High Sierra Backpack Trip

After a night of recovery and a morning of re-packing on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, we headed back up to the high country from Bishop, California for a nine day backpacking trip. We set off from the North Lake trailhead for Paiute Pass and beyond. It was slow going for the first few days with 9 days worth of food and still getting used to the altitude, but we did make it over the pass to Humphrey's basin...

...where we camped at Tomahawk Lake.

About a third of the way through the trip we rendezvoused with our friends Pete and Becky in Hutchinson Meadow. Pete and Becky had just gotten engaged the day before...

...at the top of Mount Humphreys!

It was great meeting up with these two cats and hanging out with them around the campfire (OK, we were only below 10,000 ft. where campfires were permitted 1 night, but you know what we mean).

Now that we had newlyweds and a recently engaged couple along we felt comfortable doing cheesy things like leaving each other heart signs to point which way to go.

We hiked into Kings Canyon National Park, through Evolution Valley, to Darwin Canyon. All cheesiness aside we went to some really spectacular places...

...worked hard to get there...

...and felt quite accomplished when we arrived at Lamarck Col.

It was a really great trip.

For more backpacking photos click here.