Prior to my run, I found no official record of fast times but some inquiry revealed that Phill Kiddoo has a fast time somewhere in the 13:xx hour range. On Sunday, September 23rd I ran the “loop” in 12h15m from North Lake to South Lake, which is a new FKT (fastest known time), starting at 5:01 am and finishing at 5:15 pm. I’m undecided on which direction is faster, but will likely try South Lake to North Lake next time to find out.
My splits were as follows:
- North Lake TH Start 00:00:00 (5:01 am)
- Piute Pass 01:05:00
- Hutchinson Meadow 02:18:02
- Piute Canyon/JMT Junction 3:13:44
- Goddard Canyon Junction 3:50:59
- McClure Meadow Ranger Station 4:49:15
- Muir Pass 7:16:41 (left at 7:30)
- LeConte Canyon/JMT Junction 9:00:23
- Bishop Pass 11:04:33
- South Lake TH Finish 12:15:04 (5:16 pm)
More details and photos here.
A phenomenal shorter option that hits most of the highlights entails the route up Lamarck Col and down to Darwin Bench. This high col skips the portion in Humphrey’s Basin, Piute Meadows and Evolution Valley resulting in total distance of about 35 miles. Some of the travel is cross country but fairly easy to navigate.
