For those who have backpacked the famous John Muir Trail, Evolution Valley is often mentioned as one of the most beautiful and memorable spots along the trail. But is there a way to get to Evolution Valley on just a one-week backpacking adventure? The answer is YES – and the most popular of these routes is the North Lake – South Lake Loop.
The North Lake South Lake Loop is a 55-mile trail that begins and ends in the Eastern Sierra in the Inyo National Forest. The trailheads – one at the North Lake Campground and the other at the South Lake day use parking lot – are just a 10-mile drive apart – and it is equally popular to start at either end. If hiking as a group, it is very efficient to leave a car at both ends. If hiking with just one car, there are various local shuttle services that can drop you off at either end. There is also a public shuttle bus that runs from South Lake to Bishop multiple times a day during the summer months.
Time: 4-6 days
Difficulty: Strenuous
Elevation gain: 9,418 ft
Dogs: No
When to go: Late July-Early October
The 55-mile route is epic! It starts from the North Lake campground and heads west and up, climbing 2,000 vertical feet over five fairly gentle miles to the summit of Piute Pass. Then the trail heads across Humphreys Basin and down along Piute Creek until it reaches the San Joaquin River and the bridge that crosses you into Kings Canyon National Park and the John Muir Trail.
Piute Creek
You then head south on the JMT, along the river until you reach the junction with the Goddard Canyon Trail. From there, you head back west and up up up to Evolution Valley and then Evolution Basin – finally topping out at the summit of Muir Pass. From here, it’s west and south down and into the epic Le Conte Canyon.
Muir Pass
Then, its west and up up up as you depart the JMT and head back via Dusy Basin and the summit of Bishop Pass. Finally, it’s down along the Bishop Pass trail, passed a half a dozen gorgeous lakes to the South Lake trailhead and done!
Three legendary mountain passes and a journey through Evolution Valley and Evolution Basin – it’s about as perfect as a 5-6 day backpacking trip in the Sierra can get!
North Lake/South Lake Loop Trail Map & Elevation Profile
Permits
Whether you start at North Lake or South Lake, the permitting process is the same. You apply online at Recreation.gov for either the Piute Pass-North Lake trailhead or the Bishop Pass-South Lake trailhead as your entry point – up to 6-months before your entry date. You will pick up your permit for either one at the White Mountain Ranger Station in Bishop, CA. They will ask you how you are storing your food and they will remind you NO fires above 10,000 feet.
Once you have your permit – you’re ready to go! AND, if you have time, don’t forget to stop at the world famous Burger Barn as you head out of town on Highway 168 – it’s worth the trip!
Six-Day North Lake–South Lake Loop Backpacking Itinerary
We decided on a pre-trip overnight at North Lake Campground followed by a 6-day trip – as we don’t like to hurry and LOVE to camp! Our schedule would be:
- Day Zero – Travel day. Pick up permit, eat at Burger Barn, head to North Lake Campground and spend the night
- Day One – Piute Pass trailhead – over Piute Pass – down through Humphreys Basin to Hutchinson Meadow
- Day Two – Hutchinson Meadow – down Piute Creek to the JMT junction – down along the San Joaquin River to the Goddard Canyon Bridge Junction
- Day Three – Goddard Canyon Bridge Junction – Up to Evolution Valley – then into Evolution Basin and camp at Sapphire Lake
- Day Four – Sapphire Lake – up to Wanda Lake then summit Muir Pass – then down into Le Conte Canyon and camp at Little Pete Meadow
- Day Five – Little Pete Meadow up to Dusy Basin and camp at the highest tarns below Bishop Pass at 11,200 feet
- Day Six – Up over Bishop Pass and down to South Lake – Finished!
NOTE: We originally had planned this trip for July, but changed it to August due to the snow and water challenges that the 2017 winter had created. We were glad we did! Our conditions were near perfect!
Key Things to Bring
- Bug spray, head nets and Permethrin treated clothes – the mosquitos were still challenging in certain spots
- Microspikes – not really needed, but brought – my wife used them on Muir Pass and Bishop Pass
- Water shoes – we had no less than 14 wet crossings – we used Teva sandals with water socks
- Rain gear – we did have rain on three separate occasions – one night pretty hard with hail
- Map, compass and GPS – We used GaiaGPS for iPhone and the Tom Harrison “Bishop Pass North Lake South Lake Loop” map.
Bishop Weather Forecast
Note that this trail begins much higher than Bishop, and climbs. Compare with the forecast at 11,484′ on Mt Agassiz (near Bishop Pass) .
Originally hiked August 19-25, 2017.
Continue to Day One: Piute Pass Trailhead to Hutchinson Meadow
Great read!
Thanks Danny! Hope you enjoy all 6-days of the blog!
Greg Photo’s and thank you for sharing and all of your help on this journey.
Greg,
Thank you for the great write up.
When applying for the permit I need to specify location each day (camp site names ). The options don’t seem to correspond to you itinerary. Can you point me toward a resource for this information? I ordered the map but it will take a couple days to ship.
Thank you,
Michael.
Would love to do this hike – looks epic! I only have Thursday on the trail until Sunday. I’m looking for a 24-26 mile hike in the amazing sierras – have done Whitney / Langley but looking for another with beautiful views like this trail and even a peak.
Any suggestions??
Thanks so much,
Jim
Hi Greg,
Are you able to keep food in bear lockers for multiple days? I am doing a hike similar to this but ending at North Lake. We would like to have food at the trail’s end but obviously don’t want it in our car there. Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Chrissy
Was there a lot of other hiker traffic on the trail?
Wen – thanks for your question. Over 30 miles of this trail is part of the John Muir Trail / Pacific Crest Trail itself (JMT) (PCT) – so it is quite well trafficked…You will see plenty of people. That being said, the campgrounds were still no problem to find space. The sections that are NOT part of the JMT/PCT – like over Piute Pass and into Hutchinson Meadow, or Dusy Basin to Bishop Pass – are quite empty and equally gorgeous.
We plan on doing this hike early September. Our group numbers have shrunk from 7 to possibly only 2, which means only one car. Any suggestions for how to get transportation to the start or finish if we only have one car at the opposite end?
Hi Ty – here’s a couple of suggestions. There’s a bus that goes from Bishop to the South Lake parking lot. So if you leave your car in Bishop and take a shuttle to North Lake, you can then take the bus from South Lake back to your car in Bishop. Or, Just leave your car at North Lake and have a shuttle pick you up at South Lake and drive you the 10 miles back to your car. I think when I priced out shuttles from North Lake to South Lake it was about $80 – so with two people, that’s only $40 per person which isn’t bad. Hope that helps.
Ty – I found this today while searching for exactly what you’re looking for.
https://www.estransit.com/routes-schedule/community-routes/bishop-creek-shuttle/
I haven’t looked at cost yet but you could foreseeably get picked up at Parcher’s Resort (about 1 mile from the Bishop Pass Trailhead) and get dropped off at the intersection of CA 168 and North Lake Road (about 2 miles from the North Lake Hiker Parking Lot).
This is going to be my plan. We will start our hike at Piute Pass TH, leave the car at Bishop Pass TH. So:
Drive down to Bishop Pass Trailhead, park the car. Walk back to Parcher’s to pick up the shuttle. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.1690269,-118.5659703/Parchers+Resort/@37.1821746,-118.5605844,15z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x80be22599824d057:0x2d65d233d333ba3!2m2!1d-118.558043!2d37.18528!3e0?hl=en
Shuttle then drops you at the intersection of CA 168 and North Lake Road, walk about 2 miles to Piute Pass Trailhead or more likely, spend the night at the campground, start the hike the next morning. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.2214526,-118.6047098/North+Lake+Hiker+Parking/@37.2218114,-118.6169192,15z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x80be212c5ba6930b:0x4fdb45ddf9fd610a!2m2!1d-118.6186999!2d37.2306136!3e0?hl=en
My dude. I just hitched it from south lake to north lake when I was done. Plenty of cool people up there willing to help a stinky hiker out.
Sounds like a great hike, but are those temps correct in your weather report? 100°??
Barb, those temps are for Bishop, CA (down on Highway 395 and MUCH lower). Use the link below the Bishop weather forecast for a more accurate estimation of the temps up around the high passes. Of course, you’ll experience a range of temperatures that varies due to the elevation change, as well as micro-climates in the canyons, so be prepared for anything! 🙂
how difficult is it to get walk up permits if your dates are flexible? we have permit to hike JMT from devils post pile north to HI starting August 13-22nd, but with fires and yosemite closed now, we need a plan B. if we get to mammoth on august 111th, 12th and 13th and they say not to hike NOBO then we need some ideas for alternate hikes and hikes that we possibly could get walk up permits for the next day or get a same day permit for ones not claimed. thanks for any imput- appreciated!!!!
Cherie, a certain percentage of permits are held for walk-ins, and if a permit reservation is not picked up by 10am it is subject to be released as well. If you have a small group (i.e. two people) your odds are better of course. Best of all, if you have some flexibility you should be able to score something. With North Lake/South Lake, you automatically have two trailheads to choose from, so you’ve already doubled your odds.
Another option to consider is entering via Purple Lake in Mammoth Lakes area.
Good luck!
I am wondering if this beautifully described loop is well marked with signage?
The signage is great, though it’s not officially named the North Lake/South Lake Loop. All the major junctions are well signed and easy to follow.
Just finished this trek. Everything Greg wrote was accurate and it was a wonderful introduction to the Eastern Sierra.
We followed the itinerary day, by day, including the camp site locations, as they were timed and spaced perfectly for the pace of the trek.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write about your experience and make it possible for us to follow in your footsteps.
MR
Awesome Michael!!! Glad you had a great time! Make sure to share some photos online at the SoCal Hikers FB Page if you have time – would love to see them!! GG
Thank you for sharing beautiful photos and great descriptions.
If one hikes counter-clockwise as you did, he starts out generally westward along Piute Trail then once he reaches Muir Trail Ranch he continues generally eastward along the John Muir Trail to Bishop Pass.
That turn is described above as west–oops.
i just got back from doing this trail back in july for a boyscout trip, really awesome place, id love to do it again soon
Nice photos, Great Post.
I did it in three nights. It hurt real bad.
Hi thank you for your trip report – going to do this hike with two friends and wanted to ask about the conditions you were trying to avoid in July? We are set to start our hike the first week of July. What does your experience of the trail tell you about starting first week of July?
Thank you
Michael, did you hike this July, 2019? I am leaving to do this hike in 2 days and would love to know about snow and especially water crossings this year. Thanks, in advance, for any info you can share.
Wanted to know how the trail condition is like on the north lake south lake loop. Is there a lot of snow still and are the water crossings difficult? If snow is a factor, do we need cramp ons?
Arnaldo – this report is from 2 years ago. For trail conditions, I suggest facebook groups like Sierra Nevada Current Conditions – Trails, Passes and Peaks,
Thank you for taking the time to write this up. As a complete newbie/entirely inexperienced hiker/backpacker, I really needed things spelled out for me. I was wondering if you could explain more about the difficulty of the hike? You have it marked as strenuous. Does that mean it’s like a constant, uphill struggle? Is it only uphill so far, then steady and flat, then downhill, etc? I just want to know how well prepared and trained I need to be.
Thanks!
Sabrina – as you can see from the write up, there are 3 major ascents on this trail. The first is 2000 vertical feet up Piute Pass. The second is the long ascent up to Evolution Valley, Evolution Lake and Muir Pass. The third is the ascent up Bishop Pass. All 3 of these passes are at about 12,000 feet in elevation. So, 3 of the 5-6 days are ascending, and the other half are descents. The best thing to do is train on trails that provide at least 2,000 or more vertical per hike, and get you up above 10,000 feet in elevation. With that type of training, you’ll be fine on this trail. Have fun.
Greg-
Great post and info. I know conditions in the mountains change by the day/hour, but wondering if you have any insights for those who have done this route at the tail end of the season. I have a permit to enter via North Lake on Sept 27 and will take a 6-day pace like you outlined. I know elevation will be chilly, but just wondering if you have any beta to pass along for that time in past seasons.
Cheers,
doug
I am on Recreation.gov, and a search for Piute Pass-North Lake, and any variation thereof, are not coming up with results for North Lake in California. Any recommendations as to how to get a permit?
I’ve done this hike several times with side trips up to Wanda pass, over Paiute pass and Lamarck Col. going in from South Lake via Bishop Pass is much easier than starting at North Lake, especially if you’re going ove the Vol into Darwin Canyon Darwin’s Bench is a plus going over the Col vs Paiute Pass
If you take a day hike up to Wanda Pass over going over it there’s a small band aid box with a sign log. It’s in in a stack of rocks but not marked. You’ll need to look around for it. I signed in there during my first hike in September 1987
Great trip!!!
What an exhausting and vigorous hike, Ted – done in honor of our Uncle
Robert E. Jordan or “Ranger Bob”, Natrion John Muir Park, US Department of Interiof.
I hiked this in 72 hours starting 05 August 2022 at 3pm. Easy to follow. Minimal mosquitos near Piute Pass entrance from JMT. Hiked at night but needed GAIA GPS app to stay on course coming down from Bishop Pass. I recommend starting at South Lake first. At north lake, we walked to the main road (about 2 miles) then hitchhiked back to our car. Actual distance from trail head to trailhead was more like 55 miles.
Greg, any updates to this hike that you are aware of that we should know of if we want to hike it later this year?
Michael – thanks for the email. Surprisingly this year will be very SIMILAR to 2017, in that 2017 was a BIG SNOW Year. So even though we hiked this loop in late August, we still had snow from Wanda Lake up to Muir Pass and then down the other side to Helen Lake. Microspikes were helpful here for sure. We also had snow on Bishop Pass. This year, 2023, is another fairly big snow year with MORE on the way – so I would say if you plan on doing this hike in early season June/July, be prepared for A LOT of snow in the passes and some pretty deep stream crossings including Evolutiion Creek which could be waist deep! Given this year’s snow pack, I’d suggest a late start – Mid to late August or even September – unless you like the big snow and big water. Up to you. Enjoy and make sure to let us know how it goes.
Greg, thank you. This is very helpful, as I am not in search of a snowy hike! My skill level and age encourage me to avoid it. Much appreciated.
Michael – sounds like LATE season is for you. I’d focus on the back half of August or early-mid September for your loop. Have fun.