Stats

Start: Middle Fork Kings River – Mile 830
End: Evolution Lake Overlook – Mile 844
Elevation Max: 11,963
Elevation Min: 8,556
Elevation Change: 4,158 up & 1,823 down
Average Heart Rate: 111
Walking Time: 5 hrs 7 minutes
Date: 5/28/2022

The Walk

Pat pat. I woke up to a light tapping on my sleeping bag. Instantly I knew it was rain and I held my breath hoping I wouldn’t feel many more a few more hit and I turned to look at the sky.

Uh oh. Dark clouds were forming and creeping over the mountain. But it was hard to tell. It was 6:00 and I didn’t feel like packing up and possibly walking in the rain. So I sprung up and quick pitched my tent. In a few minutes I was inside and the rain hadn’t picked up. At least I would stay dry.

10 minutes later Quest walked over fully packed up. He slept on a rock by the water and didn’t have a spot to pitch his tent. I asked Garmin for the weather, but it was taking a long time to connect. Quest headed out and said he would pitch if a storm came.

I decided to pack up and follow. By the time I got going it was 7 and Muir Pass was 9 miles away. Might as well get an early start. Passes in the morning are the best because the snow is hard and your legs don’t sink in too much.

The trail would through a forest with a rushing river on the left side, and mountains rising up on both sides. I love walking through small valleys. I caught up with Quest a mile in.

Then we headed out for the day. We crossed rivers, saw waterfalls and walked through the first. At 4.5 miles I stopped for a break next to a waterfall and beautiful Mountain View’s. It was chilly and the longer I sat the colder I got. About 15?l minutes after getting water and eating a snack I headed on.

We had 4.5 miles to the pass. And snow started to fall. The clouds looked the same. Pretty Misty and overcast. We decided to keep going until things looked really bad. The cool weather should keep the snow hard.

Half a mile later the trail turned to snow. We had 4 miles of snow on the approach to Muir Pass. Luckily I could follow footprints of hikers before me and I didn’t sink in too much.

But it was cold. We kept moving and climbing. We were walking through a cloud and climbing steep snow chutes. After many false peaks, the hut at the top of the pass came into view.

We went right into the hut which was a nice break from the wind. And had lunch. I was relieved. Even though we had a long snowy descent, the climb was over!

The way down is usually easier because you aren’t working as hard. But we postholed most of the way down. Where you sink into the snow. Sometimes up to your waist and often up to your knee.

The next 3 miles was a mix of sliding feet quickly to try and stay up and walking in other peoples footprints a foot down in the snow. I was chilly but made the miles. And kept cruising.

We got to evolution lake at 3:30. The sun was breaking up the clouds and shining down, it felt amazing. I was warm for mthe first time of the day! We hung out for an hour and decided to look for camp spots.

We narrowed it down to two spots and a guy told us to check out a side trail to a waterfall. The waterfall was really cool. But we saw a small mountain next to the waterfall and decide to climb up there.s there was an amazing camp spot! No way?

This was the most beautiful 360 view I’ve ever seen. A lake in front of us. Then a waterfall and canyon, then a huge forested river valley, all framed by huge mountains.

We had dinner with a view of the lake and saw Ramen walking below. We called out and they joined us at the camp spot. We chilled until sun set and climbed 15 minutes to a bigger mountain with an even better view.

It was absolutely stunning.

At dark we climbed down to camp then watched the stars pop come out on a night with a new moon. It was absolutely the most tranquil night of my life. And hands down one of the best camping spots in the Sierras.