off.
We met some people coming down from the Col and they told us about the ice/snow field at the top. Fortunately, there was some soft snow from the previous week and we were able to cut some steps into it. It was a little sketchy with heavy packs, but short.
On the Col we got a spectacular view of Mts. Darwin and Mendel. They each had some of the fresh snow on their north/east-facing sides. We were too late in the day to attempt Lamarck Peak, so we started our way down toward the Darwin Lakes. The route along the lakes was more tedious than expected with some nasty, big talus to negotiate. Eventually, we arrived at a spot before the last lake where camping was possible with just enough time to set up camp and cook dinner before sunset.

Day 2 (4.7 miles/7.52 km; 2450 ft/746.76 m elevation gain)
We moved our camp about a mile to the west below the easternmost Darwin Lake. It was only a mile, but gave us a good starting position for Mt. Goethe (13,264 feet, 4043 m).
After re-establishing camp, we headed towards Goethe. I had heard that it’s a sandy slog up that peak following the class 1 route. We followed a track that took us through some cliff which required very light climbing (class 2) but kept us on rock the entire way up. The view was great from the top due to the cloudless sky. We had a long lunch break before heading down the sandy slope of the class 1 route. At camp, we enjoyed the views while rehydrating with some broth.

Day 3 (9.81 miles/15.70 km; 1916 ft/584.00 m elevation gain)
We hiked down through Darwin Bench towards the JMT in the Evolution Valley below. At the JMT we turned south and hiked up to and then through Evolution Basin to Wanda Lake. We took our hourly breaks along the way in spots where we could admire the impressive scenery. The glaciers did an incredible job of forming stunning cliffs and walls. From Wanda Lake, we went over Muir Pass and down to Helen Lake. There are not many good campsites down here, but a bit of searching paid off and we found a great spot where we settled in for the next 3 nights.

Day 4 (3.32 miles/5.31 km; 1775 ft/541.02 m elevation gain)
We woke up to our coldest night yet at 20F/-6.7C, but since sunrise in our location wasn’t until 8:45 we had no choice and had to get going. The hot coffee helped, but by the time we were ready to start our ascent of Black Giant, the mountain to our south, we had cold hands and feet. Almost the entire ascent took place in the shade of the mountain and we generated just enough heat to climb up while still wearing our hard shells. From camp, we went straight towards Black Giant pass and then up the obvious ridge. There was an especially steep section, but the small talus did not slip too much. From the top, we had great views again without any clouds. We returned the same way we went up and made it back to camp to have time to rinse ourselves and our clothes by the nearby lake. Local sunset came at 17:50 already and the temperature dropped immediately with it so we did not make it past 19:00 at this campsite.

Day 5 (4.35 miles/6.96 km; 2550 ft/777.24 m elevation gain)
Another day, another peak: Mt. Fiske (13,503 ft, 4116 m). We had the same cold morning conditions as on the previous day. This time we went down to the JMT from camp and headed southbound. At the outlet of Helen Lake, we crossed the creek and worked our way along the shoreline to the northern side of the lake. Again we were dealing with talus, but that’s just the Sierra Nevada. From the north shore, we angled up to an area at a big wall on the south side of Mt. Fisk that looked like it would offer the best route up. The cliff we had to get through was about 330 ft / 100 m high. With careful planning, we made it through fairly easily. Above the cliff followed a sandy slope to a saddle and then it was up to the peak through decent-sized talus. The route down was the same.
Like on the other peaks we took a long break on top enjoying our snacks of cheese, smoked sausages, etc. With the clear sky conditions the view we were rewarded with for the climb ranks right up in the top Sierra Nevada peak views I have had. We had amazing views of the entire High Sierra south of us. Everything up to and including Whitney was clearly visible. We even saw the Los Pinos mountains way south.
On the way down we were surprised by a big, 4-engine transport plane that came down to just above 13,000 ft to clear the peaks and then went all the way down to the 10,000 ft level or even below to fly down the canyon south of us. Amazing spectacle.

Day 6 (6.09 miles/9.74 km; 965 ft/294.13 m elevation gain)
The plan for this day was to get up closer to sunrise and limit the time in the cold morning, then hike back on the JMT towards Wanda Lake, and go up Davis Pass to look for a campsite. From that campsite, we wanted to have a closer look at the Mt. Goddhard ascent. We also considered going over Wanda Pass to Ionian Basian or attempting climbing Mt. Scylla.
After we scrambled up Davis Pass and had a close look at the terrain we got out the map to review our plans. Mt. Goddhard looked much more climbly than a simple class 2. The ranger we had talked to also called it more class 2+ than class 2. Another consideration was the heat. It was so hot with the full sun and no wind the whole time, that we were concerned that we could not carry enough water for the ascent. Wanda Pass looked also quite tedious for the hot day. So we came up with the idea to go down to Davis Lake and see if there was a route through to Goddhard Canyon. I had not done any research on this, but we had enough supplies and time to backtrack if needed.
We worked our way down from the pass and along the south shores of the lakes below. Talus made it slow going again. We aimed for a spot in Davis Lake where some maps showed a land bridge and others showed a narrow waterway. We had no idea if we could cross there. Once we finally reached the point we discovered several campsites on the other side of the crossing. The crossing turned out to be just a little stream this time of year, but a more serious obstacle when water levels were higher. It was around 15:00 and we decided to camp. Finding the site was an encouraging sign for a route to Goddhard Canyon.

Day 7 (8.53 miles/13.65 km; 571 ft/174.04 m elevation gain)
We continued west from our camp on what we considered an obvious route. Sure enough, we came across a use-trail over a talus slope. We then found our way to North Goddhard Creek which looked impassable a few times, but every time we got closer to the perceived gorge or cliff we found a way around it. It was fun picking a route not knowing what would come next. The canyon the creek forms has great scenery. We found a couple of signs of other hikers (bottle of insect repellent, pieces of a tent(?)). Eventually, we ended up exactly in Goddhard Canyon where we had intended. From there we hiked the canyon north for about 5 miles to the intersection with the JMT. There were lots of campsites and we picked some.

Day 8 (9 miles/14.40 km; 2894 ft/882.09 m elevation gain)
We hiked the JMT south, up to Evolution Valley. From there we scrambled up an extremely steep slope towards Emerald Peak, then made our way to about 11,800 ft before abandoning our peak attempt due to running out of time and concerns about having enough water. I had only done minor research this peak and there may be better routes.
The hike was worth it anyway for the JMT section along Evolution Creek up to the Valley and the great views of Goddhard Canyon and South Fork San Joaquin Canyon.

Day 9 (9.2 miles/14.72 km; 1890 ft/576.07 m elevation gain)
We hiked the JMT north, downriver along the South Fork San Joaquin River to the intersection with the Piute Creek trail. There we turned up Piute Creek for a spectacular hike up towards Hutchinson Meadow. This is part of the popular North-Lake to South-Lake route. We found a campsite a couple of hundreds of a mile east of the meadow, set up, and took a refreshing dip in Piute Creek. It had been another very hot day.

Day 10 (11.74 miles/18.78 km; 2109 ft/642.82 m elevation gain)
Hike out day and drive home. We hiked out over Piute Pass to North Lake, admired the fall colors, which had reached their peak in the 10 days we were out, washed off a bit at the truck, and started our trip back home.