The fourth of six stages walking the John Muir Trail (JMT). This section was completed between 27 August to 30 August 2010; days 12 to 15 of 21 days on the JMT. In summary this section went from Lake Thomas A. Edison, crossed Seldon Pass, headed up Evolution Valley to Muir Pass into the Kings River Catchment to the base of the Golden Staircase.

Day 12: 27 August. Vermilion Valley Resort to Marie Lake. We had an excellent large breakfast at the VVR restaurant, then paid the bill and packed ready to begin the next stage of the tramp. We had a later start than usual as we were getting the ferry across the lake, which left at 9 am. The ferry trip was about 25 minutes. After disembarking we headed up track to the same junction with the JMT. We basically went up the 2,000 foot walk up Bear Ridge without stopping. I missed the opportunity to get a photo of a snow plant (Sarcodes sanguine; Family Ericaceae) an impressive red plant that derives its nutrients from fungi and does not photosynthesize. It was near the hill bottom and I was not ready to stop just yet. I think we were both feeling extra energetic after a rest day and the extra food we had eaten at Vermilion Resort. Once over Bear Ridge we got good views to the north into Bear Creek, Seven Gabels, and towards Seldon Pass. We had lunch at a small creek. The afternoon was basically walking up Bear Creek towards Marie Lake. While a very scenic valley I took few photos. We made it to Lake Marie, and had gone slightly further than our initial plans for the day. We set up camp in a sandy area between some rocky outcrops. I took some photos of the the mountain scenery. It took what seemed ages to fill the water bottles with an almost useless MSR water filter. The weather started to cool in the evening and the wind was increasing. After we had eaten I took some more photos of the cyan evening sky. Day 12 Summary: 14.3 miles. Key locations: Lake Thomas A. Edison Lake 7,700 feet. Bear Ridge (just under 10,000 feet). Bear Creek Junction 8,970 feet. Marie Lake 10,540 feet.

Day 13: 28 August. Marie Lake to First crossing of Evolution Valley. We awoke to a very cold morning and after breakfast we headed on to Seldon Pass. There was fresh frosty ice on the track near the top of Seldon Pass. We did not wait at the top of the pass due to the very cold wind there. We past the first patches of rock fringe (Epilobium obcordatum; family: Onagraceae)– a very brightly pink flower that appeared to grow in places close the top of passes when I was set to get to the top, and therefore did not get any photos of this plant for several more days. Slightly further on I saw a columbine with almost daffodil type flowers, but the leaves looked like a Ranunculus, but was a dicot unlike a daffodil. I later worked out it was probably Sierra columbine (Aquilegia pubescens). We soon past Heart Lake and then the twin lakes called Sallie Keyes Lakes. We then past through meadows and lodgepole forest with an undulating up and down section before making the big descent to South Fork of the San Joaquin Valley. This section of descent was through mixed conifers (e.g. Jeffrey pines and western junipers) forest and treeland and shrubs dominated by manzanita. Once in the valley floor we headed east to the crossing of Piute Creek, where we entered King’s Canyon National Park. We had lunch here are refilled our water supplies amongst Jeffrey pines and western junipers. After lunch we continued up the south branch of San Joaquin Creek valley steadily increasing in altitude. At the junction with Goddard Canyon we decided to continue slightly further than our initial plans for the day and make the steep climb up the eastern side of the canyon wall through to Evolution Meadow in Evolution Valley. This last section had great views down into the San Joaquin Valley. We waded Evolution Creek and then set up camp a few hundred metres up-valley. Day 13 Summary: 15.1 miles. Key locations: Marie Lake 10,540 feet. Seldon Pass 10,890 feet. Low altitude section of San Joaquin Valley; 7,880 feet. Piute Creek Crossing 8,050 feet. Campsite near first crossing of Evolution Creek 9,200 feet.

Day 14: 29 August. Campsite in Evolution Valley over Muir Pass to unnamed lake (10,800 feet) in Middle Fork of King’s Canyon. After a night with a fairly comfortable campsite in the lodgepole pines, we continued up Evolution Valley. Our first short break was at McClure Meadows where we saw a sandpiper feeding in Evolution Creek. The Hermit was the main peak viewed in this part of the valley, and after a series of meadows we headed up to Evolution Lake. Here views were had towards Mt Mendel, Mt Huxley and Goddard Peak. We headed to the upper end of the lake and had lunch by the stream crossing. The weather started to change while eating lunch and got considerably colder and potential storms looked threatening. I tried to get a few plant photos but it was a bit too windy, though I still managed to get a few to come out. We then headed up past Sapphire Lake and several smaller lakelets until we got to Wanda Lake. As we stopped there to get some photos a large pack of mules past with several groups of people walking with very light loads. A few peppercorns of snow started to fall around us on our way up to Muir Pass, but it did not start snowing properly. We had a good look around the Muir Hut on Muir Pass. Great views with the changeable weather were had to the north over Wanda Lake and the surrounding mountains. We then continued north towards Helen Lake. As we got to Helen Lake it started to snow heavily. I slipped at a crossing just to the north of Helen Lake, but luckily all was well. We steadily continued down-slope in the snow until we reached an unnamed lake at 10,800 feet, when the snow stopped. This was the only snow or rain we had during the 21 days we had on the trail. We found a good campsite about 30 metres above the lake outlet. It was very cold here and this was by far the coldest night of the whole tramp. I had full clothing on all night including a down Jacket and long-johns in the sleeping bag and was still cold. It was a poor nights sleep in the cold. Day 14 Summary: 15.4 miles. Key locations: Evolution Creek campsite: 9,200 feet. Muir Pass: 11,980 feet. Campsite at unnamed Lake: 10,800 feet.

Day 15: 30 August. Unnamed lake down Middle Fork of King’s River to Junction with Palisade River, and then up to the base of the Golden Staircase. After the very cold start to the morning, we stayed in tents for longer and did not start walking until after 9:30 am. This was our latest morning start while walking the JMT. Once the sun had started to warm things up it became a stunning and clear day. We progressively declined in altitude down Le Conte Canyon. We passed several large groups of guided walkers and past through a mosaic of meadows and pine forest. There was some great views of the surrounding mountains ranges including The Citadel and a neighbouring fast flowing cataract. We had lunch at Grouse Meadow beside a really good looking campsite. The smoke was now becoming obvious in the sky and became a feature of the afternoons for the remainder of our time on the JMT. After a fairly descent lunch break we continued down to the junction with Palisade Creek and made our way up this valley. Again we were passing through a mosaic of landslides, pine forests, and open meadow grassland. After crossing deer creek we started looking for a campsite. The first one we found looked good, but someone had left a lot of rubbish lying around it. We decided to stay clear because of bears. We headed a bit further up valley and had a relatively early finish for the day. That evening a hummingbird thought the orange tags on my tent were a flower. I wondered how many hummingbirds I had missed dismissing them as insects. Day 15 summary: 11.6 miles. Key locations. Campsite at Unknown Lake: 10,800 feet. Junction of Middle Fork Kings River and Palisade Creek: 8,070 feet. Campsite below Golden Staircase: 8,900 feet.