In spite of our good intentions of getting an early start for today’s long hike; we did not hit the trail until 8:30am.  It was a glorious day, which would turn out to be our best hiking day of the whole loop.  The ranger that we met on our way to Bishop Lake had told us that Le Conte Canyon was one of his favorite hikes in the area.  The hiking today would prove him right.  Even though we would have to gain elevation from a low of 9000’ at our camp at Big Pete Meadows to 11955’ at Muir Pass, this was my favorite day of hiking.

We took lots of photo breaks as we ascended Le Conte Canyon toward Muir Pass, as the views were very scenic.  This was the warmest day of the whole trip and we found ourselves seeking shade along the trail.  When we arrived at Helen Lake, just a few hundred feet below Muir Pass, we decided it would make a nice place to stop and eat lunch.  Helen Lake was named after one of John Muir’s daughters and is much prettier than Wanda Lake on the other side of the pass.   I wonder if Helen was the prettier daughter too?

After our relaxing lunch, we pushed on to Muir Pass.  I was anxious to see Muir hut and the view on the other side of the pass into Evolution Basin.  We passed several hikers and a horse party along this final section of trail to Muir Pass and stopped to talk with each one of them.  Our leisurely pace of this trip was one of the highlights even though it meant that we had long days of hiking.  When we were only a couple hundred feet below the pass we came upon “Mr. Know-it-all” lounging in the shade of a large boulder.  We exchanged pleasantries with him and I could not resist telling him that I was glad that we did not take his recommendation of doing our trip in reverse, as the climb up to Dusy Basin would be killer.

We soon crested Muir Pass and dropped our packs to take photos of Muir hut and the view down into Evolution Basin.  Brian had been anticipating this view as he had been told that it was one of the finest views in the Sierra.  Although it was very beautiful, Brian said that the anticipation was better than reality as he was expecting something more spectacular.  He could think of other high altitude Sierra views that were much better.

We spent almost an hour relaxing on Muir Pass, talking to hikers, taking photos, and just generally enjoying ourselves.

The weather was starting to deteriorate so we decided it was time start our descent into Evolution Basin if there was any hope of reaching Evolution Lake before dark.  The biggest lake on this section of trail is Wanda Lake, which is huge and barren.  We decided it was not even worthy of any up close photos so the only picture that we have of Wanda Lake was taken from Muir Pass.  Rain clouds were rushing by as we wound our way around the Lake but we were only pelted with a few sprinkles.

We continued on down to Sapphire Lake, which sits at an elevation of 10966’.  We were tempted to set up camp here, as this was a very nice Lake with plenty of campsites in a scenic setting.  But, there was one other party camped here and we really wanted to camp at Evolution Lake so we pressed on.

According to the map, Evolution Lake was only 5 miles from Muir Pass and it was all down hill but it seemed like it took us forever to get there.  Once we reached the lake, we decided to go part of the way around to get a campsite with views down into Evolution Valley.  We chose a site near the water with level spots to sleep.  It was quite windy that evening and even though the sky was somewhat threatening, we did not get any rain.  Brian retired to his bivy sack by the time it got dark but I stayed up a little longer to check our the stars in the clearing sky.

This was our longest day of hiking at 12 miles and 3000’ of elevation gain going over Muir Pass.  Although we were both a little tired, having spent the entire day on the trail, this was my favorite day of hiking in the whole trip.  We talked with lots of other hikers, took lots of photos, and spent the time to stop frequently to enjoy the high Sierra scenery in the nearly perfect weather.

Le Conte Canyon

Le Conte Canyon

Le Conte Canyon

Le Conte Canyon

Le Conte Canyon

Helen Lake

Helen Lake

Heading to Muir Pass

Heading to Muir Pass

Heading to Muir Pass

Muir Pass Hut

Muir Pass

Wanda Lake

Buck Lake

Descent to Evolution

Descent to Evolution

Evolution Lake Camp

DAY 4