I was lucky enough to score the last campsite at the North Lake Campground a couple days before our trip started. The campground does not have potable water, however several streams run throughout the campground that you can filter water. There are pit toilets that are really well maintained, and each campsite has a fire ring, picnic table, and a bear box. There are three sites that are walk-ins.

I parked my car at the North Lake parking area about ¼ mile east of the campground near the Bishop Pack Station. There are restrooms at the parking area as well. There are also trash receptacles at the parking area.
A shuttle is available two times a day (morning and late afternoon) through Labor Day weekend, so be sure to check the Eastern Sierra Transit website for their schedule. https://www.estransit.com/routes-sche... Reservations are not required for the shuttle, and the cost is $5 per person. The driver doesn’t carry change, so bring exact fare. If you use the shuttle to get to North Lake, you will have a 2-mile walk up the gravel road to the trailhead parking lot. The shuttle also stops at Lake Sabrina and South Lake.

We started around 9:00 AM on Saturday, August 29, 2020, from the North Lake Campground in Inyo National Forest. Our plan was to hike over Piute Pass to Upper Golden Trout Lake which would be around 7 miles. Camping is not allowed at Lower Golden Trout Lake. My friend Debbie and I decided to go a bit further on day one to set us up better for a campsite on day 2, so we headed toward Hutchinson Meadow which would put us at about 12 miles for the day. I'm not sure how, but we blew past the Hutchinson Meadow (I assume it was during multiple stream crossings near the meadow) by at least a half-mile and had to double-back before finding a suitable campsite. Piute Creek wasn't far from our campsite, and it was easy enough to access water. We hiked 13.1 miles on day 1, with 2,047’ of ascent, 2,095’ descent, and 43,311 steps!

Day 2 started around 8:45 AM. The first three miles of the hike out of Hutchinson Meadow was nice – shaded in most areas and follows Piute Creek. The last two miles however were very exposed, steep and rocky, and seemed to take FOREVER to get through. We were quite happy to finally reach the JMT junction at the 5.1-mile mark for the day. We took a nice break for lunch and enjoyed the shade of a beautiful tree. We ended our day near the Goddard Canyon Junction. We hiked 8.94 miles on day 2 with 1,334’ ascent, 2,339 descent, and 30,382 steps!

Be sure to check out Part 2 of this trip. It was my personal favorite of the trip, and Evolution Basin is THE most amazing area I have ever seen!

Cameras: iPhone 11 Pro Max, GoPro 360 Max, and GoPro Hero 7

@Hyperlite_Mountain_Gear