North Lake to Darwin Canyon via Lamarck Col
2006 Trip Report
Trail Location and info: From Bishop, you drive up Highway 168 toward
Lake Sabrina, but you don't go all the way to Sabrina. There is a turn off on
the right shortly before you get to Sabrina. The road then takes you up to
North Lake. The trailhead as past the Lake and at the far end of the
campground. However, you will need to park down by the lake. The trail is
relatively level for a little bit, and then takes off up the hill. It isn't
very steep, so it shouldn't be a problem. After roughly a mile or two you come
to the fork for Grass Lake. You keep going right toward Lamarck Lake. There a
some switchbacks and you soon will come to Lower Lamarck Lake. You will cross
a stream, it isn't very deep, so you shouldn't have to take your boots off.
You go around the lake and will shortly come to Upper Lamarck Lake. This is a
great place to camp if you would like. I hear there is excellent fishing
there, but I have no experience fishing there. After Upper Lamarck Lake there
is no official trail. But because it is a popular route, there should be a
trail going off to the left of the lake. There are a bunch of switchbacks
going up the side of the ridge and a nice trail cut in the side near the top.
You then come to a nice level area for a little while and then continue up.
You will probably have to cross a few snowfields, but late in the year, they
shouldn't give you any problems. Just below Lamarck Col, there is another snow
pack you will have to cross that is a little steeper than the others, but
again, it shouldn't be a problem. From the top you will have an excellent view
out both ways. You can see Owens Valley off to the east and Darwin Canyon,
Mount Darwin, and Mount Mendel to the west. You can try to follow the trail
down from the top, but as long as you are going toward the lakes, almost any
way down will work. One lake high back in the canyon, kind of a round shape to
it, you probably won't go to that one. The next lake is probably the first
lake you will come to. There is a nice green area for a camp at the southeast
end of the lake, although it might be a little too close to the water. I would
suggest trying to make it down to the end of the smaller lake (it's third one
you come to if you don't go to the first lake). There is a nice campsite at
the end of that lake off to the right of the trail. But if you can't make it
that far, the campsite we stayed it might work and is just after the second
lake. From there you can continue on down toward Evolution Valley. You can go
cross country or if you can find the trail, you can take that down to the John
Muir Trail/Pacific Crest Trail. If you are going the opposite way, towards
North Lake. It may be a little more difficult finding Lamarck Col from the
other side. You probably should have someone in you group who knows where they
are going. When you are in Darwin Canyon and are looking up the canyon, you
should see a little knob off kind of to the rear-left. Lamarck Col is just to
the left of that little knob. If you go to the right of it, you will be going
down the wrong canyon and may end up at Lake Sabrina or South Lake or
somewhere you don't want to be. Also after you have gone over the Col, stay to
the right, if you go too far to the left you will find a steep drop off going
down to Upper Lamarck Lake. You shouldn't be able to see Upper Lamarck Lake
until you start getting back into the trees. See the map with my GPS plot for
a recommended route (Sorry, the map isn't up yet).
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