John Muir Wilderness II

Sunday 30 July 2017.

Muriel Lake and Mt. Humphreys in the background.

Midday, North of Goethe Lake. Clouds 15%. MWS and I crossed over Piute Pass again in the morning after camping for the night near Piute Lake. Veering off the main trail a little towards the south, we followed a remnant of another trail but were soon off the marked path. We arrived at Muriel Lake, an irregularly shaped and scenic alpine lake, with glacial rubble and red-tinted snowfields in the vicinity. A few very small icebergs were floating in the water, calved from a shelf of snow abutting the western shore.

Rounding the northern point of Muriel Lake, we proceeded south, gaining some elevation and eventually obtained a grand view of Goethe Lake, an unnamed smaller companion lake, Mt. Goethe (13,270 ft), Muriel Peak (12,937 ft), and the Goethe Glacier. The glacier, which was the original intended destination, was set in a rocky enclave, about halfway in height between Goethe Lake and the top of the rugged mountain ridge to the south (to which the Muriel and Goethe peaks contributed). Beyond the ridge to the south is the wilderness of Kings Canyon National Park. Meanwhile to the north, the whole morning while hiking, tree-less Mt. Humphreys (13,992 ft) was visible, an impressive monument of sharp jagged brown rocks dressed on its side with a checkerboard of not-yet melted snow patches.

Goethe Lake (left) and Gothe Glacier (right photo at center).

Goethe Lake and its unnamed companion were stunningly beautiful, perhaps my favorite of the trip. At this season, both lakes were a mix of open water and floating ice. The unnamed lake had a brilliant patch of turquoise water towards the southern end and elsewhere the water of both lakes was a deep vibrant blue. The glacier was mostly white, and unexpectedly so to me, for I had anticipated being able to see bluish ice. In place of blue, it had some vertical streaks of dirty green that I assume are outcroppings of ice.

The whole Goethe landscape was ruled by granite and snow and beautiful lakes, sparse in life, but abundant in majesty and contrast. The afternoon of our hike, the air was warm with a cool breeze belying the assured harshness of the landscape in the dead of winter. There were still trees at our elevation (~12,000 ft), but they mostly took on a shrubby growth form. Mosses, grass, and flowers – all of short stature – were present too, but they must be subject to the realities of a short growing season.

A panorama of about 180 degrees, from Mt. Humphreys in the north to Goethe Lake and Goethe Glacier to the south.

A prominent streak of snow algae near
Lake Muriel. 

The snowfields in the wilderness have presented really attractive patterns and colors to me. Many are tinted red or pink from algae living within the hardened snow. My friend recently provided an excellent overview of this “watermelon snow” in her blog here, and you can read more about the algae here. I’ll only repeat here the main fact underlying this phenomenon – namely, that the organism responsible for the unusual streaks of color is a green alga, Chlamydomonas, which produces brilliant carotenoids (orange, yellow, and reddish pigments responsible for the color of carrots and autumn leaves). In the John Muir Wilderness, the alga was present on many of the snowfields.

My other snow observation was the pattern of regular undulations in the surface of many of the snow fields, some craters exceeding a few feet. I’m unsure how these craters form, but they seem to arise from the melting process, not from the original deposition of snow. Most of the snowfields were very firm – approaching ice – and it was relatively easy to walk across them in hiking boots.

A fortuitous granite "tent" provided some
relief from the sun.

Early afternoon, NW of Goethe Lake. Clouds 25%. We climbed a bit higher to the top of a ridge (~12,080 ft) that separates the Goethe Basin to the east and the Wahoo Lakes basin to the west. Like Goethe Lake and its unnamed companion lake, the Wahoo Lakes have icy surfaces, not solid but broken up on the surface. I was worried about sun exposure, but found a little shade (a scarce resource in this nearly treeless alpine area) in a tent formed by two slabs of salt and pepper granite that learned against each other. The sun here is intense and the clouds are mostly to the east and north of our location, providing little relief.

We returned to the campsite in the afternoon. By late afternoon and early evening cloud cover increased to 75% as the afternoon progressed on the west side of the pass. The valley grew grey and soon thunder announced her presence. I remarked earlier in the day how I thought it would be great to have a Sierra thunderstorm, and here she was! A dozen or so lightning strikes clapped to the east and then rain and hail fell in a marvelous summer storm. The downpour was intense for a short time, sending a barrage of precipitation into Piute Lake. After no more than about an hour the storm passed, but the sun never fully returned to the valley for the day, leaving grey clouds, cool air, and wet ground for the evening. At sunset, a reddish haze appeared in the west; purple and red skies in the east.

A brief video of the storm:

Small icebergs at the edge of Muriel Lake.

USGS topographic map of part of the John Muir Wilderness (Mt. Darwin quadrangle, 2015), including some of the areas we explored on the second day of the backpacking trip (red dotted line).